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Dropping the Technology Ball.

I have expressed some disappointment over the last couple of weeks over the formatting of the newly required "Citizen's Input Question and Answer". I felt that a real FAQ management tool would have been more appropriate. I submitted a proposal to install one. I also submitted a proposal to perform research and answer writing for the questions asked by citizens. Both of these options were turned down, in favor of a much simpler "news article" style question and answer for each week.

I didn't feel that it accomplished everything that we could. I looked at it as a missed opportunity, but I was at least happy that the questions would receive answers.

This week, Mrs. Bertolini softened her requirement by only requiring three questions per week be answered. She made no requirement of which questions, so the Staff can now answer whatever questions they would like to answer, as long as they answer three questions. The Mayor and Richard Stevens voted against this. I feel that this is represents a total failure in improving communications.

The City has ample opportunity to answer the questions of residents. It even has residents interested in answering questions. The City has a real opportunity to harness the energy of people willing to work to improve it. Answers requiring longer research could be easily watched using software that is designed specifically for archiving questions and answers. If our city is going to grow together and grow responsibly, we need to stop running away from improvements and start embracing them.

City Manager Receives "Excellent" Rating and 2.5% Raise.

An uncomfortable council took several moments of silence and quite a bit of back and forth about averages to finally come forward with a motion, sponsored by Mr. Boyd, to rate the City Manager as excellent. The vote passed 6 to 2 with Mayor F. and Tim Day voting against.

This was followed up by a long discussion about many facets of the City Manager's compensation package and his job seeking. The discussion remained professional and only a few hints of hostility ever surfaced. Chris Berardi tentatively offered a motion to provide a 2.5% raise. The City Manager, looking glum, stated that he would be satisfied with only the 2% raise required by contract. The City Manager reminded council that he has had a far lower percentage increase than other City Employees during his employment. Mr. Berardi chose to allow his motion to stand at 2.5%. The motion passed 7-1 with Tim Day voting against.

I would have preferred that the rating be "Fully Satisfactory" to reflect the varied problems over the last year. I still believe that our City is lacking quite a bit in communications. I also would like to see more input received from citizens in more venues. I would like to see the City embrace more of the Internet's available technologies for gathering input and publishing information.