Never Too Early

Dear Readers,

Is it too early to start tracking progress on campaign promises?

It’s NEVER to early!

“Proactive on development!” That’s what Mayor Porter promised to be, a pledge echoed by Ward Three council member Bruce Williams in his swearing-in speech two weeks ago. Each council member had some variation on this theme in her or her campaign.

So far, other than a brief report by council member Joy Austin-Lane on the Metro development site, no proactivity has been in evidence, not at council meetings, anyway. No indications of what is meant by “proaction,” either. Also, no word on the charette-type forum on city development that the mayor proposed.

“Finish the gym!” Mayor Porter, Bruce Williams, and Marc Elrich all promised this.

Plans to review sites for the gym have been discussed. At some point in the near future the council will meet outdoors and bore (for soil samples). OK, I drove that one into the ground, so to speak, last week. Enough.

Overseeing taxes/services, review TASDI recommendations. Take a more political approach rather than rely on persuasion. This was the mayor’s promise, and all the other candidates included it in their campaign priorities. But, TASDI has had no or very little mention so far in council meetings. Newest member Colleen Clay obviously has cost oversight in mind, however.

Terry Seamen’s promise to propose legislative initiatives soon has so far not materialized. Perhaps he’s been distracted by the death of his mother-in-law. He was not at the most recent meeting, also.

Colleen Clay has not yet mentioned the series of forums she proposed on city issues.

Marc Elrich promised to slow traffic on Sligo Creek Parkway . No news on that, yet.

Of course, there may be all kinds of action happening on these proposals, pledges, and initiatives outside of council meetings.

Speaking of which, the mayor said the next meeting of the council will be an informal supper gathering at the home of one of the council members. She said this was in order for the council to get to know the newest member, Colleen Clay, and to discuss ways to make meetings more efficient (one of Seth Grime’s issues).

Now, this sound reasonable on the face of it, but is it legal? I thought all meetings had to be open to the public. Does that mean anyone can attend? More importantly, does that mean anyone can get supper? MOST importantly, will the food be vegan and gluten-free?

It’s easy to see what the problem is with efficiency. At this week’s meeting, the council was still discussing in agonizing detail the construction change orders for the community center at 9:30 pm, two hours after the meeting started. It was the second item on the agenda. A change order, for those of us who haven’t built an addition, is an unanticipated problem a building contractor or tradesperson runs into that incurs additional time, labor, or parts. For instance, the community center contractor discovered a slab of concrete that nobody remembered was part of the old municipal building. Tearing it out took more time and labor and tools than anticipated - or budgeted. It had to be done to accomplish the job, of course, so more money had to be found.

This sort of thing is common in construction jobs of all sizes, and the community center is no exception. When it happens during the building of a home addition, the homeowners discuss what to do: scrimp on another part of the job, suck it up, find a cheaper solution, find fault with the builder, or negotiate the extra costs. This is tough enough for a couple of homeowners, but when it is the seven council members, the city manager, and various other city staff, and each one has questions and suggestions, complaints, and comments . . . perhaps it becomes clear why the city council meetings are so inefficient!

In its effort to make up for being blind-sided by cost overruns and design changes last year, the council has chained itself to the practice of spending a large portion of its meeting time sifting the minutia of the community center building. Surely, this is something that can be delegated to a smaller committee.

It should be said that the item preceding the weekly community center report was the lengthy 2005 audit report. That report similarly focused on minutia, but that sort of city-budget minutia is more within the job description of the council .

On other business, the council voted to proceed with the purchase of equipment/software for internet streaming and archiving of city council meetings. One advantage of this over watching the cable rebroadcasts is that the sessions with be in segments, so one can download and view a short portion of interest, rather than watch the whole meeting. Won’t THAT be fun, readers? I’ll bet you can’t wait.

I wonder how they would label the segment that soured the end of the meeting? “Cinderella,” perhaps. Joy Austin-Lane butted heads with Mayor Porter, and particularly with Marc Elrich when Austin-Lane wanted the city to “send her” (pay for her $100 ticket) to the Montgomery County Executive's Ball for the Arts and Humanities. She wanted to be sent as a representative of Takoma Park, she said, to be present when city businessman David Eisner of the Institute of Musical Traditions is given an award. Joy said she and Marc Elrich were sent to this event two years ago when another Takoma Park businessperson was given an award.

Elrich scoffed that the ball is well known to be the “political function of the season.” Joy thanked him for this “edification.”As far as she knew, she said, the function of the ball was to raise money for arts grants. The mayor, Elrich, and Bruce Williams outlined the council policy, which is that the city pays only for events held by groups that the city has membership in such as the League of Cities, and Council of Governments. Colleen Clay came out on Joy’s side, saying that it was important to network with county politicians, and advocating that funds be set aside for such events to be used at the council person’s discrection. Mayor Porter ducked that one in her usual way, saying that as meritous as that idea might be it would require an official policy change, wording, discussion, and funding of which would have to be put off until the next city budget round. Porter would not accept that a precident had been set two years ago when then City Manager Rick Finn allowed funding for two council members’ tickets to the same ball. She ended magnanimously, saying that any council member was “free to go to the ball,” meaning that any council member was free to pay out of pocket for her or his ticket.

This may be related to the current political game of musical chairs. The host of the ball, County Executive Doug Duncan, is running for governor. Joy has just announced her candidacy for the state legislative delegate seat soon to be vacated by Takoma Park’s Peter Franchot. Franchot is running for the state comptroller seat. Heather Mizeur, former Ward Two councilmember is also running for Franchot’s seat. Perhaps Joy was imagining her rival Heather at the ball, buttonholing potential supporters and contributors, dancing with the Prince, dropping her glass slipper. . . . Joy, the mayor is not going to be your fairy godmother - spring for the ticket, get in there and buttonhole!

More musical chairs - according to Julie Scharper in the Takoma Voice, Seth Grimes is thinking of running for Joy’s city council seat if Joy wins the November 2006 election. If she does win (and I hope she does), there will most likely be a special city election, as the vacancy will occur more than the requisite 240 days prior to the regular city election. That is unless Joy somehow delays resigning her city council seat until March, 2007 in which case the council would appoint a replacement.

Individual council members get to have their say on any subject in the Council Comments segment early in the meeting. Newest council member Colleen Clay of Ward Two took the opportunity to show she’s jumping into her new job with both feet. She conveyed constituent complaints about the bad potholes on Ethan Allen Ave which she said must be fixed

Mayor Porter asked gently but pointedly if she had made an official request to the city. “Try it at staff level,” she suggested.

Clay then reported on a meeting she had had with Jere Stocks, president of Washington Adventist Hospital (WAH). Out of that meeting she brought what she thought were a couple of important items to the council. First, she said they had come up with ideas to deal with the heavy employee traffic, one being a letter to hospital staff showing alternative routes. Again Porter’s response was somewhat deflating, asking her if she had taken the idea to the city staff to ask them to take a look at it. Er, no, she hadn't.

Clay soldiered on to her last bit of news, which was that the hospital would be willing to engage in joint planning with the city for the hospital site if the hospital decides to move. Again, Porter let the air out of Clay’s balloon saying that, yes, President Stocks had expressed the same willingness at a previous meeting, but it is “a good thing to affirm.”

Either this is a case of Colleen needing to learn the ropes a bit better - for which she hardly deserves a public deflation like that - or the Mayor feels that Clay is stepping on her toes, getting into WAH negotiations on her own.

This was the last official meeting of the year.

- Gilbert

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