Committee of the Whole - 7 of 8 council members did not attend

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Added 22nd July 2015, 12:18 am
Author: Thomas McMasters

Facebook is alive with a discussion about the Committee of the Whole meeting 7 of the 8 council members did not attend.

Here is a little background; there was a Public Works Committee meeting scheduled for 4:30 followed by a Administration Committee meeting at 6:00 pm. Thursday July 16 at 5 pm we got notification that the Admin Committee meeting was cancelled due to a lack of agenda items. Thursday night I called a Committee of the Whole meeting and notification went out on Friday.

Council members Lu Dale, Judy Blankenship, Karen Kaleps and Ed Lyons all attended the Public works meeting that ended at 5:15 but none of them attended the meeting that started at 5:30. In fact the only member of council that did attend was Mr. Starline. There were at least 8 members of the public in attendance.

I do think it is important to not only say that Ms Vargo was out of town but she also saw the first agenda item and made a well conceived argument advocating for her attendance at a conference she normally attends each year. This argument was made via email so she wasn't trying to hide her position.

She correctly perceived that the travel requests by her, Ms Dale and Ms Blankenship was the reason for this agenda item. Upon consultation with the Clerk of the Council the objective of having this item on the agenda tonight was to try and figure out a way for council to approve these requests for travel. If council were to approve, it was important to do this tonight since the cost increases $140 for each attendee if they don't register by July 31 st.

As is their prerogative, neither Ms Dale nor Ms Blankenship felt that this conference was important enough to them that they would be willing to try and find a solution that would result in this travel request being approved. But without their help to make a quorum, there is no solution even for Ms. Vargo.

I personally will not complain that there wasn't a quorum because I believe there is better usage for that $2,500 dollars. The reason I called the Committee of the Whole meeting was because I felt obligated to give these council members the opportunity to operate as normal and to give them that opportunity in a timely manner so it wouldn't cost the city any additional funds. It doesn't break my heart that they didn't take advantage of that opportunity for the first agenda item.

I am disappointed though that they again abandoned the parks and would not even have a discussion that would help guide the Parks and Recreation Board as they begin to map out next year's priorities and funding.

I strongly recommend reading the first attachment in the Police and Fire Details - Rose Music Center/Other Events item. The details of the "Police Private Off-Duty Security Services" legislation is in this attachment. The attachment also shows how many hours and security costs have been spent supporting the Music Center so far this year (about $13,000).

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