Council meeting update 8/11

Before the meeting, I introduced Sheldon Dill to Anne Giddings. The introduction was fun. Anne attended the meeting to listen and participate. And she's clearly excited and looking forward to the campaign. I'm sure she'd thoroughly enjoy being on the Council. I hope she gets to join me there in a few months. But getting to the meeting...

Tonight's agenda moved along, but there was some discussion. Perhaps helping the meeting move along was the absence of Councilman Ecke. Missing his presence, I was guessing there may not be a vote to spend an additional $200,000 to $250,000 or more on the pool (keep in mind that one of the two bidders had problems with the bid bond). The bids are here:We then voted (8-0) to adopt the changes to the personnel rules & regs. Included in that were new rules:

1) Prohibiting the accumulation of more than 35 vacation days (transitioning past the existing accumulated days is a separate issue) and

2) Eliminating the defined benefit plan for future non-union hires as an option. Going forward, future non-union hires will be given the option of a defined contribution plan with a 5% auto payment and additional 1% match if an ee contributes 1%. Personally, I think it's a pretty generous plan.

Now I want to focus on the other three parts of this grid:But those would need to be negotiated in a fair and equitable manner. That could take time... though the town's union contracts just expired on June 30... with new ones in negotiations. For my part, I'm comfortable spending a bit more now... so as to avoid sticking the bill to the next generation... as they love to do in Washington with their new found love of "borrow n spend" fiscal policies.

The Town Manager's contract extension passed (7-1). I opposed it. I offered several thoughts - both complimentary and constructive. I may elaborate later this week. But in the meantime, if any reporters are reading this... I suggest you call Councilman Ecke to ask for his views. I think it would be interesting to mention to him that I voiced concerns about employee morale, particularly with the CPD. Then ask him if my concerns are legitimate. I'd find his response fascinating. Oh... and... btw, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that was part of why he wasn't there tonight.

Grant money for the linear trail was discussed.

And the OTT Freedom of Information Act ruling that all constituent emails are subject to FOI. I understand the idea behind it, but I think it's an invasion of the privacy of the public. As I mentioned tonight... We The People are in charge of the government. The government is not in charge of We The People.

And near the end of the meeting, Councilman Altieri asked for Council feedback on the possibility of investigating the use of performance contracting as a financing mechanism for some town projects. Great idea! Thank you Matt... now maybe the Council can make some progress if we can replace the guy who wants little else than to be Honorary Mayor... with Anne Giddings... maybe we can make get some things moving in town!

Tim White