City Council Meeting 02/25/2008

Monday's meeting was another short and sweet one. It was overall a fairly boring meeting with the exception of the following gems:

They finally passed a bill to address the complaints about the difficulty driving on Lackland, just past Midland. I was surprised that they made it "no parking, all the time". I thought maybe they would go for 2 hour limits or such. Especially since that parking is used during events at Norman Meyers Park.

There were some changes to the budget. I browsed the ordinance that was posted on the board and there were a few errors (e.g. went from 23,000 to 247,000 in one category). Although changes were made to the copies given to council members, they were not on the copy posted for the public. I realize typos can be made, especially when dealing with lots of numbers as there are in a budget bill. I just wonder how often proposed ordinances that pass are different than what is posted without going through an actual amendment/vote? Especially when such changes are NOT mentioned during the meeting.

The council tabled the proposed ordinances to change the building codes. This was being done by suggestion of Chuck Boone. Thankfully, we have some responsible (read non-rubber stamp) council members who researched this further. Council member Conlon questioned why there were few cities who had adopted the code that we were proposing. It is wise to table this motion and wait to see if we are just ahead of the curve (when does that happen) or if we are doing unnecessary changes for this time.

The rest of the bills/proposed ordinances passed without debate, as they had been discussed in previous meetings and workshops.

Speaking of workshops, the situation with vandalism at Brooks Park was suggested to be discussed in a workshop. That wasn't good enough for Kenny-boy who proceeded to whine and cry about the topic during the meeting instead of waiting until the workshop. Most of his arguing was with Ward 1's Cuminale. After the meeting, Kenny was overheard telling Richard Knode that Owensby will remember this when they want something for their ward. Of course, The Big Kmode did not defend his own ward (Ward 1). Such non defense is surprising considering he is a (non-campaigning) candidate for the seat in Ward 1.

They went into executive session to discuss some items with the woman from East-West Gateway. One can only assume that the light at the end of the tunnel is about to shine--or, that a CA should be hired soon.