A week or so ago I wrote a post about an interview with Democratic Senator Carl Levine of Michigan. The Senator has been in office thirty-four years and will serve two more.He has been elected 9 times.
He is working with Republican Senator John McCain to eliminate some of the entitlements for tax relief for business in the U.S. Total share of tax revenue from business is nine per cent. It was fifty per cent not long ago. Senator Levin hopes to complete the task before he retires. He explained to his interviewer Charlie Rose, it is a very difficult and complicated task.
Charlie asked him what he needs to be successful.
He said wistfully I thought, he would like more elected representatives to have the courage to risk losing votes or even risk losing an election by doing what's right for the country.
It seems obvious lobbyists in the States have the country in a death grip.
What excuse do we have in this little town that prevents a Council, elected with such high hopes from acting in the best interest of the community -at - large as opposed to the special interests of a few, time and time and time again.
I have asked the town solicitor if he would post last night's advice to Council on the town's web site.
If I get approval from Council he will. Of course that calls for a notice of motion to be on the agenda of the next Council meeting, to be a motion two weeks later. It may or may not win approval from Council.
They may not want you to know all the information provided that made the idea of filing an injunction an act of complete irresponsibility and total wasteful extravagance.
Comments are coming in to the blog fast and furious. It's clear there is no synpathy for the Marsh Harbour residents' position. Nor support for the direction Council is taking.
The story will come out in The Auroran on Tuesday. Too late for people to have an opportunity for input.
The web site will likely have an item on Wednesday's action. The story is not complete without the Solicitor's report.
I believe it should be on the web site without the need for direction from Council.
People who want to know the facts should call the administration and say so.
Wednesday's meeting was held with twenty four hours notice.
A decison representing spending more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made with less than the forty-eight hours required for an emergency meeting. A motion to waive procedure was passed to allow it.
It's about the deliberate distortion that formal action was taken without people in a particular neighborhood being notified in time for input.
How's that for a contradiction in terms.
Unfortunately I think Council has to vote to put something on the web-site. Or to take it down. I recall a council meeting with plenty of angry people demanding that the item on Evelyn be taken down. It did not happen. Instead Councillor Wilson did his paper-waving thing, declaring he had so much to do & demanded that " We move on, Council has Work to do "
ReplyDeleteDue to councillor Ballard's slurs, staff feel they are under attack. That is probably accurate as he has targeted at least 3 of them. Downey, Mar & the planning guy who all seem very competent. We have seen this before - throw the hirelings overboard. I don't think it will work again but the same people are playing the cards.
ReplyDeleteAin't got no spine. We knew that but took what was offered because there was no option.
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ReplyDeleteIf an emergency council meeting can be held with 24 hours notice, as opposed to the "normal" emergency 48 hours notice, why is it not possible for the council to authorize the posting on the town's website of the report from the Town Solicitor that was requested at the regular council meeting April 23 and which, presumably, formed the basis for the discussion at last night's meeting?
Surely bureaucratic rules can be relaxed without bringing the world to an end. Council seems to be hiding behind procedure, instead of demonstrating a serious commitment to the public to provide, instantaneously if necessary in this age of technology, the very information that might have served as the basis for council's consideration of the issues on April 24.
And we are not talking about chicken feed, rather about a potential legal undertaking that requires very specific expertise at a cost that could approach or even exceed $150,000. It seems ludicrous that councillors fall back on procedure, instead of fulfilling their sworn responsibility to those who elected them in an efficient and transparent manner.
This entire exercise has been filled with stupidity and hypocrisy from the very beginning, and its name is Ballard.
Hey, I am computer-challenged but I know about e-mails. We pay for the Aurora communications department & keep hearing about how much it needs in up=grading. We have paid, and paid, and paid........post that damn stuff.
ReplyDelete"Comments are coming in to the blog fast and furious. It's clear there is no synpathy (sic) for the Marsh Harbour residents' position. Nor support for the direction Council is taking."
ReplyDeleteI hope you're not saying that the sentiments expressed by your commenters reflect in any way the feeling of the "community-at-large." Such a small sample size prevents any extrapolation, and should deny blanket statements.
10:19 PM
ReplyDeleteD you mean like C. Ballard's blanket ' Whereas ' statements at the regular Council meeting? A whole lot of speculation and mud-slinging dressed in pseudo-legalese ?