A New Year, A New Beginning

Readers, it is vitally important that we all be aware of the business to be conducted at the next City Council meeting, on January 2nd, 2006, the first meeting of the new year. We MUST make sure our voices are heard before this meeting takes place. The public interests and perceptions must be considered in the process of naming a new City Council President.
The first meeting of every year includes the nomination and selection, by Council Members votes, of a new City Council President. This meeting is already raising great concern, as the names that are circulating as projected nominees are...(remove all sharp objects from within your reach), Donnie Blevins (they MUST be kidding), a City employee already embroiled in controversy, and Dan Coffey who has served 7 years on the City Council, and holds no position within City employment that could cause his vote to be compromised in order to protect his job.
Folks, there is one very simple concept to consider here...
Under NO circumstances should ANY City employee be handed the reins as President of the City Council. This would create a situation fraught with possibilities of unethical behavior due to the control that could be exerted by certain authority figures over the sustainability of the persons primary employment.
Furthermore, as it is, City employees sitting as general Council Members are practically inviting trouble, as their employment with the City will certainly carry some weight in their decision making and voting on matters that directly, or indiretly, impact the departments they are associated with.
Already, we've witnessed complications that arose from City employee and Council Member, Donnie Blevins who was curiously moved from the doomed Sanitation Department over to the Street Department without regard to proper procedures of senority based departmental transfers.
This move was percieved as nothing less than political favortism, and has resulted in growing tensions among Sanitation workers and Street Department workers alike. There is even talk of Union grievences being filed.
Indeed, it was recently published in the Courier; "...that [Garner] moved Blevins because of tensions within the (sanitation) department." As the article further explained, the situation that caused the debacle stemmed from two reprimands [Blevins] issued as assistant supervisor in the Sanitation Department, that caused bad feelings in the department.
As Ann posted on her blog, "Diggin' in the Dirt", concerning the situation:
"...it sticks in the craw of several people I have spoken with that Councilman/Sanitation Dept. Assistant Supervisor Donnie Blevins was transferred out of Sanitation shortly before the bid was awarded, thus avoiding the possibility of the aforementioned pay/benefit cut. There are other workers with greater seniority than Blevins."
Even Jack Messer, as a City Police Officer, is straddling the fence by holding a seat on the Council, because he is percieved as having too much influence in too many arenas of City business. This caused great concern when he was considered for the position of Code Enforcement Officer, and eventually led to a great deal of anomosity as tempers flared on both sides of the issue.
The City Council is the city's legislative and fiscal control body. According to the written rules of Indiana Association of Cities & Towns, "Council has the authority to fix salaries of all elected officials in the City. The Council also establishes the annual salaries of members of the City's Police and Fire Departments."
I ask you, does Jack Messer really even belong on the Council, as a matter of principle?
In contrast, CM Dan Coffey holds no position of City employment, and has seven years experience sitting on the City Council. He knows the condition of the City, and he knows no fear when it comes to bringing contentious issues to light, and asking pointed questions of the Mayor and other Council members.
Furthermore, the Council President has the authority to call for an audit, something the people of the City have been asking for, but the City has failed to provide. The Council President also has the authority to call for investigations into other matters, such as the sanitary sewer department, that no one seems to have the answers to. The public deserves to be provided with a Council that will act as the checks and balance system against an administration that has acted irresponsible in matters of financial responsibilities and political favortism appointments to positions that are filled with unqualified personel.
I have no doubt that CM Coffey will utilize these opportunities to finally provide a clear picture to the public, as well as to the administration, of where the City stands in regards to our fiscal health, along with the procedures of conducting City business in the proper fashion.
He may be brash, and he may indeed be guilty of a bit of grandstanding at times, but I would still rather put the the next year of this faltering City in the hands of a bold personality than I would those of a meek and unknowledgeable newcomer, just because he is NOT Dan Coffey.
It's time to step up and take the bull by the horns, and there is no one better for that job than Dan Coffey.
Don't get me wrong folks, I am not a Dan Coffey "fan", and we have had our share of differences along the way. However, I am willing to put aside those differences, and step back to look at what the City needs as a whole. This isn't about personality conflicts, this is business. It's time this City gets down to some serious business.
Finally, it only makes sense that the outgoing President step into the Vice President role, as CM Schmidt did last year, as it is their duty to conduct the business of the Council in the event of an absence of the President elect. Procedural matters would then be able to proceed without hesitation, and knowledge of conducting the business of the Council would be a given circumstance. This method would also provide a gradual course of blending back in with the other general Council members for the outgoing President. Jeff Gahan should, in my opinion, be given the Vice-President position.
Dan Coffey still has things to learn. Perhaps a teamwork approach can be beneficial to all parties concerned.