February 4, 2016
FOR THE RECORD
I was very disappointed to learn of an e-mail which was published by a colleague on City Council regarding an action that we took this past Tuesday evening. It was inaccurate.
Our City Charter requires that we review our charter every 5 years to determine if changes are needed to make the process of city governance more efficient. We appointed a blue-ribbon committee of five people, including a former mayor and city council member, a judge and several attorneys with significant experience in municipal governance, to undertake the task of reviewing our charter and making recommendations for any changes they thought were necessary.
The committee completed their work in 2014 and their recommendations were shared with City Council in a series of workshops which were open to the public in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Since we cancelled our district council elections in 2015 because all members were unopposed, we did not feel it appropriate to hold an election to only consider changes to the Charter language. We were concerned about low voter turnout and we wanted as many people as possible to decide these issues.
Because our current mayor is term-limited, we will hold an election on May 7, 2016. The action taken on Tuesday was to place the recommendations (propositions) on the May 7, 2016 ballot FOR THE VOTERS TO DECIDE. IN MY OPINION, THIS IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF DEMOCRACY, GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY AND CITIZEN REPRESENTATION. PLACE THE ITEMS BEFORE THE PEOPLE AND LET THEM DECIDE HOW THEY WOULD LIKE TO BE GOVERNED.
Unfortunately, my colleague has chosen to MISREPRESENT the action taken by City Council.
If you have questions, I can be reached on my cell: 713 725-9924.
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