A 10 Point Plan, revisited

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All of the Pollyanna-ish, good-news-only, let’s-be positive posts here recently reminded me of a couple of years back (on a now defunct version of the Middletown Journal blog) when a poster chastised some of us for criticizing the “put fresh make-up on ‘er” schemes from City Hall that was going to “make everything all better“. They also challenged any of us to “come up with a better plan!” A couple of hours later, I posted a “10 Point Plan” in reply. This seems like an appropriate time to re-post that message for the “new” folks that now seem to be interested in our city. Here it is:
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While I am sure that I, and several of the others that have posted here, either alone or in concert, could come up with a viable plan in just a few days, such a plan would be much too long to post here.
Conceiving the plan Is not the problem. The problem is to convince anyone at City Hall that any mere ordinary citizen, outside the inner circle, can possibly have anything valuable to say.
All that aside, here is a brief outline, with no detail of course, of the plan:
1. Immediately reprioritize the city budget, recognizing that the first purposes of city government are public safety and infrastructure.
2. Immediately eliminate all charitable, cultural, entertainment, amusement, and similar items from the budget.
3. Immediately resume having city Council work session in public, as well as conducting all other public business in public.
4. Immediately remove all council members, relatives of council members, or any other persons having possible conflicts of interest from all public boards and commissions, and from the boards of directors of any organizations receiving tax money from the city of Middletown.
5. Immediately begin making Middletown truly business friendly. Revise all building codes that unnecessarily add to a potential business’s costs, such as unnecessary dormers, unneeded wall breaks, and similar architectural features.
6. Immediately issue a policy paper to all city department heads, instructing them to distribute it, and explain to all employees that there will no longer be any unwarranted impediments to business development. Further instruct them to explain to all employees that there is no such thing, for example, as the “right” architect. The “right” architect, is any architect licensed to practice in the state of Ohio, or licensed in any state with reciprocity agreements with the state of Ohio, and that any employee found violating these directives will be summarily discharged.
7. Immediately issue a policy paper to all city employees involved in engineering, planning, zoning, and other business development-related fields instructing them that personal preferences can no longer be tolerated while conducting city business. Include in this policy paper instructions that no city employee’s tastes shall be imposed upon, or even suggested to, any potential business enterprise, and to purge all local codes and ordinances of personal preferences. Include a warning that any violation of this policy will result in immediate summary discharge.
8. Immediately abolish all city codes or ordinances banning, or even discouraging, signs visible from I-75, or from the surface streets in the areas surrounding Interstate highway interchanges, when such signs advertise goods, products, businesses or services available in the City of Middletown. 
9. Immediately and in writing, explain to the City Law Director that his first duty is to the citizens of Middletown, and that this duty supersedes any directives from city council.
10. Empanel truly independent charter review committee, with the purpose of proposing changes to the city charter that: A) Mandate that Middletown’s city government return to the true purposes of a municipal government; B) Emphasize the division of powers within the city; C) Ease the procedure for recalling elected officials, and the implementation of the immediate discharge of non-elected officials, who violate city ordinances, charter provisions, or State of Ohio General Law; and D) incorporates the Ohio Attorney General’s “seven tests for compatibility of offices” into the Charter.

As you can see, this is getting too long for this venue already, but perhaps you get the idea.
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At this time, I would definitely ADD to the plan, a mandate to rework the city budget, greatly reducing the number of accounts, and simplyfying it to the greatest extent allowed by law.

There you have it. Since it does involve some changes to the City Charter, perhaps Mr. Nagy will at least give it some consideration.

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Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: A 10 Point Plan, revisited Posted: Jan 17 2009 at 2:56pm
	All of the Pollyanna-ish, good-news-only, let’s-be positive posts here recently reminded me of a couple of years back (on a now defunct version of the Middletown Journal blog) when a poster chastised some of us for criticizing the “put fresh make-up on ‘er” schemes from City Hall that was going to “make everything all better“. They also challenged any of us to “come up with a better plan!” A couple of hours later, I posted a “10 Point Plan” in reply. This seems like an appropriate time to re-post that message for the “new” folks that now seem to be interested in our city. Here it is: ******************************************* While I am sure that I, and several of the others that have posted here, either alone or in concert, could come up with a viable plan in just a few days, such a plan would be much too long to post here. Conceiving the plan Is not the problem. The problem is to convince anyone at City Hall that any mere ordinary citizen, outside the inner circle, can possibly have anything valuable to say. All that aside, here is a brief outline, with no detail of course, of the plan: 1. Immediately reprioritize the city budget, recognizing that the first purposes of city government are public safety and infrastructure. 2. Immediately eliminate all charitable, cultural, entertainment, amusement, and similar items from the budget. 3. Immediately resume having city Council work session in public, as well as conducting all other public business in public. 4. Immediately remove all council members, relatives of council members, or any other persons having possible conflicts of interest from all public boards and commissions, and from the boards of directors of any organizations receiving tax money from the city of Middletown. 5. Immediately begin making Middletown truly business friendly. Revise all building codes that unnecessarily add to a potential business’s costs, such as unnecessary dormers, unneeded wall breaks, and similar architectural features. 6. Immediately issue a policy paper to all city department heads, instructing them to distribute it, and explain to all employees that there will no longer be any unwarranted impediments to business development. Further instruct them to explain to all employees that there is no such thing, for example, as the “right” architect. The “right” architect, is any architect licensed to practice in the state of Ohio, or licensed in any state with reciprocity agreements with the state of Ohio, and that any employee found violating these directives will be summarily discharged. 7. Immediately issue a policy paper to all city employees involved in engineering, planning, zoning, and other business development-related fields instructing them that personal preferences can no longer be tolerated while conducting city business. Include in this policy paper instructions that no city employee’s tastes shall be imposed upon, or even suggested to, any potential business enterprise, and to purge all local codes and ordinances of personal preferences. Include a warning that any violation of this policy will result in immediate summary discharge. 8. Immediately abolish all city codes or ordinances banning, or even discouraging, signs visible from I-75, or from the surface streets in the areas surrounding Interstate highway interchanges, when such signs advertise goods, products, businesses or services available in the City of Middletown. 9. Immediately and in writing, explain to the City Law Director that his first duty is to the citizens of Middletown, and that this duty supersedes any directives from city council. 10. Empanel truly independent charter review committee, with the purpose of proposing changes to the city charter that: A) Mandate that Middletown’s city government return to the true purposes of a municipal government; B) Emphasize the division of powers within the city; C) Ease the procedure for recalling elected officials, and the implementation of the immediate discharge of non-elected officials, who violate city ordinances, charter provisions, or State of Ohio General Law; and D) incorporates the Ohio Attorney General’s “seven tests for compatibility of offices” into the Charter. As you can see, this is getting too long for this venue already, but perhaps you get the idea. **************************************************** At this time, I would definitely ADD to the plan, a mandate to rework the city budget, greatly reducing the number of accounts, and simplyfying it to the greatest extent allowed by law. There you have it. Since it does involve some changes to the City Charter, perhaps Mr. Nagy will at least give it some consideration.

spiderjohn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2749	Post Options Post Reply Quote spiderjohn Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan 20 2009 at 9:28am
	a wonderful common sense list, Mr.P should be standard procedure and an everyday business model. Maybe this list should be emailed and/or presented to Council, the city manager and ESPECIALLY the members of the charter review committee.

Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan 20 2009 at 11:57am
	It's right here, Spider, for anyone to copy, forward, email, or present. I'm sure that some folks will see some of the items as being harsh, but (there's always a "but" isn't there?) there are purposes for government and areas where government has no business spending other peolpe's money, ESPECIALLY in times when they cannot afford to fullfil their primary duties.