All Wards Meeting Follow Up
I wanted to take a moment to follow up on a few items from the recent All-Wards Meeting at the Roosevelt Center. Thanks to staff for the responses.
SILT IN BLACKHAWK CREEK (Public Works Review)
The area between River Dr. & the Railroad Bridge was reviewed on Blackhawk Creek and the opinion is; that it will not do any good to clean this area because the harbor side is silted to the same level. Sewer Division does clean the concrete channel regularly.
CONCRETE PILLARS NEAR ALLEYWAY BEHIND 100 W LOCUST (Public Works Review)
The pillars belong to the property owners (Kidney Center) and are not in the actual alleyway.
LOUD PIPES IN ROCKINGHAM/SOUTH CONCORD AREA (P.D. Review)
The area of Rockingham and S. Concord has been tasked as an enforcement area and our personnel have been doing traffic enforcement in the area and will continue to keep it in our Traffic Bureau’s enforcement rotation schedule. Also, just for the record, we have written 39 loud noise tickets to date this year, though the system doesn’t allow us to sort out the cars from the motorcycles.
GREENSPACE AREA IN FLOOD ZONE/PANSY PROPERTY DISCUSSION (C.E.D. Review)
We have secured federal funds for certain of the prior specific parcels in that area. With each of those, we are obligated to own them and keep them open space.
RISK MGMT. FUND (Legal Review)
The balance and use of this fund has been requested - I will post as soon as I learn more, Ian.
posted by Ian Frink @ 7:30 PM
22 comments
22 Comments:
Next one on a Saturday morning?
What can we do to get the railroad bridges cleaned up before summer festivals? I feel the street sweepers should be running non-stop at different times of the day to clean the streets. What do you think?
4:58,
I am tentatively shooting for Sat. 4/21 in the AM - I'll confirm within the week. I think a Sat. is a good idea, thanks. Ian
5:05,
I'll ask about the RR bridges, I'm not sure how much we can do - b/c of private ownership, but I'll look into it. I agree with you, thanks for the note.
I am told, per Ald. Barnhill's request last night, that we are due a staff memo/update on street sweeping plans.
Ian
Ian:
There are many issues with the rentals at 14th and Gaines St. There are many who have reported the issues to the city. can you find out why the city isn't enforcing our codes and pulling the rental licenses of these people?
I thought the city has just hired four more housing inspectors, why are these problems still existing? Can't the fire department keep up?
Ian.. you the man!!! Keep up the good work!
Ian - did you sign the Thee removal thing?
7:36,
I signed my support onto a letter drafted by Ald. Ambrose -- that said:
"I am making a formal request to re-orgainze the City's Legal Department."
Ian
9:01, 2:23,
I'll look into your requests this week - thanks for the post.
Ian
how come you voted not to fire malin? this guy has to go or are you 1 of brookes kiss asses,well good luck in nov!!!!!!
8:36,
Tonight's meeting had two agenda items, both pertaining to the legal department. It wasn't the time or place to vote on the city administrator's contract. I wasn't happy about the short notice, we, the council had for this meeting and had hoped it would have played out through a more typical process -- that said, it wasn't grounds to fire the man. Feel free to vote for whomever you choose this fall; I won't be offended. - Ian
Ian - who were the councilmen involved in the contract negotiations with Malin and Nahra? Did you know about them? Were only certain Aldermen involved and why?
10:53,
I knew Nahra was a candidate, but was not involved with any negotiations of the contract. As for other aldermen, I'm not sure one way or another -- I didn't think the "fast track" was a good idea. I think it was a good move to table tonight and re-visit through a more normal process.
We need to spend time with the ordinance change and the contract/hiring process. I was glad the council voted to table. The only item, we the council, signed off on was Ald. Ambrose's request to re-visit the legal dept. structure and that was done by eight of us.
I spoke with a number of my colleagues tonight and we all agreed that the fast track approach wasn't the best direction. We will have to re-group and look for the best possible result for the city. - Ian
"fast track" that's what happened to the NEO, wasn't it?
When and what area is the city going to do the environmental sweep this spring?
I think your doing a great job, keep it up!
9:19,
Not sure about when the environmental sweep will be - I'll look into it and report back. Thanks for the post, Ian
This weeks events and what we're finding out that led up to it is a disguting picture of City Hall. That includes the council and the Mayor whose apparent inaction contributed as much to the dirty outcome as what others did. Ian, reorganize implies action. Revisit implies discussion. The memo you signed said reorganize. You say you knew Judge Nahra was a candidate. What did you think he was a candidate for? When did you know Mary Thee was going to be removed as City Attorney? Did you have questions about adding an attorney to city staff without following the hiring protocol recently established by the council? What do you think of Craig Malin moving Mary Thee out of her office before Tuesday's special meeting took place? Why did you sign this memo at all instead of working within the established council committee process that is open to the public and on the record? This little petition that went around to some, not all, aldermen, is surprisely grade school. Why was it needed by aldermen who have consideraable power by the fact that you are elected officials who meet on a regular basis and vote? There were places for all ten aldermen to sign that memo. Did you think it was important to have all ten sign before Nahra was put up for hire? There are so many more questions but if you will answer these people will have a better idea about your part in all this. I hope you do answer.
6:42,
I would have preferred this process to have move through a committee structure.
Re-organizing the legal department, to me, was defined as a new ordinance that offered joint support for the council and the city administrator; also the potential hire for a new city attorney (for which Nahra was a candidate). Re-organization, to me, also was defined as improving a staff that may be spread thin (7 attorneys in 2001, 5 currently) to help reduce the $500,000 in claims paid out in the most recent year.
I knew Mary Thee was no longer the city attorney, the day it happened. I didn't think an office move was necessary, by anyone, this week - as we are in an interim mode as of now.
I signed the agreement and, assumed, we were not going to have a tight fast track with 24-hours heads up. This whole situation is unfortunate on a number of fronts.
I don't believe I know the whole story - communication, honesty, and trust is a key for success in any organization (by ALL parties), we need to do better on both of these fronts.
If you wish to discuss more, feel free to call my cell: 508-2842. Thanks, Ian
If you didn't know, then who did? Do you seriouls approve of how Craig Malin handled this Ian? What will you do about this?
Also, as the Alderman at Large, you have a responisbility to the entire city. The people of the 1st ward need you now. Why aren't you taking the lead to replace VanFossen? Why no leadership for you or Howard on this?
The residents of the 1st ward deserve better - they deserve to be represented. They aren't getting that - DO SOMETHING IAN.
Also, now that the 14th and Gaines big slum rental has been busted, are you going to request that the city finally shut the place and the landlord down? Please.
To 7:31, I'm sure it was a lot easier when the NEO was there to address the situation. Now we just need to sit back and wait until the fire department catches up.
Signed,
Taxpayer
7:31,
Thanks for the posts.
- I wasn't happy with the fast track on the legal dept. last week. I shared my concerns with Craig Malin. I don't know who knew what at what levels. I am not a committee chair, so I'm not privy to the same amount of information on the front end of issues at times. What is unfortunate is the fact that we had a decent ordinance revision on the table and a solid candidate in the wings. If this situation would have played out in a normal process, perhaps we could have modified the contract and moved forward with the re-structuring. We are now back at the drawing board. It was a mistake. I believe at the end of the contract for the CA - the pros/cons need to be weighed and at that point the decision can be made to renew the contract or not.
- As for the 1st ward, I wanted RVF to have his day in court and I had preferred to see a petition come forward from the ward. Both of these have now happened and I am comfortable for a move to make a change. We need to hold ourselves to the same levels we hold our 800+ employees. I have been assured that this would be grounds for removal for a "normal employee" - so I am comfortable with the decision. I don't have anything against the man and have had a professional relationship with him when working on issues. It is an unfortunate situation and a "business decision" at this point.
- 14th and Gaines, I will be discussing this with another alderman tomorrow and hope to have some new ideas for direction this week.
Ian
Follow up on 14th/Gaines from city legal:
"At this point in time the police reports related to any raids that have been conducted at these properties are not available to me on the system. I will check back for the information in a week. I did look at the police department's database regarding these properties for the last year and there was nothing there that would support a nuisance abatement under the problem area code enforcement procedures without something coming out of the police raids. I'll let you know what I find in a week or so."
Ian
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