Salida City Council Meeting October 4, 2017
Friends and neighbors, please watch three minutes of last night's Salida City Council meeting using the link below. Watch from 2:52 to 2:55. Please comment. I would like to know if you have the same reaction that I have, which is deep disappointment with some of our elected officials.
Comments
Unacceptable.
I'm not sure which is more unacceptable and appalling: The Mayor's treatment of a council member, the mayor limiting free speech, the mayor spending our tax dollars for the attorney to "investigate" 2 council members, or Melody walking out when Eileen began to speak. Melody walked out on me once when I was addressing the council. Although I found it amusing, it was also one of the most disrespectful things I have ever seen. And to think she is suppose to be repressing the citizens of Salida. Melody's manners are abominable.
How verry disappointing. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to hear the answers to her questions. Hopefully she does publish the concerns. I appreciate the city attorney. I also believe there should be a system of accountability through checks and balances. His statement "I speak with Mr Kahn 2 to 3 times a day" is hardly reassuring and not having an accountability system for the last attorney is not a good reason either.
Using tax payers money to investigate day to day activities of council members is really a stretch - hopefully Salida has a journalist that needs something to work on !
3 items strike me as indicative of how dysfunctional some members of Council and Mayor are.
1) Significant topics, like justification for City Attorney invoices are not allowed to be discussed. Current Mayor rudely cuts off legitimate presentation from Councilperson Rogers once she discloses that the Mayor never reads the details and approves them anyway. Without transparent disclosure, it is apparent that the Attorney works solely for the Mayor and not the full Council, let alone the citizens. The Council runs Salida, not one person.
2) Melodee Hallet had no excuse for walking out of this meeting at 2:53. Her behavior is an affront to her colleagues on Council and to the citizenry. A proper leader would not tolerate disrespect like this. Both are standing for election and the voters will soon decide if this is the kind of government we wish.
3) The discussion about 4-way stop signs at 3rd and D at the Post Office again indicates a lack of leadership in our City on even simple matters. The Mayor and at least two Council representatives indicated support for the signs, based on a history of citizen requests. The Mayor should at least have asked for a motion to consider what level of support there was. While the City Administrator's advice that a traffic study might be the best way to defend such an action, he did offer the option that Council could mandate it. What he did not disclose was that neither he, his predecessors nor the Chief of Police have had the courtesy of explaining the Model Traffic Code nor responding to citizen requests, in over a year. Instead, the idea is possibly tabled for the next work session. I, for one, will be there to advocate for using common sense.
We have a Council Election coming in just a month. It's time for Salidans to make choices: remain mired in the muck of the last two years, losing ground on critical issues, or demanding a change and real leadership.
Everyone needs to see this! And then check out Eileen's Guest Opinion in today's Mountain Mail (Oct 11)!!!