The City Council's next agenda-fixing session was scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 13, due to the federal Veterans' Day observance on Nov. 12. In what seems to Plaintalker to be an unprecedented move, the agenda-fixing session is being moved back to Thursday, Nov. 8, due to a conflict with the Nov. 13 opening of the annual League of Municipalities conference.
There is language in the Municipal Code that allows for shifts from the second Monday in November due to the federal holiday. The code also allows for the meeting to be held on a subsequent date if there is some "specially recognized event" on Tuesday. I just don't recall the League being so special in past years.
There has been talk of possibly recruiting a new chief financial officer at the conference, which would be a very good thing. Another factor might be that as finance director of the City of Orange Township, Council President Adrian Mapp has a need to attend the conference in that capacity. Whatever the reason, I hope all who attend will take the conference seriously and use it to learn best practices in municipal government. In years past, the conference has had a party-time aspect that former Gov. Jim McGreevey detected on his first time in attendance and to which he alluded in his book, "The Confession."
Another past issue has been the number of city employees in attendance. The new strictures on spending public money have no doubt influenced the number and rank of attendees. Still, it can be tough to get hold of folks in City Hall that week, so plan accordingly.
--Bernice
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Hi, Bernice,
ReplyDeleteYes, part of the reason for the date switch was that we were told that many members of the administration would be at the LOM for professional development CEUs, and would be unavailable to us. The governing body, as well, receives valuable information--I will be heading down to try to take advantage of some of the seminars--there are several that look to be quite educational--I want to focus on the TOD and economic development stuff--there's one on attracting the arts community as well. There are also seminars on ethics in government--I am hopeful that a particular individual will attend those ones--she certainly needs to.
Rebecca