Wasting Money

Crest Hill has found yet another way to waste the taxpayers' money.  This time I had to look no further than my mailbox.  I received vehicle sticker applications for eight vehicles.  Of these only two were for vehicles currently owned.  

Four were for vehicles that had been registered to previous residents who have not lived at my address since at least 2005.  Yet, the City has seen the need to send applications each year.  The other two were for vehicles that I donated to charities in 2006 and 2007.  Neither of these were registered with the city in 2008.  Would it be so difficult for the City to purge its records of vehicles that were not registered last year? I could even see giving them an extra year in case some people overlooked getting a sticker for one year, but why send for vehicles last registered in 2005 or before?

Even more distressing is that the postcards were sent with first class postage as if they were letters and not post cards.  This means that every single application sent out was at an extra cost of 15 cents.  That may seem small, but it adds up when you think of how many thousands of vehicles are in Crest Hill and then add the thousands of vehicles that used to be in Crest Hill and still get postcards.

Once we figure the cost of printing and mailing all the applications, the cost of the actual vehicle stickers, and the time spent by city staff administering the vehicle sticker program; a significant portion of the revenue is spent on that.  It is wasteful to have in place a tax that has little purpose beyond raising enough revenue to continue to be administered and enforced.

The time as come to evaluate this program and determine if it is worth saving.  City Clerk Christine Vershay-Hall has stated previously that she thinks the vehicle stickers should be done away with.  And I agree that as long as the cost of the sticker is held so low, there is no reason to continue it.  And this does not seem to be a good time to raise the cost of stickers.  I would much rather see the stickers ended.  The loss of revenue will be minor because the cost savings would be significant.  If the stickers are not eliminated; the process of sending applications and issuing stickers needs to be made much more efficient.  

Trashing the Principles of Good Government

Public bodies typically put contracts for goods and services out to bid for a number of reasons.  The primary reason is to obtain the best price possible through competition.  Additional reasons relate to fairness to all businesses, eliminating discrimination, and reducing corruption.

The best price for a good or service can be obtained through competition, which is the basis of the bidding process.  As an example lets pretend that I am going to buy your car.  In one case, I ask you to tell me how much you will sell your car to me for and tell you that I want your car and will not buy a car from anyone else or even find out the price of a similar car from anyone else.  In the second case, I ask you how much you will sell your car to be for ad tell you that I will be getting prices from 5 other people with nearly identical cars and will buy the one with the lowest price.  In which case will you give me the lowest price?  I think the clear answer is that the lowest price will be given in the second case where there is competition.  Of course, some people may ask for the same amount in both cases, but it would seem pretty illogical for anyone to offer a lower price in the first case.

Well, most of the City Council has decided that Allied Waste is illogical and will offer the city the best price on garbage service if they are allowed to propose a 5 year contract without having to bid against other companies.  Instead of finding out what other companies would charge to provide service they have decided to seek a proposal from one company only.  Ray Soliman was that only Council member to speak up against this plan.  The rest of the Council and the Mayor decided that financial responsibility and good government are not of importance.

It is possible that Allied Waste will provide the best service at the lowest price.  However, we will never know if that is the case unless we allow all companies interested in providing garbage service to bid for the contract.  What is the Council's reason to oppose bidding?  Their publicly stated reason is that they believe that Allied Waste will bid a higher price if faced with competition than they would offer if only their proposal in considered.  That seems to run counter to logic, but we all know that there are members of this Council who would never let logic stop them from violating every principle of good government that they can violate.  As for the members who normally support the principles of good government and fiscal responsibility, I can only hope that they will realize their error before approving a contract without bids.  Ray Soliman was the lone voice on the right side of the issue at the work session on November 21, but I will be looking for others to join him when the issue comes up in a Council meeting.

Another item to be aware of besides the decision not to put the contract out to bid, is that the Council is looking for Allied Waste to hold rates flat for the first two years and defer the increases until the third, fourth, and fifth year of the contract.  I can assure you that the increases in the last three years of the contract will be considerable in order to make up for the lower rates the first two years.  On top of this they are looking to allow Allied Waste to add a fuel surcharge if fuel prices go above a set price.  The residents will be forced to help Allied Waste cover their fuel costs if diesel prices go up again, but we will not have our garbage rates go down if diesel prices fall.  The City Council sees no problem with this one sided proposal. 

The only possible positive is that they are looking to provide wheeled containers with lids to all the homes for trash and recyclables.  There some definite benefits to this idea and I know a number of people have been asking for this.  Of course there is no reason why this could not have been included in a request for bids from other companies.

Job Well Done

The City has been working with Canadian National Railroad to reach an agreement to have the railroad make needed improvements within Crest Hill, if they are approved to purchase the EJ&E tracks.  This agreement was approved by the City at tonight's meeting after a number of work sessions and a great deal of communication between the City Attorney and CN.  The City Administrator also spent a great deal of time working out this agreement.

The city will be getting quiet zones, sound barriers along the tracks near a residential neighborhood, a berm near another neighborhood, a fence and grubbing where the tracks pass near Richland school, and a commitment to reduce the idling of trains in the city.  All of this is being paid for by the CN at a cost of potentially over $1 million.  They are of course not doing this merely out of the goodness of their hearts, but to try to win support for their purchase of the tracks.  The city though did work hard to get all that they could.  

I commend the hard work of city staff on this effort and congratulate the Council on approving an agreement with a company that many in Crest Hill and many other suburbs would rather not see come here at all.  They realized that we do not have the power to stop the deal, but we did have the power to create a number of benefits for ourselves.  This willingness to work with CN has not been present in many other communities.  Crest Hill definitely stands out as a shining example in this case.  Too often I wish we would follow the example of other cities that are doing the right thing, but in this case we have chosen to set the example.  

I will be hoping that our professional city staff continues to help the Council take advantage of opportunities such as this to put aside politics and do what is best for the city and its citizens.  And of course that the Council continues to have the wisdom and dedication to take such actions.

Still Waiting for a Plan

The City has begun some improvements to the water and sewer systems.  Smoke testing of the sewers has been done and further analysis is scheduled.  Cora Street is under construction and other improvements have been begun.  What has not happened however is a plan has not been presented.  Over a year after our water and sewer rates were increased, there is still no detailed Capital Improvements Plan for the water and sewer system improvements.

This plan should include lists of projects to be completed each year for the next 10 to 20 years, both new infrastructure as well as major improvements to existing infrastructure.  Also the source of funding for these projects should be identified for each year.  This type of plan allows the city to balance its expected revenue against its expected needs and then plan the work over a longer time frame.  Major maintenance items are budgeted for so that they are not surprise costs when things break down from age and potential shortfalls are known about years in advance.   

Most cities have these types of plans for all capital spending, such as roads, buildings, water systems, storm and sanitary sewers, and even vehicles. They are valuable tools for ensuring the long term financial health of a city and the most efficient use of city funds through planning.  I do not expect that Crest Hill implement Capital Improvement Plans for all aspects of the city immediately, although it would be a good thing and should have been in place already.  I do feel though that after putting in place steep rate increases on top of automatic annual increases, that exceed inflation, they should have such a plan for the water and sewer systems.  Continuing to use pay-as-you-go does not serve the best interests of the citizens of Crest Hill.  

We deserve better, we deserve well planned improvements to bring our water and sewer systems, we deserve to have our money used wisely and efficiently.  I just want to know when we will get what we deserve.  I want a plan that is more than just raising our rates.  I want a plan that is fixing our problems and letting everyone know what our money is being used for.  

A Different Way of Doing Things

While, I am a resident of Crest Hill and have taken an intense interest in the operations of our city government, I also a resident of a number of other political entities.  One of which is Plainfield Township, due to my living west of Gaylord Rd, unlike most of the rest of the city which is in Lockport Township to the east.  I have long meant to attend the meetings of the township as well as other entities in the area.

My experience at the township meeting stood in stark contrast to the many Crest Hill City Council meetings I have attended.  This was most evident in how public comment was handled.  Public comments were taken at the beginning and at the end of the meeting.  Taking comments at the beginning allowed citizens to speak on issues prior to action being taken and allowed residents not to have to stay until the end of the meeting just to be heard.  Of even greater note though was how the comments were responded to by the Township Supervisor and Board members.  The residents were treated with respect, their issues were discussed in detail, there was a dialogue between the residents and the elected officials, and the residents were told exactly what actions would be taken in response to their comments.  The board spent half an hour dealing with the two residents comments regarding the recent flooding in the township.  

Contrast this with how the Crest Hill City Council treats its residents when they make public comment.  The only response to many comments is a cursory "thank you."  Others are met with derision and dismissal by Mayor Churnovic.  The best one can hope for is a statement that the Mayor will look into it and that the resident should talk to the Mayor later.  The Mayor and Council refuse to ever discuss a matter with a concerned citizen publicly, even though many times an issue affecting one person affects a number of others in the City.  Crest Hill views public comments as something that has to be endured, should be completed as quickly as possible, and do not need to be followed up on.  I think this makes a strong statement about how the City and some of its officials view the citizens and their concerns.

This is jut one more reason why change is needed in the City of Crest Hill.  A change of attitudes.  A change of priorities.  And a change of elected officials.

City Communication

At tonight's City Council meeting a contract with a technology consultant was approved to create and maintain a website for the city.  I had a chance a couple months ago to hear a representative of the technology consulting firm present to the Council.  I was impressed with what he had to say and feel he will be able to serve the city well.  Crest Hill has a website currently, but has done an extremely poor job of keeping it updated and relevant.  I wish it had been possible for the city staff to have kept the existing site in the condition that the citizens deserved.  However that will now be taken care and the first year's cost is being covered by a State grant, thankfully.

I am a strong proponent of people knowing what the City is doing and being able to participate in government.  An open and accessible government is the best way to force our elected officials to do their jobs, work for our best interest, and root out corruption and inefficiency.  A website that provides information on meeting dates, agendas, minutes, local ordinances, and the ability to interact with city government on-line is a large step towards more open and accessible government.  Once it is on-line, the whole world knows what is going on and the actions of out city will no longer be hidden away.  And a citizen that can contact the city and get what he or she needs with a few clicks of a mouse, is more involved than may otherwise have been possible.

During the meeting, I was also reminded a number of times of one of the great communication failings of this city.  Numerous agenda items are voted one with little discussion or explanation.  Most of those in the audience and watching on television have little idea of the issues being decided.  If one really wants to know what is going on, one would need to attend the work sessions where the issues are discussed in depth and questioned fully.  While these work sessions are open to the public, they are poorly attended for a number of reasons and also they are not televised.  The work sessions are not held on a consistent basis or always on the same day of the week.  This makes it difficult to know when all work sessions are.  I find myself often having to stop by city hall and check the posted agendas to keep track of when they are.  And the varying evenings are not conducive to those with busy schedules who need to plan ahead if they wish to attend city meetings.  The real failure though is that the City does not broadcast the work sessions.

The City controls the public access channel that the council meetings and other community events are broadcast on.  The City has given control of the channel to a group of volunteers and has contributed thousands of dollars towards the equipment used to run the channel.  While, I recognize that any broadcasts require the time and efforts of this group of volunteers, I feel that it is the responsibility of the City to work with them to broadcast the work sessions.  I do not think it is too much to ask this of those who run the station in consideration of what the City provides to them in terms of funding and the opportunity to broadcast other content.  I do not see the need for the work sessions to be done in the same quality as the council meetings if that would allow the use of fewer people to record the meeting.  

Communication is about more than the City merely keeping the residents informed, it is about allowing the citizens to be involved in government.  This cannot be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, if the people are kept in the dark and unable to know what the government is doing.  I applaud the City for taking a step in the right direction with the website and urge them to keep working to improve communication in other ways so as to better serve this city.

Why Must We Feud?

I have lived in Crest Hill for 3 years now and am still unable to figure out why everyone seems to be so defensive of their city and so opposed to any other city. Every political entity that covers multiple cities seems to have their oppinions divided by those municipal boundries. This is not something I have really seen as much elsewhere.

District 205 (Lockport Township HS) seems forever divided by Lockport vs. Homer Glen. People in Lockport do not feel that a school in their district is theirs if it is in Homer Glen. And Homer Glen residents seem to have a chip on their shoulder that the district and the current schools bear the Lockport name.

The Des Plaines Valley Library District serves 70,000 people, but feels it needs 3 libraries to do so. Or more accurately feels that it needs to build a library in each city served if they are going to be able to get a building referendum passed. One library could serve the entire district, as long as the State sees fit to leave the bridges open and to even possibly build an addtional one someday. That would of course mean the library would be in one city and not the other two. The residents of the other two cities could not stand for that. They would scream that they were paying for another city's library. Of course they ignore the fact that they would still use it regardless of city boundries.

I can imagine if we all functioned the way that residents of this area do. We would insist that if the federal government wants to build an office building, they had better build one in every city becuase we will not support Washington DC's buildings with our tax dollars. And we should stop building highways that are driven on by people from other parts of the country. Sure we are all one country, but why should Arizona get a new "elite" highway that we have to pay for? They should break off and form a new nation and build their own highway!

I do not know why this attitude is so strong here. Why are we so protective of our cities and so opposed to our neighbors? Especially since so many of our local governments cross city borders. Our school districts, park districts, fire protection districts, library districts and townships cross municipal boundries. These entities provide us far more services than our cities do and should tie us together. And then we must ask the question of why can we go just a little west and see a different attitude? The four high schools with Plainfield in their names serve kids from a number of surrounding communities and there has been no outcry about their names and no one complains that Plainfield taxpayers built a school that is attended by kids from Joliet.

Upcoming Spring Election

I am looking forward to the 2009 Spring Municipal Election here in Crest Hill. It could be a chance to see real change come to this city and with it the idea that government should be responsible to the people. This will require good candidates to come out and stand for election. I can understand why many people would not want to subject themselves to being part of a City Council that has seen members yell at each other, the Mayor yell at members and cut them off short, the Treasurer refuse to provide requested information in a timely manner, and citizens treated as if their opinions and problems were trivial. This is not an ideal environment, but it is all the more reason why we need as many citizens as possible to step up and put themselves forward to serve this city. We need people to step up and run for all the offices that will be open. These offices will be Mayor, Treasurer, Clerk, and one council member in each of the four wards. There will be some good people who will hopefully chose to run for re-election, however I would still encourage everyone to get involved. Democracy is made healthier by having choices. If you have any interest in serving and making this a better city, please put yourself out there, talk to others in this city, and take the time to learn the steps necessary to run.

As some of you know, I made an effort to run for office in 2007 and was removed from the ballot for technical reasons due to an effort to limit the voters choice. I learned from that experience and would be happy to share my knowledge with others and to give my support and encouragement to anyone wishing to run.

Mayoral Ethics

Two weeks ago, it was revealed that the committee to reelect Mayor Churnovic had accepted donations from two engineering firms seeking to do business with the City of Crest Hill. It was certainly disappointing to find out that the unethical way of doing business that is so common in Springfield and Chicago as is how things work in Crest Hill. It is not clear if the committee solicited the donations knowing that the firms were looking to get city contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it is not clear how much direct control the Mayor had over the actions of the committee.

Since that time, Mayor Churnovic has made donations to three local charities in the amount that the engineering firms had given to the committee to re-elect him. He seems to think that this solves the problem and relieves him of all ethical questions. That is simply not true. This is merely the first step that needs to be taken.

Next, he needs to publicly state if the committee solicited the donations or if the engineering firms gave them without being solicited in any way. And he needs to state what his involvement and knowledge of the committee's actions were. Then based upon those facts he needs to take further action.

If the donations were completely unsolicited, Mayor Churnovic should make it clear to his committee that no donations are to be accepted from any company or individual seeking to do business with the city. No further action would be needed beyond that as long as the committee acts ethically from that point forward.

If the donations were solicited, the Mayor needs to disavow himself of the committee and all those involved with it in any way. That means not accepting any of the funds they have raised, not including the members of the committee on his re-election campaign, and definitely not giving them appointments within city government.

And of course if the Mayor had prior knowledge that the committee was going to engage in pay-to-play politics and approved of their absolutely unethical activities, there is no reason why he should continue to lead the city. I have no reason to believe that is the case and definitely hope that it isn't. I would hope that Crest Hill and our Mayor is above such activities.

While accepting money from those seeking to do business with the city is not illegal, it is unquestionably unethical. Pay-to-play politics has greatly hurt the state government and local governments throughout the state. I do not want to see it introduced to Crest Hill. Especially at a time when the State is currently looking to outlaw such practices at the state level.

A New Tax and Lack of Citizen Involvement

At the July 7th, 2008 City Council meeting several citizens addressed the Council to ask about the proposed Utility Tax and specifically why more public participation was not sought. The Mayor and Council answered these questions with resounding silence. The Mayor is not one to let any comment go without a response even if his only response is to be dismissive to the citizens of Crest Hill. This time he and the other members of the Council sat silent because the only response that could have been given was that they did not want citizens to participate in the consideration of this new tax. Their hope is that the tax is silently implemented and no one notices.

This is simply the wrong attitude for our elected officials to have. The public deserves to be included in the making of all decisions, especially the enactment of a new tax. Regardless of how badly the city needs the revenue or how much better this new tax might be than the alternatives, the public still deserves to be engaged. Tell us why this tax is needed, tell us what other options are out there, listen to our opinions, solicit our ideas for alternatives, and then make an informed decision and do what you believe is best for Crest Hill and its residents. That is all I and many of my fellow citizens ask of our Mayor and City Council.

A Mayor or a Dictator

At one point during the May 5th City Council meeting, I found myself thinking that maybe I had been too harsh on Mayor Churnovic in the past and that perhaps he did deserve some praise. This came after he had spoken on the successful efforts to keep Statesville open, his trip to the Philippines, and his upcoming trip to Las Vegas. These all seemed to show him to be an active and dedicated mayor. It took only moments though for those thoughts to quickly be shattered.

Mayor Churnovic explained his plan to circumvent the City Council and begin the process of hiring a new Police Chief. He then proceeded to scream at Alderperson Convery when questioned about this matter. It is just shameful that a mayor would not only ignore the desires of the City Council and the advice of the just retired Police Chief, but would then throw a fit when questioned.

This show was not enough for Mayor Churnovic though. He next was asked why he had held several events in different wards and not given the alderpersons for those wards a courtesy notice. Meeting with residents is definitely a positive thing to do, but the Mayor should show some courtesy and invite the alderpersons as well, especially if he is inviting other city officials. Instead of taking this constructive suggestion from 3 alderpersons, Mayor Churnovic defended his lack of consideration by being condescending and rude.

Crest Hill deserves a city government that can work together for the betterment of this city. That will not happen as long as we have a Mayor that yells at Council members and treats them with contempt. No matter how hard Mayor Churnovic works to develop Crest Hill, it is all for nothing if he allows his bad attitude and lack of self-control tear the City Council apart and make citizens afraid to question him.

Almost $2.2 Million Vanished

On Monday, April 28th, an employee of the Treasurer's Office stated to the City Council that the City of Crest Hill had no reserve funds left. She repeated that it was all gone.

According to the Treasurer's Annual Report, had a cash fund balance of $2,191,273.03 on April 30, 2007. This report was published in the Herald News on October 19, 2007.

The city was budgeted to spend $1.1 million of the reserved during this past year. However, based upon the statements from the April 28th Council Work Session, it is clear that the deficit was twice what was budgeted. This is most likely the reason why the Treasurer's Office has refused to give projections for the entire fiscal year, which just ended.

The news is not going to get better by delaying it. I fear that the reason for the delay is that the news may be even worse than this. Has the City dipped into other funds to pay for general operating expenses? Have our increased water and sewer bills been going to fund other departments? Is this why the city refuses to release a capital plan outlining how the new water and sewer revenue is going to be spent?

These questions cannot be answered because the financial information is being kept secret, even from City Council members. It is time to shine some light on the financial situation of Crest Hill. Nothing positive can come from keeping everyone in the dark.

Digging a Deeper Hole

The City of Crest Hill keeps digging the hole deeper. The budget for the fiscal year ending in two days was $1.1 million dollars in the red. After a year of looking for ways to cut costs and increase revenues, the city is now considering a proposed budget that is $800,000 in the hole. While this is an improvement, it is far from good enough. According to an employee of the Treasurer's office, the city has no reserve funds left. This means that if the budget is not balanced the city will be broke. The time for action is long passed, but the Council seems reluctant to take action.

It is hard to understand why the same council that raised water and sewer rates without a plan of how to use the money, would not be willing to have a balanced city budget. The general fund budget leaves much to be desired in that sufficient explanation was not offered as to why many lines were increased by several hundred percent over what was budgeted for the past fiscal year and what was actually spent this past year. But, it is a plan which is more than can be said of the still non-existent capital plan for the water and sewer systems.

The time has come to insist that our elected officials pass a balanced budget, that all city departments and employees reduce city spending, and that the city begin sharing information so that we all know the real state of our city. As of right now we have hit the rock bottom of the hole and the Council is trying to keep digging.

Newest Threat to Cottonwood Farm

The Crest Hill city council tonight held a work session to look at ways in which to raise more revenue. They discussed many item at length including higher fines, fees, and utility taxes. One of the taxes they are looking at is expanding the amusement tax to cover Cottonwood Farm's Halooween celebration.

For the past several years, Crest Hill has been after Cottonwood Farm for a variety of issues. I do not know when or why they decided that they had it out for this long time local business. No other Crest Hill business advertises as widely as they do and makes an effort to bring people from as large an area to Crest Hill as they do. From billboards in Chicago to crop images that are seen by passing airplanes. This business does more to bring attention to Crest Hill than any other business. Yet, the Mayor and his allies target this business more so than any other in the city.

How is it that the business they want to drive away is a farm that provides entertainment, greenspace, advertising, and tax revenues to the city while being a good neighbor and citizen; while thet happily allow preditory payday loan stores proliferate?

I think it is time to demand some answers and to recoginize that this is not an attempt to raise revenue, but is just the lastest assault on this particular business.

Forum for New Libraries

On Thursday, March 6, the Des Plaines Valley Public Library District held a forum at Richland School to discuss the current status and future needs of its libraries. The forum concentrated on the Crest Hill branch and on the deficiencies of the building and current level of funding. The purpose of the forum seemed to be to sell the community on the need for a new library. However, no further thought went into it, so we were all left without a sense of where things go from here.

The assumption is that a new library was needed. Actually, three new libraries, one for each Crest Hill, Lockport, and Romeoville would be needed. We also know that the district has been hiring consultants to evaluate the current buildings and look at what sort of new facilities are needed. What we do not know is what type of time frame is being contemplated for future action. We do not have even a clue of how much these new libraries are going to cost or what that will mean for tax rates. And we do not know what these libraries would contain or look like. All of this is important information that will have an effect on people’s opinions and feelings.

Even among the small group of people who attending this forum, a range of positions could begin to be seen. It is my feeling that this lack of information intensified negative feelings and weakened positive feelings. This will continue to be the case as time goes on and will form the basis of long-term opinions if solid facts do not start being presented soon. There are many in this community that cannot afford higher taxes and are especially opposed to anything that they consider wasteful. These people will need to be won over to the need for a library and without knowing specifics of what is being proposed will soon imagine a building that is huge, architecturally complex, state of the art, and very expensive. This idea that they imagined will be what they will be voting on, not the reality of what will be proposed. And those who support the idea of a better library system will soon find that it is hard to get behind an abstract idea.

Speaking for myself, I strongly support a new library. I oppose most tax increases and have rarely seen a referendum that I like. However, I would vote to double the library portion of my tax bill without reservation, as long as I got a library that had adequate computer resources, comfortable areas in which to read, and a convenient location. There are many other features to a library, but these are the ones that have value to me. Until, I know that this new facility will meet my needs, it is hard for me to strongly support it. I certainly do not oppose a new library, but I am left feeling less than enthusiastic.

The library board needs to quickly take the next step and decide among three options; maintain the existing libraries, renovate and modernize the existing libraries, or build new libraries. Maintaining the existing facilities without major renovation and modernization will lead to a slow decay and death of our local libraries. However, renovating and modernizing them would cost a great deal of money to add very little in terms of space or functionality. Deciding to build new libraries is the only sensible choice if we want to have quality facilities at a moderate cost for the coming decades.

If the library board were to agree and make the decision to build new libraries, they should then explore what the communities want in their library. This phase should also look at what the future of libraries might be, in order to design facilities for tomorrow instead of for yesterday or even today. We are only a century removed from inaccessible library stacks, only a few decades removed from libraries as silent, studious places, and only a decade removed from libraries having just a few computers in a side room with limited access. It would be foolish to think that 20 or 40 years down the road, libraries will look much like they do today. This is the time for public comment on individual ideas and on overall plans.

Once, the library board, with citizen’s input, has decided on what they feel is needed, a referendum should follow quickly. A long drawn out process, builds apathy instead of support. Trying to drum up support for replacing the current libraries is more difficult that trying to get support for a specific new libraries. Show us what you want to build and tell us what you want to spend.

Time Off

I had expected to post a number of times since my last post. However, illness and personal matter have kept me from posting and have also kept me from attending a number of city council meetings and work sessions. I still have some items on which to write and look forward to doing so.

An Additional Purpose

As everyone can see, the frequency of my posting has decreased as time has passed. This does not mean that I find any less to comment on or that it has been a futile effort. Instead, I find myself with many ideas of what I would like to post on, but let too much time pass that topics lose their timeliness.

In addition, I have seen how poorly the city communicates its agendas and minutes to the public. A good explanation of why agendas are not available on-line has yet to be offered. It would take the Clerk no more time to post an agenda on-line as it takes to tack one up in City Hall. Also, much of the City's business takes place in work sessions that are not broadcast, covered by the media, or have minutes distributed.

This has led me to the decision to post following each Council meeting and work session and comment on the happenings of that meeting. These will not be complete minutes of the meetings or even cover the entire meeting. It will address at least what I feel is the most important issue that was raised. It will accurate, but it will not be neutral. These postings will still be my opinions of what is taking place. So the moral of this story is check back frequently.