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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Read 'em & Weep

Good morning, Blogolanders.  Several members of the current council have told me after I've cricitized them that being on council is hard work.  There is an unbelievable amount of reading that must be done before each council meeting.  Yes, there does seem to be a lot of reading, but I decided to take a very close look at the docket from September 18 and break it down.  First, there were thirty-two resolutions on the docket which seems like a lot until they are separated into categories.  First, one resolution was withdrawn.  Scratch that.  Five involved worker's comp cases; there isn't much council can do about those so skim the resolution and make notes about why John Butterfingers got the award, etc.  Put those to one side.  Eight were liquor license renewals.  Again, skim.  Does this involve a problem bar; any restrictions, etc.  Make a few notes and put that pile to one side.  Six resolutions called for the rejection of bids.  Again, skim to find out why the bid was rejected and make a few notes.  Four involved grant money - now here more careful reading is required.  How much money is involved and what are the requirements? Maybe the grant is not really a good fit for Trenton.  Maybe it is a great opportunity.  Make a few notes.  That leaves EIGHT that call for the spending of money - OK.  These eight require very careful reading.  Is this for work already done or work in the hopper?  Does Trenton really need this work?  If all of this takes more than four hours, I would be very surprised.  But perhaps I'm missing something.  What does require time, lots of time, is the budget.  Especially if you go line by line which this council seems to be doing to their credit.  But the budget will be passed (without a tax increase, one hopes) which will free up time to prepare for council meetings.    Blogolanders, being in elective office leaves you open to a lot of crap; voters are rarely happy.  But that comes with the territory.  How to handle this?  Well, FDR and JFK laughed; Eisenhower just ignored it; LBJ took criticism to heart and it destroyed him.  Later.
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1 comment:

Old Mill Hill said...

It is true. Our elected officials (and this is a generality, with all the caveats that implies) are too thin-skinned and seem to have their priorities mixed up.

Their job is to take care of the city's business. That means reviewing and approving expenditures, etc.

They are also "sentenced" to having to listen to their constituents. That is part of the job. It must be frustrating as hell at times. But it is part of the job and they must endure.

Their job is not to pontificate; not to criticize back.

They are to do their homework (the reading), listen to the people (complaints and compliments) and take care of business.

The rest is up to them how they spend their time. But they have to remember...they asked (in some cases practically BEGGED) for the job.

Deal with it or step aside.

September 25, 2012 at 7:00 AM

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