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Sunday, August 7, 2011

New Directive!

So Ms. McBride flexed her muscles; members of council can no longer contact city employees directly. All issues and requests must be filtered through her where they may be conveniently lost. A bit of history, Blogolanders. Back in the Dark Ages of the Holland administration, citizens who had problems, issues, beefs, called the appropriate city department. If there was no satisfaction, a call to the mayor's office usually solved the problem. Council passed resolutions and ordiances and kept an eye on the public purse. The Palmer administration introduced the Office of Citizens' Concerns. The results were so-so; in fairness, Ms. Holly-Ward responsed to my, "concerns", promptly and effciently. Others were not so lucky. Citizens began to turn to their councilpeople for help. And a few of them picked up the slack. This habit carried over to the current council; only one councilperson seems to enjoy going around Trenton doing stuff - that's George Muschal. And his colleagues seem to resent it. Perhaps because it makes them look bad - who knows? So we have a new directive! Badly written. Ye gods. Can no one write English? I was particularly interested in the word, "politely," because few denizens of city hall are polite. At best, I would call their attitude, "disinterested." I would suggest Ms. McBride withdraw this directive IMMEDIATELY. If you agree, start calling her.

1 comment:

Old Mill Hill said...

There are questions that need to be answered about this so-called "directive" of Ms. McBride's.

Was this discussed with her council vice president and/or the entire body? Did they agree to it?

Where does she get the authority to issue directives to her colleagues?

How does this policy fit in with state law?

Perhaps more troubling than this abuse of power is the so-far quiet acquiesence of the rest of city council (Mr. Muschal being the exception).