Thoughts for 2015

Mau looks ahead

My left ear is ringing so loud and my insides are rumbling so noisily that I can hardly think, but I am hoping 2015 will be a lot better than 2014, a very challenging year for me, my family, Plainfield and the world at large. Somehow I ended up with several planners for 2015 and I hope they don't fill up with medical appointments the way the last one did. I will do my best to cover council and land use meetings for the blog and I hope they will have more positive news to report.

Human Relations Commission member George Gore answered my query about the group by saying they expect to hold some forums this year that will be "informative and relevant to Plainfield and its residents." Upon meeting with law enforcement officials, the commission came to the conclusion that racial issues here were "overstated." I will try to cover any such forums as they are announced.

Regarding the governing body, I was eligible to vote only in the Second Ward. I hope my re-elected representative will be shown respect, and that collegiality will prevail as the council deals with the 2015 budget and legislation.

 .Mau prefers to think inside the box

A few important initiatives did not receive council support in 2014, notably the forensic audit, despite findings of fiscal disarray and lax practices in some city offices. As Finance Director Ron West put it, "We've asked the team to unlearn everything they ever learned about doing their jobs. They have to learn a whole new way to do their jobs."

The tangled fiscal web was such that Chief Financial Officer Al Steinberg said, "It takes us weeks to do stuff that should take us days to do."

In rejecting the proposed audit, some council members focused on a perceived intent to discredit the former administration rather than to right the ship of state. But considering the amount of turnover in the cabinet,
it is likely that support staff may have received conflicting directions at times or been left to their own devices at times when there was a gap in leadership.Establishing consistent practices for dealing with about $75 million of the taxpayers' money can't be a bad thing.

Well, it is now Jan. 2 and Radio Unnameable is on, so I will sign off and listen to Bob Fass for a while. See you at the reorganization on Monday!

--Bernice