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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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An article on the Journal's web page says there's a group that is starting to push for changing Flint's government back to a city manager appointed by the council, and electing council members at large instead of by wards.
What do you think? |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 7:40 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| Nobody cares? |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 9:36 am |
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andi03
F L I N T O I D
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A little headache in the morning from Friday activities prevents me from thinking in a "correct" manner....just useless banter from me today...will chime in tomorrow....shhh.  |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:00 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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So, if someone starts clanging pots & pans together they'll get hurt?  |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:21 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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That wine will do it alright. See my previous post on hangover cures.
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:57 am |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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They could even pick a respectable Ombudsman, how in the world could they pick a city manager? LOL
Flint would end up with a winner like Donna Popular as city manager if we left it up to the city council. |
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Steve Myers |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:59 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| It would be Carolyn Sims, with Scott Kincaid behind the curtain pulling the strings. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 1:44 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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I think that the article was a bit misleading. The League hasn't determined what direction they are going to take. They haven't even finished consulting with everyone that they want to consult with yet. When I met with them there was no push to change the form of government. In fact they said that of all the people that they talked with there were only 1 or 2 people that advocated that.
I don't foresee a total revision of the Charter... maybe some tweaking here and there... but fundamentally the Charter is sound. We just need to be more careful in those that we elect. |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:02 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| So, who are these "local leaders"? Names? |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:26 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Dave Starr schreef:
So, who are these "local leaders"? Names?
Good question... when I talked with them it was just some members of the League of Women Voters..... |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:58 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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I thought the League fo WOman Voters wasn't supposed to take sides on Issues????
Silly me. I mention getting a group together and dicuss ideas and people just want to argue about the ideas. Instead of adding to the dicussion.
THings I'd like to see.
Wages for elected officials capped by a multiplyer of City Averaged income.
() My thought being, why should we be paying elected officials high wages when the city they govern is one thrid in poverty and one thrid working poor.
Councillman determined by ratio of population.
() when Flint was predicted to grow to 250,000 they anticipated a Council of 9 that is about one council person for every 27,000 people. If we applied that logic to tady. We would have one council person for 12,000 today.
UNder our Stron Mayor form of GOvernment. The Mayor controls the Appointments. THere is no way for the citizens to take back government. We should be able to recall appointees or somehow make them accountable to the people.
() we have gone for four years without an appointment to POlice Chief. It is a clear violation of our charter and nothing has been done about it.
Review and revision of what appointees the Mayor can have. Flint is not 225,000 people anymore. We cannot support an administration that was planned intially under those type of numbers. When we do not have the TAX base to support it.
Oh and see my show next week. THe second half has been corrected. You'll see where the Mayor climed he was going to turn Flint around. and not do exactly what he has been doing. I'll have it up at www.cityofflint.net later today. Probably tonight. I'll post a link when I get it converted for the web. It will be the Veterans show. THe second half is a replay of his commerical where he says what he is going to go. THen I point out how he is doing exactly what he said he wouldn't. |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 3:46 pm |
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back again
F L I N T O I D
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interesting. what exactly has the mayor done that he said he wouldn't do??
i did notice flint now ranks 6th, down from 1rst. in recordable crimes?  |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:13 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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Hey Ted....
Just a couple of things....
As per the State Constitution, wages for elected officials are set by the Local Officers Compensation Commission.... I think that the LOCC has been very steadfast in advocating that the salaries of elected's are in line with what is happening in the community. There have been no raises in at least 8 years. In fact, one smart fellow (me) advocated and won a 5% pay cut for the Council and Mayor... I think that part of the system or Charter works well....
I would be open to reducing the number of Councilfolks.. but cutting them to five is too low. 7 would probably be a better number. Representing 12,000 people is a big job... it shouldn't be made unmanageable.
Under our current Charter, the Mayor does not control the appointments. The City Council approves those appointments. Don't confuse the current Councils inability to perform their jobs with the Charter. There are mechanisms in the Charter to hold appointees accountable. The current Council just refuses, or doesn't know how, or is just incapable to use them (or all of the above)
The Charter also speaks to the number of appointees. There are a total of 21 allowed. Of those 21, a certain number must be created by law in order to exist. With the current Mayor, they should not exist. Again, though, the Council is too ineffective to do anything about it.
We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater... Our Charter is good. Just have ninnies running our government.
So hopefully this effort by the League to review the Charter can be used as a way of educating the public about our City Government... |
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Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:23 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
back again schreef:
interesting. what exactly has the mayor done that he said he wouldn't do??
i did notice flint now ranks 6th, down from 1rst. in recordable crimes?
Oh Sure isn't it wonderful. We can only report crime 9 - 5 monday through firday. WHat do you think that has done to the city's crime numbers. If you won't fight crime. Just make it so people won't be able to report it. |
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Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:52 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Jpsh, your comments are as always insigtful and productive.
I would still like to see Oommunity come up with a formula of it's own. See just because the STATE says you should be paid "X" doesn't mean we should pay them "X". THis was one of Engler's tricks to win Democratis support for much of his stupidity.
ANd as far as cutting COuncil to five. I don't see why 12,000 is too much to handle. They don't really have any power to help citizens accomplish anything. What can a Council person really do? THey can't tell the garbage man to pick up your trash. They cannot tell the Police chief to have more patrols in your neighborhood. WHat can they really do. I know you know what their real responsibilities are. So why where we had 1 councilman for every 21,000 was that not too much for them to hadle. ANd now that we have 1 for every 13,000 they cannot handle it. If they were full time 9 - 5 making 32K a year and only five. I don't see why they couldn't handle what they did 20 years ago. Esp. when they are expected to be working 5 days a week and can answer their own phones and respond to their own referals and write their own memos. Just my opinion.
I still believe the charter needs some more clarifacation. Since we currently have a JUDGE in this town that knows all good and well what the intent of the charter is. Yet he seems to ignore what it was meant to be.
Hey on another note. Can we NAME or LIST all the 21 Appointees the Mayor has and what their job descriptions are? |
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Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:04 am |
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