Charter Amendments were the order of business at today's Workshop.
Initially, the City Commission’s term of office and salary were brought up by Rachel Waterman during the September 20, 2011 City Commission meeting. Therefore, the city manager placed the entire subject of Charter Amendments and our Charter on the agenda with the excuse that a review is "healthy for a city to evaluate its Charter." All the Charter Amendments that have passed by the voters over the last 7 years were on the agenda.
A Charter Review Committee is being pushed by our city manager, Susan Stanton. The Reason? She says that she is being threatened with termination every election year and wants "stability" within our government. On top of all of that, she said, "The public doesn't always know what's best. The length of term has everything to do with "stability of leadership." The reason given for even putting the entire thing on today's discussion is that there are certain "housekeeping" issues (according to the city manager) that need to be cleaned-up in our Charter, our Bible, our Law, such as residency for fire chiefs. This is an excuse to open up the can of worms. We should not be screwing around with our charter and treating it so lightly by opening up the door with the pretense of "housekeeping."
It was mentioned that charters need to be up-dated to fit into the economic times in which we now are involved. Scott Maxwell asked how does the economy impact our Charter. He was given no logical explanation by the CM or anyone else for that matter. Stanton asked the commission--"You need to decide what sort of government you want." A strong mayor or a city manager? Well, the people have already spoken. We want what we have right now. What we would like, however, is a stronger commission and not one that agrees with the city manager so easily.
Christopher McVoy, Jo-Ann Golden and Suzanne Mulvehill agree with the city manager. Waterman was absent for this session. McVoy even went so far as to say that a 3 year term was "valid." He believes that 3 year terms will bring more stability to the administration. Mulvehill wants to know how we get a Charter Review Committee. Golden asked if they could make a motion to change the Charter from the dais and she was told by the City Attorney, "No, it must go to a vote of the people." Now how come this question was even asked? Aliens.
Now get this, Stanton says that in many places a Charter Review Committee can out vote the city commission. In other words, this is another attempt to grab more power by the city manager to once again reduce the balance of powers under our Charter. This commission is getting less and less powerful and they are doing it to themselves. If we change our city government to a 'strong mayor" type of government, Stanton should run for office.
Now, one more time, we just voted on this term issue 3 & 3/4 years ago and told the commission then that we did not want 3 year terms. It won with 68% of the vote. We didn't want longer terms then and we certainly want them even less today.
11 comments:
Can someone tell me why these commissioners are so blind. Why can't they see what's happening here? Next thing we will here that they are giving Stanton a 10 year contract. Think of the job security she will have knowing she would get 10 years pay if they decided to let her go. Wake up folks and vote. Where was the mayor and why is she avoiding all politically sensive meetings?
I knew this was going to be the CM's next move....Of course she wants stability but yet she never listens to the people. the CM AND the Commission are there to take care of the peoples needs not their own selfish whims.
How Ironic that the CM would say that the public does not always know what we want? WE have always known what we want but its the people we elect that are clueless....So you would argue that we don't know what we want because we elect these people...
Not True! We elected these people because of the lesser evil scenario in hopes we will get better qualified candidates.
I hope this November holds true to what we are waiting on and next year will finalize a commission that sees the "Big" picture and does not let a CM Bully them around like 1st graders
Waterman arrived for the meeting at 11am
I thought that any proposed changes to the Charter had to go to the citizens for a City-wide vote. How can a Charter Review Committee do anything but make proposed recommendation? I am so sick and tired of the victim role the City Manager portrays herself as CONSTANTLY.
The CM said several times during the discussion that there are "significant deficiencies" in the charter. Commissioner Maxwell brought up this comment at 11:00 a.m when the workshop reconvened after a recess. When asked to identify these deficiencies, the CM said they were just her personal opinion and not relevant. Commissioner Maxwell asked why make the comment if that was the case. Of course there was no response and Waterman immediately moved on the downtown maintenance.
Actually,Ms Stanton seems to have more knowledge of things and how City Government should be run then all the commissioners put together. I bet she has a higher IQ and more common sense too.The mess the City is in will take time to get everything working smoothly.Not evrybody has the same opinion and enough knowledge to correct things in a short amount of time.
Well, Richard--it is easy to spend $12 million dollars and drive the city to no cash reserves. It is easy to tax. It is easy to implement a special assessment to start building up those reserves that were just wasted by taxing churches, non-profits and the poor to boot. All with THIS commission, of course. So, you might have something there but I don't call that "smart." The CM, single handedly, sold this commission down the river. But then, of course, they could have said NO.
Has anyone ever provided a factual explanation where all the city's reserve money went, what exactly was it used for and why? Who's responsible? Who can I ask?
Stanton playing the victim all the time is a sign she's just not up for the job and never has been.
"The city manager seems to have more knowledge of things and how city government should be run then (than) all the commissioners put together".
And in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
We don't need and freaking review. Get over it.
Two more things--forgot. Get the audio turned on in the hallway. Get the durn photos back on the walls.
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