I'm reporting, YOU decide!!

Yesterday (Feb. 12, 2009) I attended what was publicized as a “Meeting of the Finance Subcommittee” at City Hall. In attendance at this meeting were: Four members of City Council, the City Manager, the Clerk of City Council, the City Finance Director and two other city employees (from the finance department), and myself. Mr. Richter from The Middletown Journal was also in attendance.

It was my understanding that these “subcommittees” were originally created in order to gain input from the CITIZENS to the City Council. What I saw at this meeting indicated no such thing. In fact, I tried to stimulate discussion on the “problem” of the continuing subsidy (apparently of over $200,000 annually) by the General Fund to the Golf Fund; how much longer this would be necessary (until the golf debt is paid off in TEN years): and the fact that by then the Golf Fund would be deeply in debt to the General fund. I was told that "the golf course would've made money last year except for the "debt service". Then I was gently “dressed down” and given a short lecture regarding all of the good things that have been accomplished in town and told that we should be looking for “things to celebrate”.

Interestingly, about a short while later, a council member (Ms. Scott-Jones) reintroduced the very same issue, and a meaningful discussion ensued! So much for valuing “citizen input”! It is obvious that if you don’t have a VOTE on council, they don’t have interest in your input! This discussion reached the conclusion that I feared. The "debt service" mentioned above has already required "loans" from the General Fund in excess of $650,000, and by the time the debt is discharged, this amount may be in excess of $2.5 MILLION. All the other kids get to do it...oops...I mean every other municipal golf course in Ohio, except two, lose money every year. Conclusion: We better look into this sometime within the next 2,3, 4, or 5 years.

Before this meeting ended, someone asked: "who were the official citizen members of this subcommittee?" At this point, I stood up, and said that "That doesn't matter!" I then said that at the first of these subcommittee meetings that I attended, I was told that a QUORUM was "two of the three council members on the subcommittee." I said that at the same meeting it was stated that: "Only council members could either make or second a motion at these meetings." I said that since only a council member could make or second a motion, and a "majority of a quorum" is all that is needed to pass a motion, it is irrelevant whether there are any citizen-members or not. I added: This is an illegal meeting!

But I digress! My question to the citizenry is this: There was meeting of FOUR council member (an official QUORUM of the City Council), with the City Manager, the City Council Clerk (who appeared to be keeping minutes), and three members (all employees of the city) of the City’s Finance department! Was that a “Meeting of the Finance Subcommittee” or a “Special meeting of City Council”?  A secondary question: Why does city hall keep saying that they are all for OPENNESS, when they keep doing everything in their powers to meet to discuss CITY BUSINESS out of sight of the public?

PS: The four council members were: Mayor Lawrence P. Mulligan , Jr., Bill Becker, Anita Scott-Jones, and David “I will not run again” Schiavone.