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Steve Myers
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looks like City Clerk Inez M. Brown will remain on the job.
During Monday's meeting, Council President Darryl E. Buchanan said Brown "isn't going anywhere" after a resident said he opposed her potential firing.
Speculation has been strong that she would lose her job after several candidates backed by Mayor Don Williamson were elected last week.
Williamson and Brown have feuded after the mayor tried to bar her from other city offices last year. The clerk is hired and fired by a simple majority vote of the council.
"(The rumor) didn't come from the City Council," Buchanan said. "I interned in Inez Brown's office out of graduate school. Ms. Brown was one of the few people who gave me bus money and lunch money. Her credibility and integrity (is) legendary."
In other action, the council approved Williamson's $6.4-million block grant plan for the 2005-06 year and moved $1.3 million for the city attorney's office.
Both proposals were approved in 6-3 votes in which some members raised concerns about acting too quickly and setting a bad precedent.
Ninth Ward Councilman Scott Kincaid, who voted against both measures, said the block grant proposal would allow future mayors to go around the public approval process that includes the council, a citizen's advisory committee and the public.
Kincaid also said the budget change shouldn't be made until the 2004-05 audit is complete, noting the city could be headed for a deficit if the city loses probable binding arbitration cases with the police and fire department unions.
But Buchanan said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development already had approved Williamson's block grant plan and agencies would fall behind spending dollars if the council waited longer. The dollars go toward activities that include street repair, housing demolition and public assistance.
Buchanan also said the city's finance director backed the budget plan, adding the city should have an even larger surplus than previously expected to help cover the moves.
Both issues had been battlegrounds between Williamson and the council before several anti-mayor members lost re-election last week.
Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-33/1132071792326260.xml&coll=5 |
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Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:58 pm |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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Saying no
Council members who opposed two key mayoral proposals on Monday:
ON BLOCK GRANTS: 5th Ward Councilwoman Carolyn Sims, 7th Ward Councilman Jim Ananich, and 9th Ward Councilman Scott Kincaid
ON THE CITY ATTORNEY'S BUDGET: Council Vice President Sheldon A. Neeley, Sims and Kincaid |
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Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:59 pm |
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