March 2017

The Mayor doesn’t understand appeals and the council doesn’t understand hydraulics

l3wis March 21, 2017 16Comments

Who thought this thing would cause such a fuss?

When I watch the council meetings from home, the fun stuff always happens.

Oh well, I’ll give you my ‘tractoring’ advice from home.

I am already exhausted before I even start explaining the city council meeting tonight.

Deep breath.

I asked councilor Stehly to question why the city needs to buy a brand new snow trimmer at a cost for $300K tonight by pulling it from the consent agenda. I never thought it would turn into an argument about public input and appealing the mayor’s decision.

But it did. (please watch the spectacle – right after public input)

It amazed me that councilors Starr and Stehly (with 2 votes from Erickson and Neitzert) pulled off an appeal of the mayor’s decision to close down public input on a consent agenda item, but what was even more interesting was when the mayor asked what the appeal meant? And questioned if Starr knew more about Robert Rules then he does (yeah, he actually does, it’s kind one of his ‘things’).

So after that fight was won, a board member from Great Bear came up and testified AGAINST Stehly saying the new trimmer was needed ‘for the kids’ of course.

Poetic justice?

Well not really. Growing up on a farm and working construction I know a little bit about ‘hydraulics’ it’s those greasy tubes that have hoses that break a lot (that’s the unscientific version, but stick with me.) Before the public was ‘allowed’ to speak during a 10 minute melt-down and a confused city attorney, a Parks Department mid-manager explained that the current snow trimmer was ten years old, at the end of it’s warranty life, and had 7,000 hours on it.

Uh, okay. So?

He then tried to explain that it was at the end of it’s life. LOL.

Not quite. He continued to say that replacing the hydraulics on it (if they break) would cost around $60K.

So I guess in his world if you get a chip in the windshield of your car, you need to replace all the windows and headlights.

First off, in ‘tractoring’ life, 7,000 hours is ‘breaking it in’. That is basically 6 hours a day, 116 days for ten years.

Secondly, on the farm, if a hydraulic or hose breaks on your tractor, you don’t replace every piece, you fix the problem. It’s like saying you need to replace a $500K combine because it got a flat tire. It’s ludicrous.

There’s also the argument that if ONE of these hydraulics breaks you have to be shut down for a long period of time. Not true, a good mechanics garage with the city would have back up parts that could be replaced in a timely fashion.

So there you have it, a lesson in Roberts Rules of order and greasy tractor parts. Who says that city council meetings are not interesting?