The Arnold Arsenal

Arming the Arnold citizenry with information regarding their City government

April 4, 2014
Well, I have to say its been an interesting two years being on city council. Ive learned a lot. More than I wanted to know at times, but the experience has opened my eyes to the disparity between what goes on within city government and what the people actually know. When elected officials speak of transparency, openness and honesty its all a matter of perspective. Now that Ive experienced the meaning of those words from both perspectives, I have a better idea of how things really work. nd what the politicians tell you is never as clear and frank as the people expect. fter !uesday, I may not be on council any longer, but that doesnt mean Im going away. I will continue to attend meetings and write about issues and council decisions. "ut you will notice, beginning with this edition, the rsenal is going to take on a different format. It will be more informal and with a newsletter editorial look. nd so I begin this new chapter of my life in politics # SPECIAL WORK SESSION APRIL 2, 2014 Most of people were probably not aware there was a special work session on Wednesday evening devoted to the mid$year budget review. !his is a process that occurs at the % month point of the citys budget every year in order to check on how close the actual numbers are relating to the proposed budget. Its my understanding from other council members this is not the usual process. I personally believe this is the way it should be done. It allows all of council to discuss what is proposed and, if properly advertised, gives the community a chance to hear how individual council members want to spend tax dollars. In this session, in spite of the reduced revenue and overage in spending, several items were brought forth to be added to the already taxed budget. !hose being& '(,))) to *M+, for a spot on highlighting the city for one week- '.),))) to fund pro/ects applied for through the 0ulbright 1 2ooley "eautification 3rogram- '..,4%( to provide summer help for the 3ublic

Works 5epartment to help repair sidewalks- '.),))) to the 2hamber of 2ommerce to increase their public relations work for the city- '67,))) to improve the citys website, which would re8uire a continual '67,)))9 :in future budgets; for maintenance of the website- and '%%,))) in addition to the already budgeted '4),))) to renovate the citys health department<animal shelter- between '=,))) and '.>,))) for a sound study regarding a sound wall along I$77 near ?ichardson- @ 'A7,))) for engineering to realign the ?ichardson<+ld Bemay 0erry intersection with a future expenditure of approximately '47),))) for the construction of that intersection. I found it interesting that any of these were proposed at all based on the fact the city was currently running a deficit. "ut none the less, its /ust tax money so why notC It was decided the following pro/ects would be funded. Dince a contract was already signed with *M+,, the '(,))) will be pitched to the !ourism 2ommission to come from their funds, but !ourism is also running in deficit. !he "eautification 3rogram would be given '.),))) for grants to possibly three subdivisions that had sent applications. 3ublic Works would be allowed to hire summer help for '..,4%( to repair sidewalks. +ne of the few items worthy of the overage, along with the '.),))) to the 2hamber, which is actually only '7,))) more than the city currently contracts with the 2hamber. !he website funding of '67,))) and the additional '%%,))) for the health department renovations were also approved. !he sound study and realignment were not approved. fter these items were decided on, there was discussion on how to bring small business<entrepreneurs to rnold. !heres been some discussion between certain council members regarding this issue over the last year, but businesses havent been invited for input. It /ust makes sense to me that if you want to hear how to entice small businesses to rnold, you should talk with small business owners. "ut wait, that would make too much sense and after all, government knows how to do everything better, rightC !his business plan is the brain child of Mary EliFabeth 2oleman and 3hil mato. !here was some disagreement between the two of which should come first, the money or the plan, but in the end, both agreed to fund the extra '.)),))), along with the ma/ority of council members. Mr. mato even suggested all or part of that money should be spent on beautifying the intersection of I$77 and Gighway .A. because a pretty entrance to our city will appeal to businesses. fter discussion regarding the process to follow with the business plan, Mayor 2ounts asked to have the council polled as to whether the '.)),))) should be added to the budget. With four council members :2oleman, 0ulbright, 2ooley, 2risler; ready to spend the extra and four :Moss, Gohmeier, mato, 0reese; against, the mayor broke the tie with the added comment of

something to the effect of Hits /ust chump changeI. It was later told to me Mr. 2ooley was overheard saying to Mr. 0reese referring to the recent vote, Hits /ust '.)),)))I. Im wondering when '.)),))) was nothing but chump change. It would buy some people a houseJ "y the close of the special session, council proposed to add nearly '67),))) to the budget. REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 3, 2014 Budget !he next evening council had to vote on whether to approve the proposed budget ad/ustments from the previous evening. "efore the vote was taken, I asked the entire amount of the recent changes. !here will be '666,4%( put into the general revenue fund and '(,))) into the tourism fund. !his money will be taken from the reserve fund, which to my understanding is to be used in case of an emergency. Im curious how these items can be /ustified as emergencies, except for the possibility of the additional manpower to complete the sidewalk repairs. !hree council members voted against the budget, *en Moss, 3aul 0reese and myself. I cant speak for the others but I couldnt with good conscious vote to take money from the reserve fund for pro/ects that couldnt be put off for % months and looked at for the next budget year. Red Light Cameras lso during the meeting, I made a motion to send a non$renewal letter to !D regarding the citys contract for the red light cameras, which was seconded by *en Moss. My reasoning behind the motion was that I think its unwise to leave a contract perpetually suspended. If the city takes the initiative now to not renew the contract, it will reduce the chances of violating to the contract if the decision is made after the renewal date. lthough negotiations have been made to allow the city to not renew up to the day before the contract expires, I thought it best to attempt this path before elections. I even pointed out that if a future council would like to reinstate the use of red light cameras, they could sign a new contract with !D at that time. !he end result was a A<A tie. Myself, *en Moss, Mary EliFabeth 2oleman and Kason 0ulbright voting to send non$renewal. 3hil mato, "utch 2ooley, 3aul 0reese and Nancy 2risler against it. Mayor 2ounts voted against the letter.

I will say it seemed to be 8uite a struggle for Mr. 0ulbright to decide which side of the issue he wanted to fall on, but Mrs. 2oleman was 8uick to agree. Mr. mato tried to associate the non$renewal with the possibility of law suits arising from accidents occurring in the intersections and the city being liable for those accidents. If that were the case, wouldnt the fact the city discontinued issuing citations raise that danger alsoC "ut council members were fine with approving that measure. Mr. Dweeney cautioned council on making this choice also. Mr. mato even went so far as to advise the mayor that according to ?oberts ?ules he :the mayor; could not accept my motion. fter the mayor accepted the motion and voting began, Mr. mato again attempted to halt the process by making a motion to table the decision, which goes against ?oberts ?ules. ?ecently in the Beader, both Mr. 0reese and Mrs. 2risler stated they believe the cameras are a Hnon$issueI and that !D should be fighting the appeal Hat its expenseI and Hon its own dimeI. If this is a non$issue and they would like to see !D paying for the appeal process, why not vote for non$renewal until such time as the appeal has been decided. ll the fuss makes me wonder why its so important the city keep the contract with !D. 2ould it be the amount of money thats involvedC re individuals possibly benefitting from the contract staying in force other than !DC +f course theres no evidence to prove these 8uestions, but to not 8uestion motives seems an irresponsible course of action.

?egular meeting pril .>th at >&)) pm Work session May (th at >&)) pm

ALWAYS REMEMBER: BE INVOLVED THIS IS NOT ONLY WHERE YOU LIVE THIS IS YOUR HOME TO!ETHER WE CAN BUILD ARNOLD INTO A COMMUNITY O" WHICH WE CAN BE #ROUD