Local Attorney, Justin Smith was elected chair, and no surprise. He ran the meeting with an iron fist and made sure everyone was following procedures and gave extensive commentary to why policy and procedures should be followed. This is no surprise, as I told someone after the meeting, Smith made sure that the CRC last time around put nothing on the ballot, he was afraid that if something got on the ballot it ‘might pass’. Like a typical attorney, it was clear to me from this first meeting that Smith was building the case early to keep stuff off the ballot that may benefit the public. I’m not saying he won’t approve some minor language changes, but those likely will come from the administration.

During the meeting, councilor Neitzert spoke and told them to take their time on the salary increases for mayor and council (as if he was appointed by the rest of the city council to speak on their behalf) Well, he kind of is the self-appointed leader of the RS5. I’ve noticed several councilors depend on Neitzert’s research so they can hobble through the meetings while watching baseball games and texting their plumber or babysitter.

Another gentleman spoke at the end during public input, having several requests. One was to have a super majority for bonding (which I agree with). Smith asked him what would that threshold be ($$$)? The person said they could discuss later. IMO, there is no ‘threshold’. If the city council has to approve borrowing money, whether that is $20 or $20 million, it should have a super majority.

New CRC member, Anne Hajek also asked the public inputer for their street address, which took him off guard. We haven’t been required for several years to give our street address only our name and city we reside. He gave it anyway, though he didn’t have to.

I have lost all hope the CRC will put anything on the ballot accept pissy-ass crap about minor word changes in the charter. The only way to make real change in this city is by carrying a petition, and this time make sure the city clerk looks at it.

2 Thoughts on “Charter Revision Commission has first meeting of 2019

  1. Might be early to speculate, but sounds like Councilor Nietzart is setting himself up to run for Mayor.

  2. l3wis on June 22, 2019 at 6:30 pm said:

    Don’t speculate, we talked about it when he was running for his first term in council.

Post Navigation