Bits and Pieces

Oro Valley commemorates 9/11 today
The Town Of Oro Valley has a flag raising ceremony at 8:0am today at the Oro Valley Community Center. A moment of silence will be held for those who lost their lives on 9/11.

Zinkin and Miller Agree: Bond Package Bad For Oro Valley Taxpayers
Oro Valley Council Member Mike Zinkin and Pima County District 1 Supervisor, Ally Miller, agree that the Pima County $850 million bond package is a bad deal for Oro Valley. They appeared together on the James T. Harris radio talk show last week. The show's host Harris seemed amazed that a registered Democrat, Zinkin, and a registered Republican, Miller, would agree on fiscal matters.

Zinkin has been a champion of fiscal restraint during his 3 years on the Oro Valley town council. He told Harris that fiscal responsibility crosses party lines. Fiscal responsibility should be in the forefront of every elected official regardless of party.

Zinkin observed that the bonds are bad deal for Oro Valley residents because passage of the bond package will result in Oro Valley property owners substantially subsidizing the rest of the county. He stated that the average annual cost of repaying the bonds to an Oro Valley household is $125 whereas Oro Valley, if it chose to do so, could sell its own bond at a cost of $96 a year per resident. That is assuming that Oro Valley residents would want to bond the same "nonsense" that is in this bond package. Which, according to Zinkin, they would not.

You can listen to the interview here.

Hiremath on public governance: "Everything needs to be discussed in the open"
In remarks at the September 2 Oro Valley council meeting, Oro Valley Mayor Hiremath closed a council study session about Arizona's open meeting law by observing the decision-making difference between decisions made in the private sector and those make in the public sector:

“It is amazing government gets anything done because you can not talk to anybody because we are governed by the Arizona open meeting law and so it not like in the private world where you have a board of directors or in my dental office where you huddle everybody together to talk about it and make a decision. Its not like that. Its really eye-opening, when you are on this side of the dais and you understand how exactly you’re governed. It [the open meeting law] makes it very, very difficult. So its all more impressive when any elected body does good things for municipalities because everything has to be discussed in the open.”

Apparently, not "Everything has to be in the open." For example, the council held closed-door discussions while the  Mayor negotiated the purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club and its 45-holes of money-draining losses from one of his major campaign contributors. Then it sprang the purchase on the public and forced a decision to make the purchase and raise the sales tax in 2 just weeks, last December.