I have taken a few pot shots at the mayor’s office for sponsoring policy on the council agenda (because the council should sponsor it).
Normally if a councilor sponsors something they present the item and staff assists them after that.
There has been on occasion that Paul will present the item (give details and answer questions). A few months ago he did that when they presented the contract for the Link. He knew very little (or he just wasn’t willing to tell councilors).
It happened again tonight at the City Council meeting (website is down due to transition). So I can’t remember the item number but it had to deal with a grant to the landfill. After the item was read into the record, Paul looks around and says something to the effect the landfill staffer wasn’t there, so they had to defer.
So you sponsor policy and have no clue what it is?
There was absolutely no reason the mayor could not have answered the questions since ultimately he has to sign off on the grants.
Fast forward to the end of the meeting after public input with old and new business. The mayor proceeds to tell the council that item needs to pass tonight because it is time sensitive so he asked for a reconsideration and got the landfill staffer on the phone.
The staffer literally answered two basic questions in a matter of minutes.
Here’s the deal. If the mayor’s office wants to be all King Sh!t sponsoring policy, he should probably read it first, especially since he has to sign off on it.
I mean, it is one thing to take these duties away from the council, but then to sponsor them without having a clue makes it even worse.
Lazy Authoritarianism.
The sad part is we almost lost a grant over it.
Instead of doing jumping jacks with kids, maybe Paul needs to spend a little time in his office reading up on his job.
Cruise Control Government at it’s finest.