Knock. Knock. Is Anyone Home?

Question For the Day: Is A Meeting “Public” If The Front Doors Are Locked?



Councilman Frank Legan scheduled a Safety Service Committee (SSC) meeting for 7 p.m. at City Hall, right before the regular council meeting.
I was running a bit late and didn’t arrive until 7:20. There were cars in the parking lot, and the inside lights were shining brightly, but the doors to City Hall were locked. Tight.
The SSC meeting went on, but the public was kept out.


Does holding a public meeting behind locked doors violate state Sunshine Laws? You bet it does.


Council President Scott Mills, who arrived early for the 8 pm council meeting, was quite unhappy when he discovered the situation. Fortunately, he had a key. He promptly unlocked the doors for me--- and made sure that they stayed unlocked until after the council meeting ended.


Jefferson Drive Sewer Relining Project a No-Go?


City Engineer Steve Hovancsek reported that the bids for the Jefferson Drive relining project came in much higher than the county expected and that the county is now “re-evaluating” the project. “There could be a significant delay,” according to Hovancsek.
From the sound of it, the delay could be more than “significant”---it could be indefinite.


Hovancsek advised the city to wait until next week to decide whether to cancel the scheduled Nov. 10th meeting with impacted homeowners.


I Want This One...And, Oh Yeah, I Want That One Too.


I managed to catch the tail end of the SSC meeting. I arrived in time to hear Service Director Thom Evans say that he wanted to lease/purchase a specialized sidewalk snow plow machine. The cost? Between $130,000 to $140,000.


I am a regular council meeting attendee, and I remember the discussion when Evans announced two years ago that the city’s old sidewalk plow needed to be replaced.
At that time, Evans told council that he didn’t want to buy a specialized sidewalk plow to replace the city’s old machine. He recommended purchasing a more versatile machine instead—a Bobcat 5600 Turbo Toolcat.
Council authorized that purchase on June 10, 2008.


 Evans told SSC on Tuesday night that now he wants a specialized sidewalk plow too.


According to Evans, there’s nothing wrong with the Turbo Toolcat. It’s a bit slow in clearing sidewalks during heavy snowfalls, and it doesn’t do quite as good a job as a specialized sidewalk plow. But other than that, it works fine. And, with extra attachments, it performs other jobs, like drilling holes.


I have to wonder what Police Chief Cook and Fire Chief Turner think about Evans’ request. They’ve been waiting patiently for approval of several of their own big ticket items--a new city ambulance and an updated fire alarm system come to mind...and there’s only so much (taxpayer) money to go around.

http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2008/05-27-08_city_council_minutes.htm
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/minutes/2008/06-10-08_city_council_minutes.htm


Labor Strife?


Speaking of the Service Department...for the first time ever, the city’s Service Department workers voted this year to be represented by a union. They had been non-union, up until then.And while Council approved a number of labor contracts last July, those contracts apparently did not cover Service Department workers.


It's almost fall and still no contract? Clearly there must be some serious issues up for discussion (and yet unresolved) in the building near the salt dome...


The Pool Leak


It Continues.
The pool’s been caulked (twice) and painted.
The company that built the 18 year old pool is re-welding some of the stainless steel wall seams.
Some of the concrete decking has been ripped up and supply lines repaired.
And still she leaks.


According to Service Director Thom Evans, there is no end in sight.


What A Difference A Year Makes.


A year ago, Council was lambasted by Mayor Scott Coleman, Park & Recreation Committee (P&R) members and P&R supporters for questioning P&R’s unbridled deficit spending.
According to a 12/10/2009 Sun Messenger story, Mayor Coleman went so far as to declare that he was “distressed” by council’s criticism of P&R and its profligate spending.
Others accused Council of “harming” the city by bringing the subject to light and discussing it in public.


In reality, council was simply doing its duty as city fiduciaries and as watchdogs of the public budget.
A year later, I think we should all say: Thank you, Council, for doing your job.


Although Council is still waiting to receive the final report from the brothers Ianiro (David Ianiro, the city’s Rec Director, and Anthony Ianiro, the city’s Finance Director), apparently the preliminary figures regarding the 2010 P&R budget are encouraging.


According to Councilwoman Cathy Murphy (the P&R council rep), the 2010 summer camp program (a previous perpetual P&R money-loser) appears to have run in the black this year, and pool wages were down appreciably from last year’s high of $ 155,000. Unlike last year, P&R did not hire any additional pool workers beyond the budgeted amount, which kept the total pool wage figure down.
Murhphy called it a "major turnaround" and praised Dave Inairo and P&R for their hard work.


Still A Long Way To Go.


While its runaway budget may be under control, there are other significant issues that P&R needs to address--and I’m not just talking about the pool leak. There are, I hear, major problems with regard to management of the pool and some pool personnel.


As I mentioned previously in this blog, a newly hired assistant swimming coach left abruptly during the swim season after concerns about his communications with a young swimmer surfaced. P&R needs to look at how this non-resident swim coach was hired, why he was hired, and whether any sort of pre-employment screening was conducted.


But it's not just the swim coach. One parent/resident in the know told me that quite a number of pool employees, along with several parents , signed a petition expressing concern about the pool’s management and some pool supervisory personnel.
It’s not a good thing when parents have to jump in the pool to rescue their children during swim lessons, but apparently that happened at least once last summer.
It’s time---more than time---for P&R to develop hiring policies--hopefully good ones.

The current “It’s not who you are, it's who you know” P&R hiring policy clearly doesn’t cut it.