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The spirited reaction over the state of emergency in Niagara Falls brought hearty reaction all over the place on Saturday.
Councilperson Bridgette Myles reached out to Channel 4 to plead her case, claiming communication was needed, not just emails.
Many communities schedule regular work sessions with the executive branch and legislative branch meeting to discuss important issues.
At the start of this year Chairperson Brian Archie announced the council would be having work sessions before regularly scheduled meetings. Sometimes those committee-of-the-whole meetings have been effective.
More often than not, however, one 45-minute discussion is not enough for members to get their questions answered.
There have been insufficiently addressed issues as well.
For example, officer Troy Earp’s email from earlier this year exposing how police management manipulates overtime to pad wages and inflate pensions.
That happens all over the place in state pensions, including firefighters and teachers. If you can retire on a pension that gives your ⅔ of your highest 3 years imperpetuity, who would not do it?
If there are allegations of fraud, bring them forth. Instead, we get the GIVE grant stalled because Councilmember Vincent Cauley, despite meeting with Retired Police Chief Faso and seeing Faso’s presentation on GIVE, voted against stopping gun violence because, as with every issue, he can only see more questions and pontificate like he is preaching in church or giving a stump speech.
As for paving and mowing, sure there are questions, and the process could be improved but not getting answers on the process, or hearing allegations from Union President Tim Huether should be a reason to investigate further. It should not be a reason to stop a contractor from mowing lots or paving roads.
Sometimes these delays have been caused by stupidity. For example, when you delay repairing catch basins, you delay paving because milling has to happen as part of that endeavor and milling is the job of an outside contractor so you go to the end of the line.
Another issue of stupidity is the council voting not to approve a change order because a road repair revealed needed water or sewer work was needed. The contractor does the work because that’s when it is most cost effective. The waterboard reimburses the city because it is financially responsible. To delay that process because you can't comprehend what you are being told is to reveal the depth of your intellectual capacity or lack thereof.
Think of it this way: The contractor remodeling your bathroom finds rusted galvanized pipes, dripping a bit, when she opens the wall behind the tub. Replacing the pipes was not a planned expense but it is the right thing for your home. The wall is open today. Your spouse is at work. You make the decision to fix the pipes. He gets home and pitches a fit because it's anothe $800 you don't have. Only in the case of the waterboard, it's as if the neighbor is paying for the work,
There are questions about city government. It is inefficient because of the disconnect between the council and mayor. They need to get together and move forward no matter who likes or dislikes each other.
It is also amazing how important Archie was. Hopefully he comes back. In the meantime, I am still waiting for a logical explanation on the mowing contract and pricing which on the surface shows a great change in pricing and a contractor name that is incorrect.
That said, if the purchasing department and the acting city counsel reviewed it, and were OK with it, as was the controller, ask questions but trust the experts.
It’s like going against the recommendation of the city and state comptroller when they said the settlement of eminent domain needed to be paid from fund balance, not tribal revenue.
I don’t support an event center because the feasibility study failed to address siting as well as debt service. That said, the quagmire of the lawsuit needed to be resolved.
As for tribal revenues, that is another matter, the Heritage Area, School District, Destination Niagara and Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital all need funds currently sequestered by the city. Not distributing them because 99H expired and the city doesn’t have to is unconscionable.
In another couple weeks I will sit with the Mayor. Maybe I should sit with Cauley or Myles as well.
