One of Mayor Hirmath's campaign promises in 2010 was that he would shorten each Council Meeting. He has done this by jamming as much as possible through the consent agenda. In addition, this Council has met less frequently than prior councils. Based on the Mayor's plans, the new Council will meet no more than three times out of a possible seven times this summer. Looks like the Mayor wants the Council to take the summer off.
To shorten meetings and eliminate any public discussion of critical town items, the Mayor jams things through the Consent Agenda (which according to Town Code 2-4-6 should only be any item of business of routine and noncontroversial nature) to rubber stamp approval of any items he wants passed.
Examples:
- Consent Agenda Item E on the May 2, 2012 Town Council Meeting approving a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Public Safety Employees (Police) and the Town of Oro Valley. It will affect two years of the Town Budget (FY2012/2013 and FY 2013/2014) and should have been discussed as regular agenda item in a public hearing on the budget.
- Consent Agenda F on the May 16, 2012 Town Council Meeting approving a Financial Participation Agreement between the Town of Oro Valley and the Greater Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce (a.k.a. Northern Pima County Chamber of Commerce). It will add $25,000 to the FY2012/2013 budget and should have been discussed as regular agenda item in a public hearing on the budget.
- Next week's Item C: Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc. Quarterly Report: January 1, 2012 - March 31, 2012 Clearly, given all the recent local controversy regarding TREO, this report should be considered in detail by the Council.
Such strategies of "silencing" the people will work in the short run. After all, the Mayor calls the shots when it comes to the council meetings.
However....
The people of Oro Valley have a very long memory. We know what we have: A Mayor who doesn't want to work at his job much; one who doesn't want the elected council members to meet; a Mayor who wants to be liked; a Mayor who jokes about his "weight" at council meetings.
Mayor Hiremath has fulfilled his campaign promise: Less governing. The result is less discussion of the issues that are of interest to the citizens of Oro Valley.
---
18 comments:
The Mayor places items dealing with the police, the Chamber of Commerce, and TREO on the Consent Agenda as non-controversial items because they are non-controversial to HIM.
It's no surprise that the meetings are shorter and there are fewer of them. We all knew that he was lazy from the start. He wants the glory and the power but doesn't want to do the work.
Any item on the consent agenda can be pull to discuss, then tabled, or disapproved.
Simply because two or three people want to get on their every 1st and 3rd Wednesday soap box and rail does not mean the item in controversial. I don't see many of the folks who post on this blog showing up at council meetings to support the pulling of an item. That is truly "lazy". It's easy to sit at home and peek out of your blinds to see what people are doing on your street and be critical.
Thinker. I am afraid to go to the council meetings.
Why? Well, the signs of a Zombie Apocalypse are everywhere. Face eating in Florida, cannibalism in Maryland and Zombies supporting the life-styles of the rich and famous at the TREO conference at Torrey Pines.
I suspect that few Oro Valley tax payers take junkets to Torrey Pines. I guess you have to be a council person, voting to GIVE AWAY tax payer money in order to get to a high end resort these days.
Thinkerbelle,
You always defend TREO and the tax dollars we're forced to give them. So...answer these questions:
(1) What was the point of the trip?
(2) What benefit did Oro Valley taxpayers derive from it?
(3) Why didn't TREO officials return calls to KGUN9? Why did they respond via e-mail instead?
(Actually, I can answer this one. When you respond by e-mail, you get to control the narrative. You don't run the risk of being asked any difficult or "gotcha" questions that you would rather not answer.)
(4) Why, in that e-mail, did they refuse to divulge the purpose of the trip?
All we know so far is that $4000 was spent on airfare and a 3-night stay at the Torrey Pines Resort.
Nombe....You are hysterical at times. I saw the face eating episoder but failed to connect them to the Oro Valley Town Council. How silly of me. However with at least one of the new people coming in, you may have a point.
I suspect far more than you imagine COULD take a junket to Torrey Pines. I know some that take exotic cruises every year and others that
lounge in the Cape Cod area every year. :-)
O VOT,
Do you know how many of us watch the Council Meetings? Do you know how many emails we send to the Mayor and members of Council? Do you know how many times we ask to meet and discuss items? Do you know how few responses we receive? Do you know how many are intimidated by some members of Council?
Please do not sit in front of your computer reading L.O.V.E. and continue to be so very critical of others.
Thank you.
It would a strong sign to the taxpayers if the Council decided to pull the funding for TREO from next year's budget.
Dear Fear.
Great comment.
Because one idiot elected official, who went to San Diego with an alcohol problem, get's out of line and you want to trash TREO. I suppose we should fire the entire Tucson police department because one officer was drunk on duty. Let's defund the secret service because 8 agents got laid in South America and one refused to pay.
Where do you come up with that kind of logic???
OVOT,
Man, your last statement gave me an headache!!
How in the heck can you even try to equate one spending their own hard earned money against gov't spending our hard earned money money on lavish trips?? If TREO had any influence this shindig could have been held in OV. I'm sure the Hilton would have cut a great deal,and tax dollar revenue would have evened out the expense.
Your feeble attempt at class warfare is a joke, and you can never be taken seriously.
Fear the Turtle,
Thank you. You said pretty much what I was going to say to OVOT. His arguments always become irrational whenever he cannot defend his sacred cows. Notice he was unable to answer ANY of the questions I asked...so he pivoted to something else and went off the deep end.
Ok, here is the point...
No, I repeat NO gov't sponsored entity or elected officals ever need to spend our hard earned tax dollars on trips to lavish resorts! If they want to spend money from the private sector, than so be it I could care less. They will be held accountable for money spent from the private sector as most of these donors are savy business people who want tangible results not a bunch of bs.
Does anyone know the breakdown of funding from the Gov't vs Private sector for TREO?
Turtle, et al......Then you don't have a clue what the job description for a Town Council person is all about. Representing your community at events outside of you home town is a part of the job. It goes with the territory. They have no control over where events are held.
What better way to insure that the various city councils continue to fund the self-licking ice cream cones of TREO et al than to insure that all "conferences" are held in high end locations.
I doubt that there would be the same vote count if the "conference" was held in Fresno vice San Diego.
And just as an ancillary note.......I would suggest that you refer to the original post and my initial response.
4. Four. 2 X 2. 3 +1.
Of the 'many thousands of people' who follow this blog, 1+1+1+1 have posted on this subject.
According to some this must peg the needle on the "controversial' meter.
Thinkerbelle,
"They [the town council] have no control over where events are held."
But TREO, who sponsored the event, DID have control over where the event was held using OUR taxpayer money. Funny how you didn't mention that.
I see you've also been unable to answer the four questions I asked. If you could defend TREO, you would.
Nombe's theory is spot-on. Hold the conferences at upscale resorts and you guarantee that the town council will continue to fund you.
Check Sundays, AZ Daily Star. Quite a story about the CEO of TREO (salary 300,000) and his non-action on the partially tax payer funded party in San Diego.
Fear,
The 2011 TREO Annual Report (pg 29) shows approx $1.98M in Revenue for FY 2010-2011. $1.01M (51%)comes from Private sector & $968K (49%) from Public sector.
Page 28 lists TREO's accomplishments. What a joke:
. Orchestrated 100 positive stories about TREO/Tucson
. Led a marketing mission on 2 day trip to Wash DC
. Hosted 6 reporters at a luncheon
. Issued quarterly newsletter to 2500 site selectors
. Promoted downtown Tucson on TREO website
The only mention of Oro Valley in this report is a reference to a Ventana expansion & Mayor Hiremath as Mayor.
Check it out:
http://treoaz.org/TREO/media/docs/Luncheon_2011/TREO-Annual-Report-2011a.pdf
Post a Comment