Council Meeting Tonight

The City Council meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall Library, by which time we shall know who filed for two council seats in the June primary. Petitions are due by 4 p.m. in the City Clerk's office.

Among items of interest for council consideration, the city will have to pay $80,000 in the matter of Pamela Gwinn, who sued because of "disparate treatment, emotional distress, and a hostile work environment" between October 2004 and January 2005 in the Police Division. An employee roster from 2006 lists her as a police officer with a salary of $72,505. There is a docket number, but no further details in the resolution. It makes me curious to know more, especially who her superior was. I hope whatever led to this lawsuit has since been rectified.

Road repair, once the topic of a comprehensive study and a plan that was then not carried out, appears to be getting a proposed $11 million boost by a new bond issuance of $8.2 million and a rollover of another $2.7 million in unused bond funds. Notations on the ordinances mention many streets or portions of streets to be repaired, the main one harking back to a "2008 Road Program." Others list 2011/2012 road improvements.

A cynic might point to the fact that this bonding would allow the incumbent mayor to play catch-up and fix the roads in the waning days of her second term, thus being able to claim road repair as an accomplishment on the campaign trail for a third term. One wonders about the timing, but who will carp if the roads finally get repaired? I wish we still had Rashid Burney's eye on this important issue, as he used his web site to explain and track it for the public. One also hopes the debt has been vetted as not too much of a burden for the city, as fiscal astuteness has not exactly been a hallmark of the administration so far.

The audit corrective plan that all council members must sign is several pages long. A quick review at the library Saturday brought out a couple of things that need more explanation, such as the administration's plan to hire a budgetary consultant. The city has had at least two highly qualified budget advisers in the past, who served quietly and without notice except by a certain Deep Throat in City Hall Annex. Could it be their advice was not heeded? Will this new budgetary consultant's advice be followed?

Plaintalker hopes both the bond ordinances and the corrective action plan will be discussed tonight for the public's benefit.

As for the negotiations with the mayor over dropping her lawsuit against the council, one might feel more sanguine if they hadn't presumably started over the April Fool's weekend. The deadline was supposed to be today unless she agreed to an extension.

--Bernice