In what is becoming an all too familiar fact, once again the OV Council voted "No" on an issue by a 4-3 vote.
This time it wasn't taking money out the contingency fund in an ill-conceived way of balancing our budget.
This time, the majority of Mayor Loomis and Council Members Abbott, Carter & Kunisch said "no' to the implementation of an Economic Development Commission intended make recommendations to the council on economic development issues such as business attraction and retention, and provide the council with an annual action plan.
Only Council Members Garner, Gillaspie & Latas felt a 7 member volunteer group of members representing various sectors of the local economy from retail, lodging and other areas would be an asset to the town.
Some opposition was based on "no need for these damn commissions" (Carter) or not liking the idea of Ms. Latas choosing the members. (Abbottt & Loomis) We're not sure what problem Kunisch had.
Read The Explorer article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/07/01/news/doc4a4aa40d015bd817964102.txt
9 comments:
It would appear that Carter and Abbott saw right through this charade.
How could an economic commission be given any credibility if all of the members were chosen by the most anti-business individual on the Council (followed so closely by Garner and Gillaspie that is one stopped quickly there would be an embarassing accident)? I guess Ms. Latas was hoping to become the ED Czar.
The proposals by Garner were laughable.
The most anti-business idividuals on the Council would be Abbott, Carter, Kunisch, and Loomis who voted this down.
To propose any council member appoint every member of any board of commission isn't clear headed. I'm disappointed in Garner on that idea.
Doesn't OV already pay $50,000-$70,000. for staff in economic development? Isn't that why we gave taxpayers money to TREO, MTVCB and C-Path?
The volunteer meetings are not free. OV Staff is paid to oversee, attend and organize those meetings.
I think this is not the time increase expenses in Town Hall.
Garner didn't propose that any one person appont every member of a board or commission. I don't know where anyone got this idea.
OV Mom...
The EFFECT of appointing Latas as the liaison carries with it the authority to personally choose the first seven candidates for appointment. Since there is no existing chair or vice chair and there is no staff liaison Salette would select the candidates herself. The suggestion by the Mayor was in my opinion the correct way to go the first time around. The motion by Garner to limit the commission to Oro Valley residents is also tainted. His motion eliminates a wealth of knowledge by not including business owners/representatives who may not live within the town limits but who are directly effected by business decisions made by the Town Council. The exclusion of the Chamber as an ad hoc member also speaks to Garner's lack of knowledge about the strength of and the expertise within the Chamber and was a slap to the face of the business community.
Ah, but there is a staff liaison: the economic development coordinator, Amanda Jacobs.
And any of the four who voted down the commission could have made an amendment to include another person on the selection committee in lieu of a chair. But nobody did. So they must be against the whole concept of a commission.
And it's hard for me to believe that we need advice from outside Oro Valley when we have so many experts here.
There was a movement to have each council member appoint a member to each board and commission, but the council voted that idea down. Now they want it in this case.
Flip, flop.
OVM....
Unfortunately Garner would not accept any amendments other than the one that Salette made. The mayor attempted to have each Council member appoint one person, drawing straws for the one year/two year positions and Garner would not accept that suggestion. What did surprise me is that once the first motion was defeated that Kunisch didn't make another motion with the alternative appointment language included.
The owners of many Oro Valley businesses, do not live in Oro Valley and while we do have some very intelligent folks here, there are certainly some good business minds outside the Oro Valley town limits.
While I have stated my position on this commission previously, I'll repeat it because I think it is applicable here also. Given the attitude expressed by some members of this council, through their public comments,actions and votes, I doubt that many recommendations from a business based economic development commission would be taken seriously. This and previous Councils have failed miserably to streamline the review process, eliminate the building inspection issues that have been plaguing construction for years. These two issues alone have a serious impact on the project costs. Time is expensive. How serious would a reduction in impact fees be considered? All of these make for a climate that is not business friendly.
Having said that, the national economic condition all but eliminates business expansion at this time anyway.
Garner did not have sole authority over accepting amendments. If the four anti-business council members had any clue about parliamentary procedure, they could have made and seconded an amendment. They didn't.
OV Mom...You lose all credibility when you refer to Kunisch as "anti-business.
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