If you check the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting you will notice that the Helpline Center is getting ANOTHER contract with the city to handle phone traffic. They also have contracts for other phone services with the city.
I will admit the city DOES need to use private phone services sometimes but it seems they are sending a buttload of duties over to this private non-profit. Why not buy them and make them a city entity? Probably break even.
I find all these contracts interesting since the CEO of Helpline is Janet Kittams who was the previous chair of the planning commission and still has a seat until April of 2025. She also served as chair when attendance was less then ideal. This is a blatant conflict of interest. Heck, she even signed the contract herself!
While the Helpline Center has had city contracts for a long time, it seems lately they are getting quite a bit more.
Wonder if a city councilor can tell me how much TOTAL we spend on the Helpline Center each year and if these services can be spread out to other contractors or better yet, teach city employees how to answer a phone. Seems pretty simple to me.
The City Council (including Mayor) can appoint citizens to these committees in order to discuss specific items. While the meetings are to be done in public, they can hold executive meetings to discuss confidential matters. But, a report of their findings during those executive sessions must be made public within so many days. This is why you really do not want to be appointed to these boards and committees, cause you take an oath/pledge to not speak publically related to the public matter outside the forum. I often thought about nominating myself to sit on the Charter Revision Commission, but the more I think about it, I am more open to speak on the charter freely by not being part of the commission.