Monday, November 5, 2007

City Council: New Tools for 2008 & Beyond

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'I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past'
- Thomas Jefferson
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Tonight's offering will be short and sweet for our incoming Council Members, whoever they turn out to be.

At today's meetings the Council made some changes to next year's budget:

• $250 thousand was ear-marked as 'one-time' General Fund money in next year's budget for expert help focused on Urban Village Planning and Transfer of Development Rights [TDRs].
Additional help will also be forthcoming soon specifically for Annexation Planning.

These have been long-standing concerns which have been difficult to address with existing resources

• $65 thousand was also ear-marked to fund a Research Analyst position for City Council.
Details of how this position will be administered will determined by next year's Council & Administration.
Assignments are expected to be made by a majority vote of next year's Council.

• $15 thousand was provided -actually reinstated- in the Council budget for training purposes.
Believe me, its needed for that job!

• There are adequate funds available for televising all Council Afternoon Work Sessions, in addition to the Regular Evening Meetings, plus other Special Meetings determined to be especially important.

The simplest and cheapest option is to televise these meetings live as they occur, and post them in the City's website for future use at viewer's convenience. Again, the 2008 Council will make final decisions.

So, there you go future Council, Christmas has come early!

And, we'll know pretty soon who all the new Council Members will be.
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Tomorrow's elections will culminate in selecting our new Mayor and other community leaders.
I hope its a clear decision that doesn't keep us on pins and needles for too long.
It is time for this campaign to end and for us all to come to terms with whatever the results will be.

I sincerely hope that a time of healing will immediately insue, that will allow us to constructively address the real challenges this community faces.
There is so much to be thankful for here, yet much yet to be accomplished!
But, that's actually a good thing, because it keeps us on our toes.

And, it provides the opportunity to build upon what we have for the future.
Our future is potentially very bright, but in the words of the Starship Enterprise's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, we have to "make it so"!

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"If we are to solve the problems that plague us, our thinking must evolve beyond the level we were using when we created those problems in the first place." --Albert Einstein