Covered in Glory
By all indications, there won't be coverage of Thursday's City Council meeting in either of the local newspapers Friday morning. But that doesn't mean there wasn't news.
For most of the evening, I sat with either a frown or a grin on my face...it was that kind of night.
Once again, the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association made up about half of the public audience on a lightly attended night.
The headline? Good Government Pops Up at Council Meeting.
I know for a fact that some will disagree, but I saw a mayor and council doing their jobs capably and with good grace. The still-vacant ordinance enforcement officer position was the overwhelming topic for the night, and each public official evidenced strong support for the idea.
There were a few traces of the regular follies, and I'll fill you in on those over the coming days, but, all in all, it was a night that all could be proud of their elected officials.
The mayor stated that his commitment to the OEO position has not changed and that he was mystified that anyone would think otherwise. The only hold up at this point is the state's failure to deliver audited figures for 2002 (due by the end of the month), audited figures for 2003 (due another month later), and an approved budget for the current year, which we should see within the next few weeks. Once the approved budget is in hand, then the administration can go about filling vacancies and making hiring decisions. Anything else would be fiscally irresponsible.
One tidbit: The $2.7 million-plus belt-tightening raises this question: Will the mayor and council volunteer to forgo a month of salaries and share the pain? The possibility was at least hinted at during Thursday's gathering.
For most of the evening, I sat with either a frown or a grin on my face...it was that kind of night.
Once again, the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association made up about half of the public audience on a lightly attended night.
The headline? Good Government Pops Up at Council Meeting.
I know for a fact that some will disagree, but I saw a mayor and council doing their jobs capably and with good grace. The still-vacant ordinance enforcement officer position was the overwhelming topic for the night, and each public official evidenced strong support for the idea.
There were a few traces of the regular follies, and I'll fill you in on those over the coming days, but, all in all, it was a night that all could be proud of their elected officials.
The mayor stated that his commitment to the OEO position has not changed and that he was mystified that anyone would think otherwise. The only hold up at this point is the state's failure to deliver audited figures for 2002 (due by the end of the month), audited figures for 2003 (due another month later), and an approved budget for the current year, which we should see within the next few weeks. Once the approved budget is in hand, then the administration can go about filling vacancies and making hiring decisions. Anything else would be fiscally irresponsible.
One tidbit: The $2.7 million-plus belt-tightening raises this question: Will the mayor and council volunteer to forgo a month of salaries and share the pain? The possibility was at least hinted at during Thursday's gathering.
posted by All4Word at 12:32 AM
1 Comments:
I tend to agree with you on this, Brandon W.
In fact, I think it's about time they all got a raise. But a previous council and mayor, which includes some of the principals now incumbent, messed up royally and now the state will be imposing a penalty for the accounting snafu.
I only raised the point in passing because the mayor, himself, justified the delay in hiring an OEO by citing the difficulty in meeting the financial needs of the city without an approved budget. He included the salaries of himself, his staff, and the council as line items that still had to be shoehorned into an unknown budgeting level.
You are right, though. Some yahoo will surely call for this (mostly innocent) group to pay a price for the errors of a previous regime.
For my part, I think they're dealing with this budget crisis like adults and while they haven't abandoned any of their hopes for projects of improvement, they are being entirely realistic when it comes to their stewardship of public money.
The mayor was the first to say this was going to be a tough transition. After a round of reactionary (in its root, not political sense) alarums, the Council has buckled down to help weather this crisis.
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