Those of you who follow local government may see that something has changed with the Council. Concerns about the performance of city hall are increasingly expressed by Council members. Some of these concerns come out at public meetings and others must, by law, be addressed privately.
You will know how well the Council is working together and how well we are working with the Mayor by tracking some current issues between now and early 2010:
- 2010 budget - how will we rise to the challenge of reducing expenses to stay within the state requirement of a maximum 2.5% increase in expense over 2009. This will require more cooperation between the Council and Mayor than ever.
- If lay-offs and union contract give backs are part of our budget solution, will the Council speak with one voice. Will the Council and Mayor speak with one voice. When there are differences in strategy, will all parties put their cards on the table respectfully and make compromises to achieve real solutions?
- Will the Council get straight answers by the next Council meeting to questions regarding the transfer of Dudley House to a private not for profit organization?
- Will the Council and the Mayor ensure that the Muhlenburg Community Advisory Group has a fully operational complaint procedure so that citizens know where and how to make complaints and that they are resolved within specified time frames?
These are some of the current concerns/issues that our city government is charged to deal with. Get out your score cards to measure the performance of each Council member, the Council as a whole and the Mayor. We all need to be held accountable individually and even more importantly, as a team. It will take a team approach to navigate Plainfield through some very challenging problems and times.
4 comments:
We too eagerly await the outcome of your highlighted issues. However, the last one dealing with CAG should rather be "what efforts are actively being implemented to prov ide Plainfield with inhospital care?
I have gone to many City Counsel meetings and find most of the members of our city counsel working hard for the citizens of Plainfield. I have also found that the lack of preparation of the current administration has hindered Plainfield's move forward and the Counsel's ability to do make sure Plainfield comes first. While I applaud most of the counsel members, especially Counselor Mapp, Counselor Storch, and Counselor McWilliams; I hope the mayor and her staff will get their act together and not make us wait for the new administration to fix what the current one has broken.
The city council is just like the administration. We'll get back to you. Over the summer you had a meeting with the PMUA. What changes were made?
The current budget process is a fiasco. Why don't you hold people to a higher standard or GET RID of THEM!
I'm trying to figure out when the City Council is going to get rid of the Administrator. His constant "I'll get back to you." and "I'm not certain, I'll get back to you." is indicative of his incompetenance and poor performance and the Counsel's lack of holding him accountable. I can only imagine all the "I'll get back to yous" on the highlighted items in your blog and the other items not highlighted that everyone forgot about that he hasn't gotten back to anyone on. Save my taxes or better yet lower them and get rid of him.
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