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.

Next entry: City Council-City Manager or City Council-Mayor Previous entry: Caveat Emptor — Cooper Wiring Devices

1. Quote: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.  unquote

   And I believe you are correct.

   But . . is a change of Governmental style needed? Or do we just need to change some people . . ? The current Council seems to need either a strong leader, or perhaps fewer strong willed egos . . and fewer backdoor agendas.

   Mayor or no Mayor, Manager, whatever, there’s little leadership and guidance going on here . . while the Manager works for (and at the pleasure of) the City Council, he (she) is also sort of a moderator or in some cases, referee. With this bunch, Galli didn’t have a chance, and with his wont to tell most people what they wanted to hear, he didn’t match up to a Council whose members, most of the time, know little or nothing about the issues that face them . .

   Chances are, a “Weak” Mayor, with this crew, would, by now, be a pariah . . or just another “Council President” . . and a “Strong” Mayor might be enjoying the same rancor Galli received, only with no way out . . .

   So, I don’t believe a title change will change much . . It has to be the person who wears the title who will make the difference . .

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/09  at  08:17 AM

2. TO: LARGE
   RE: Is Change Needed?

   But . . is a change of Governmental style needed? Or do we just need to change some people . . ? The current Council seems to need either a strong leader, or perhaps fewer strong willed egos . . and fewer backdoor agendas.—LARGE

   I’m not certain that such a change is needed. No one, todate, has provided any logical reason for a change in the form of government, vis-a-vis city council-city manager or mayor-city council-city manager or whathaveyou.

   On the other hand, I can see a number of reasons why a city charter convention would be beneficial in changing the way the city DOES work. Particular emphasis on NOT out-sourcing the legal department and correct gross flaws in procurement policy.

   RE: Backdoor Agendas

   My big concern is that there ARE such agendas at play inside of CALM.

   I attended one of there meetings in January. When I had a free Tuesday night.

   I honestly believe I was the only REAL conservative in the room of 20+ people. Terry Hart’s and Mr. Thibaut’s presences were interesting indicators as to the mentality in the room.

   My thought is that the Democrats think this a great way to bring partisan politics, and control of the majority registered Democrats, into play in the usually non-partisan election process of City Council.

   And the LAST thing I think we need in city politics is all the dirty laundry from either party in deciding who should govern the city. I don’t need to spend the local election cycle arguing about the Kennedys, Condits, Jeffersons, Dodds, Cunninghams, Stevens, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. It’s all so much more smoke, mirrors and dust in the way of deciding who is best at governing the city.

   Regards,

   Chuck(le)

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/10  at  05:26 AM

3. “Is change needed?”

   Snort! . . change is always needed . . according to most. Look at your Presidential politics . . yet, how much “change’ is there really going to be? Just agendas, basically.

   As for Pueblo’s City Council . . currently, if you added up the IQ, converted it into water, you couldn’t get a 4” X 4” tile wet . . so change is certainly needed. But it isn’t the style of Government, it’s the ignorance of the voters. Most people voting for City Council members or County Commissioners, have little or no idea of the local issues. While few understand State and federal politics and issues, even fewer understand the local issues . . or, in many cases, don’t even care.

   My problem with Council is the fact that they are being led by the nose to slaughter just about every time they meet. They are given presentations set up by any one of several “Feeder Committees” and what they are told by those presentations, and Tom’s legal approval (or not) is usually what they vote on . . And this is kind of traditional . . ole filthy Fred used to tell us, prior to a Council presentation, “Hit the high points, I’ve already told them all they need to know” . . so not much has changed, except now, it’s my nickel they’re blowing . .

   But, titles won’t change their way of doing business. New, intelligent people will. Where you find those presents a quandry, as well as finding those with no agenda or an axe to grind once they’re in office. also, these people need to be transparent and honest . . currently, at least four of the Council are closer to “sheeple’ than leaders and the other three seem to be “Sheepleherders” . .

   Those are the people who put Galli’s head on the chopping block and then they let Vera swing the axe . . A good City Manager (or Strong mayor) doesn’t get led to the guillotine . . If he goes at all, he goes screaming and kicking, and he’ll usually take down a couple with him . .

   Didn’t see that happen, didja?

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/10  at  10:18 AM

4. Let me add, about CALM . . a bunch of partisan politicians . . anytime Bill Thiebault is involved, you’re gonna be dealing with the Pueblo County Democratic Party. And as you saw, last election, quite like the little boy at the Peter Contest, they took out enough to win . . even if some of the winning votes came from Roselawn . . .

   Partisan politics are too close, being at the County Level . . we don’t need them at City level . .

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/10  at  10:22 AM

5. TO: LARGE
   RE: Ouch!

   As for Pueblo’s City Council . . currently, if you added up the IQ, converted it into water, you couldn’t get a 4” X 4” tile wet . . so change is certainly needed.—LARGE

   Not the kindest thing I’ve heard expressed about them. And probably not exactly accurate. But the sentiment comes across well. And without the use of foul language.

   RE: What It Is

   But it isn’t the style of Government, it’s the ignorance of the voters.—LARGE

   Or rather, ‘ignoring’ the voters. Let alone the City Ordinances. As I argued before the Planning and Zoning Commission and later restated before the Council itself, they’re not following their own rules. And I’ve seen that in more than one instance.

   RE: What It Needs

   But, titles won’t change their way of doing business. New, intelligent people will.—LARGE

   That AND a changed City Charter to bring the legal department inside the government and away from possible unknown conflicts of interest. Likewise a change to procurement policy that makes EVERY procurement a competitive bid. Where it is now looks like every procurement is likely to be non-competitive because of the phrasing in the current City Charter.

   These two corrections alone would, in my honestly held opinion, straighten out 30% of the problems we are having now. Maybe even more, depending on a certain scenario.

   As for the mayor, idea. I’ve not seen any convincing evidence that having a mayor would improve relations between the city government and the people, i.e., removing the government ignoring the people. Nor have I seen evidence that it would improve the way the city functions.

   Maybe someone from CALM could step up to the plate here and we could discuss this.

   Know anybody whose willing to?

   Regards,

   Chuck(le)
   [For forms of government let fools contest; Whate’er is best administered is best. — Alexander Pope]

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/11  at  10:30 AM

6. The fact that the Council “Ignores’ the needs or the will of the public does no more than show their contempt for the voters and their stupidity. The only thing that keeps the City Council members from dying in chambers is term limitation . . Pueblo’s voters are one of the most racist and apathetic groups of people in the country. Around 55% of the voters are Latino (or Chicano, if you prefer to be locally correct) so an assurance that you will be elected and re-elected until you either die or are term limited is very great if you have a Latino name . . Note, those women who are chicano by birth hyphenate their last names, so there’s no guessing here . .

   I’m not a racist, I grew up in Avondale and believe the Chicanos to be one of the neatest cultures in this country . . And If I were given a chance for a “do over” and had a choice of who and where I could be . . I’d change little, and growing up there would still be mandatory. But . . A Chicano will vote for their own, simply because of human nature . . and that’s “racist”.  I’m sure there’ll be a post or two on this . . But . . I’ve even been guilty of the syndrome myself, earlier in my life . . Now . . I don’t care what your surname ends in or what color you are, if you’re a “Politician”, I have little use for you . .

   IF. . Voters used thought instead of emotion, 99% of the incumbents in Congress and our Statehouse would be lobbyists and Janitors now instead of “The Honorables” . . And we wouldn’t be working “just to pay the taxes” . . Hopefully that would “Trickle down” to our local politicians . .

   In Pueblo, no matter what you do, there’s a “Conflict of Interest” . . Hell, half the population is related . . and tied together by ethnic history . . So the term becomes a barrel of snakes at worst or a box of worms at best . . we deal with it . . as for Tom, when I was a planner, almost 35 years ago, I worked with him and never saw a bad side . . however, I’m not that close now, so others might view it differently . .

   Is there a real “Procurement Policy”? With this Council it seems to be by “Resolution” gained by consensus after input by one presentation either engineered by certain members with agenda or a committee with again, single source input . . ?

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/13  at  09:39 AM

7. Here you go . . “Procurement” has gone completely away. There is no reason to issue RFPs if no competitive offers are to be considered, or allowed. Last Monday night’s decision on PMP/NEK was a perfect example. There was a party present who is capable of financing and operating the facility at a profit. The man has been present since Randy Thurston told Me and a couple of other interested parties that Dave Galli was going to publish an RFP for the lease of the operation of Pueblo Motorsports Park last July/August . . It was never issued, nor was Council (in general) made aware that other parties might be interested . . . At the time there were at least 4 and possibly 5 people or parties interested . . presently, or at least before last Monday’s work session began, there was, apparently . . 2 . . and one was told that the city wasn’t interested, even though they really had no input or offer from that party.

   It would seem to me, that, Randy Thurston is “Running” the council, as the council President, Ms. Ortegon was literally told to “Sit down and shut up”, so why do we need Council? why not just elect Randy Thurston “King of Pueblo” and be done with it? Of course, in the case of “Sit down and shut up”, perhaps “Dictator” would be more correct.

   What say you?

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/19  at  11:18 AM

8. TO: LARGE
   RE: Racism

   I agree that people who vote FOR or AGAINST someone based on their ethnic background and not on their merit to do the job to which they are elected ARE ‘racists’.

   RE: Procurement Policy

   There is something that ‘smells’ with regards to the way ‘procurement’ is accomplished in this city. And, I honestly believe that if we got that sorted out and run in an open and honest manner, we’d save the citizens of Pueblo a BUNDLE of money or be able to do a LOT more with what we have. Maybe even put in that 11th Street bridge over the rail tracks.

   Regards,

   Chuck(le)
   [The art of putting the right man in the right place is first in the science of government; but that of finding places for the discontented is the most difficult. — Tallyrand]

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/20  at  09:29 AM

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