•Letter to Mayor_Council Meeting, related matters 6/13/10
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June 13, 2010
TO: Mayor Shelley Welsch
FR: Tom Sullivan
RE: Monday Council Meeting, related matters
Several things to mention:
1] I assume the agenda for tomorrow's City Council meeting was posted by 5:30 p.m on Friday, as required. When a meeting notice is sent out at 8:50 p.m. on a Friday night it raises the question.
2] The agenda is more than a little convoluted: it starts out with a "Study Session," then a possible "Executive Session" for "Curfew," then a "Special Session," and then back to the Study Session. This is an odd way to do business.
3] There is no provision in law for an "Executive Session," which presumably is to be a closed meeting to discuss proposed changes in the curfew ordinance. This does not seem to be a lawful reason to close a meeting. Even if it were, this is a matter that should be discussed in public.
4] There is nothing listed on the agenda for "Citizen Participation." This is kind of unusual for citizens to be shut out at a city council meeting in University City. It seems citizens are being shut out more from participating. It also seems more things are being kept from the public.
5] Special Session Agenda Item B. -- Appointments. I hope you are not developing a case of CHKBS -- "City Hall Knows Best Syndrome" -- by appointing yourself to two TIF commissions and one task force and Councilman Steve Kraft to one TIF commission. In 2004, appointing three council members to the TIF commission caused a bit of a controversy. (see article below) I would think there are smart, capable residents that could serve on these commissions.
TIF panel appointments cause tiff in University City
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Monday, July 19, 2004
Author: SHERI GASSAWAY
Appointing three of University City's six Council members to the Tax Increment Financing Commission has angered one member of the commission.
"I'm not a happy camper," said Barbara Heise, the commission member. "If you want all the power, why don't you just take away all the city boards and commissions?"
The council voted 4-2 to approve a resolution in favor of the appointments. Mayor Joseph Adams and Councilwoman Cassandra Colquitt, 3rd Ward, cast the opposing votes. Councilwoman Shelley Welsch, 2nd Ward, was absent from the meeting.
The nine-member commission, which considers the adoption of redevelopment plans and projects, consists of six residents, one representative of St. Louis County and two representatives of the University City School District.
Currently, the commission has one vacancy and two terms, including Heise's, set to expire in August. The three council members appointed to the commission would take over the vacancy and succeed those whose terms are expiring.
"How can this happen without any members of the TIF Commission being notified?" Heise asked. "You're taking the power away from the people and thwarting progress. I'm personally insulted. To be put down like this is denigrating."
The council majority cited its intent to energize the redevelopment process in University City.
Adams said he was not "overjoyed" with the idea and noted that he had asked city administrators to investigate the number of council members serving on TIF commissions in other municipalities.
Of the 11 municipalities surveyed, the majority had either one or no members of their city councils or boards of aldermen serving on the commissions. In St. John, six municipal representatives are commissioners, and in Des Peres, three aldermen are on its commission.
"Basically, this gives three members of the City Council two votes on the same subject and elevates those members to be superior over my vote as mayor," said Adams, who also serves as council liaison to the commission. "I don't think this is appropriate for our city, but the majority of the council says it is."
The resolution requires Adams to appoint three council members, one from each ward, to the commission by the end of August.
6] Special Session Agenda Item D. -- motion to rescind motion and vote of June 7, 2010 to hire outside legal counsel on Bill 9074. (Which makes the City Attorney answerable to the City Council rather than the City Manager.) I was at the June 7 meeting but don't believe there was any vote to hire outside counsel, so I don't know what there is to rescind. The issue was brought up as the whether making the change conforms to the charter. Councilman Crow did make a motion to get an outside legal opinion but it was never voted on and was deferred or withdrawn. I don't know if a legal opinion is needed but (public) discussion certainly is. The second question on this matter is whether making the change makes sense from an administrative point of view.
7] The 2011 Fiscal Year Budget -- Agenda Item E. of the Study Session. The message that was given at the public hearing from citizens last week, and also by U. City voters twice in the last year, is that they want changes in the way City Hall does business. It doesn't seem Interim City Manager Janet Watson has gotten the message. She has figured on the budget she wants and then slants things to back it up.
8] Ms. Watson claims that only $240,000 could be saved by outsourcing trash collection, as if that is an insignificant amount. Cities all over the country are getting out of the trash business. As I have pointed out, the city of Wildwood, N.J. will save $1 million a year by outsourcing trash collection and it’s a smaller town than UC. (link to article below)
9] I have brought up the matter of what official action was taken to appoint Ms. Watson as Interim City Manager. (Citizens were completely shut out from providing any input.) Your response was that it was done by a consensus of the City Council at a closed meeting, though no vote was taken. This is a matter that needs to be addressed. Governmental bodies do things by resolutions, orders, ordinances, laws, etc. They do not do things by some claimed verbal consensus.
University City government still has a long way to go.
Copy: City Council Members; Interested U. Citians
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• UCityCitizen.org • Paulette Carr, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of University City • University City, Missouri 63130 •