Tonight's Council Meeting - Long or Short?

Sixteen of the 21 resolutions on tonight's City Council agenda are slated to be passed in a single vote, which normally should speed up the meeting. But then there are three discussion items that potentially could slow it down to a crawl.

The prime suspect for verbosity is titled, "Unresolved Baseball League Concerns." Last week, just a few speakers held forth on the subject for half the meeting. If a crowd shows up, just get as comfy as you can on the hard court bench, because these issues have been largely unresolved for years and there will be a lot to hash over.

"Plainfield P.B.A. Local 19 - Discussion" sounds kind of open-ended as well. Council watchers will just have to wait and see what the actual topic is. The contract was settled, or so we thought, so that could leave working conditions, policies, leadership, community relations or even the police chaplain concept as the topic.

"City Council/Administration Retreat" could be as simple as naming a planning committee or even just naming a date and place.

A non-consent item that may draw speakers is a resolution removing two of three lots on the Muhlenberg campus from the "in need of redevelopment" study, as they do not fit the criteria for redevelopment. Those who are following all aspects of the Muhlenberg situation were upset to learn recently that the Office of the Attorney General has no objections to removal of restrictions on certain charitable funds that the Muhlenberg Foundation wants to convert to use for the proposed new satellite emergency room in Kenyon House on the campus. This opinion comes in advance of a Jan. 23 hearing on the matter of repurposing the funds. (If I stated this incorrectly, feel free to comment.)

By the time the council gets around to the sole ordinance, on issuing $14.5 million in refunding bonds, I hope there will be time for a brief overview of city debt and how this bond issue fits in.

Dr. Yood wrote that he has never missed a President's State of the Union address and he is feeling torn about priorities for tonight. The meeting is at 8 p.m. in Municipal Court and the address is scheduled for 9 p.m. Barring any squirrel mayhem in my apartment, I will attend the council meeting and later watch a video or read a text of the speech (or both).

--Bernice