Thursday, March 05, 2009

Back to Politics — BRPoCG - 3

How we got here? How we’re organized?

More views of the on-going Blue Ribbon Panel on City Government (BRPoCG).

The week before meeting focused on a presentation of how the Pueblo city government got to be the way it is configured today.

In my professional opinion, something about being a retired Army officer with some experience in giving information briefings, it could have been done better. There were no visual materials other than a copy of the City Charter for reference. The presenter had his copy marked with post-it notes to help him quickly flip to a particular page.

Furthermore, there was no organizational charting to show the different forms that the city government took, let alone the various departments therein and who they reported to. This, I think, is an important aspect of understanding what the city organization looks like. Not everyone is as ‘textually’ oriented as the presenter apparently was. Some people are more ‘visually’ oriented, i.e., they understand a complex topic better with diagrams and pictures.

One example would be the Board of Water Works. When and why did this utility get separated from the city? Another example is the electricity utility. Colorado Springs has that utility inside its government. Additionally, consider Englewood. They have a ‘concrete’ utility that deals with the development and maintenance of sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

These are ALL aspects of the city government that should be looked into. If not having to do with a mayoral form of government, certainly have a significant impact on how the government functions, mayor or no.

It is my considered opinion that the panel was poorly served by this presentation. And, for their sake, I hope they get better information on how we got to this current organization, as it will likely impact on where we go with the question at hand.

The more I look at this. The more I believe that a City Charter Convention is going to be required to address the form of city government Pueblo adopts and other important aspects of how the government functions.