Paper or plastic normally refers to bags. 

But not this time.

Cincinnati won’t buy Kindle e-readers for all its elected officials after all – backlash over the new technology appears to have killed the idea a majority of council approved last month.

Among the budget cuts voted for by five members of council after contentious budget talks was $22,662 in annual savings found by canceling hundreds of copies of council documents. Buying the Kindle DXs for document reading would have cost $7,200 instead. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who already has a Kindle, pitched the idea as a saver of money and copying time.

But now, after council members including Republicans Leslie Ghiz and Charlie Winburn blasted the Kindle purchase and said they didn’t want one, each council member will decide whether he or she wants one, Councilwoman Laketa Cole said.

If those who oppose the Kindles still want to print out their agendas and ordinances, they’ll have to pay the city clerk’s office for every page after January. How much each page will cost should be determined this week.

Printing out copies defeats the purpose, said Cole, chairwoman of council’s finance committee. That’s because the copying costs council tried to cut still will be borne by the taxpayers – just via some council members’ office budgets rather than the clerk’s budget.

“Didn’t citizens tell us to think outside the box?” Cole said.

Has any other local government tried to go Kindle? It certainly looks to me to be an idea worth pursuing.

How about it students?

Paper or plastic screen?

Rules for “Public Appearances” at local government meetings are different all over.

One thing that never changes is the “public” is invited to speak … then for the most part are ignored.

Here is one man’s story from Vancouver…

Surely the most bizarre  exchange had to have been with Cllr Stevenson who stated that there were no inefficiencies in the city so no savings could be made there–this after City Council spent tens of thousands of dollars on a Core Services review to find inefficiencies and duplications. If there are no inefficiencies does Cllr Stevenson think this was tax dollars well spent?

The next Government Meetings Class will include time to practice nodding your head in agreement with citizen speakers … when you really don’t.

One of the suggestions I make in the ebook “Why Your City Council Makes Dumb Mistakes and What You Can Do About It” is for citizens to attend one meeting a year to watch-listen-learn. I also note that everyone does a little better job doing anything if they have someone watching them.I am not alone in that thinking.

I found this blog encouraging citizens to attend meeting …

Even if you don’t have anything to say, attending these meetings lets the City Council, LAPD, and city departments know that these issues are important to a broad group of LA citizens.

I agree whole heartily.

There is nothing like the whites of yours eyes at meetings showing local elected officials you are watching. Many times you need not say a word … just be there.

If you haven’t downloaded “Why Your City Counicl Makes Dumb Decisions and What You Can Do About It” … you should. It explains it all.

It’s Free and it’s right here.

Heres’ something a little different being tried in Worchester, MA by blogger Chris Pearson.

A Live Blog from City Hall!

Minute by minute Chris details what is happening with the council chambers.

7:09: It begins! It’s crowded and busy out in the hallway, and there’s a good-sized crowd in the seats

7:10: Eddy starts us off with a resolution to honoring judge, city councilor, and mayor Paul Mullaney for his commitment to the community, and his 90th birthday. ”It’s far too often that we don’t speak enough about the people who made this city what it is today,” says Eddy.

7:13: Mullaney speaks. “It gives me a great feeling for Thanksgiving and the holidays to follow.” He attributes his long life to never having a cigarette and adds “I never had a drink of alcohol–until I got to the city council.”

And on and on it goes throughout the entire meeting. Obviously if you know the characters it would make the blog more interesting.

Has anyone else tried this? Seen it attempted?

It sounds like a good discussion topic for the Government Meetings class.

I attended a County Comprehensive Planning Committee yesterday. The committee was reviewing the boring narrative of one of the chapters. It was necessary work that needed to be done. The committee was mainly reviewing the information for accuracy and clarity.

Many times on a committee such as this there is one person who is also a wordsmith.  This time it was a retired teacher. They have a tough job. They are itching to correct every bad comma and semicolon but don’t want to be a pain in the butt about it.

I want to take this time to honor all those wordsmiths who do the job that needs to be done in public documents. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.

You did it well Waldo. You did it well.

Which is better, aldermen elected by wards, at large or a combination of both? This issue was discussed by the Academy’s Philosophy Class. The issue specifically dealt with the City of New Brunswick.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Call it the $100,000 question.

That’s the amount New Brunswick has spent in legal fees over the past year and a half to unsuccessfully block a group of residents from getting a question on the November ballot, one that asks whether to divide the city into wards for city council elections.

Now the city has tapped out its legal options and the question will be put to voters Nov. 3.

Critics call the city’s legal tactics a waste of taxpayer money. City officials say they’re just following the law. Political experts disagree on whether the city’s fight is over the top.

Since last fall, the city has lost three rounds of lawsuits with Empower Our Neighborhoods, or EON, involving petitions of residents’ signatures filed to the city.

“They’re fighting the members of the community they’re supposed to represent,” said Martin Perez, director of Coalition For Democracy, an umbrella group formed last month representing diverse city groups including EON.

Perez characterized the city’s legal battle as “incredible, callous and a waste of taxpayer money.”

Currently, all five of New Brunswick’s council members are elected at-large. The ballot question will ask whether the council should be expanded to nine members, with six elected by ward and three elected at-large. Voters were posed that exact question once before, in 1986, when a local group in New Brunswick put the initiative on the ballot, but voters rejected it, 3,765 to 2,510.

This is a philosophical question where there is no right or wrong answer. Over the long run it makes no difference if a city council is divided by wards or all/some of the members are elected at large.  It is believed that by changing from one system to another it will increase the number of citizens running for those positions.

What normally happens is that for the first election cycle or two there is an increase in number of city council candidates. Then the newness wears off and soon the city is back to the same apathetic state it was prior to the change. 

Sigh …

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was having a new blog site designed. Well, here it is. I hope you like it. I sure do.

You will notice on the right sidebar, a box which will take you to my new ebook  WHY YOUR CITY COUNCIL MAKES DUMB DECISIONS … AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. It’s free! There is no reason not for anyone to download and read it. Pass it on to friends and family. Post a link on your website or blog.

If prior to reading this ebook you wish to nominate me for the Nobel Prize for Literature you can find that nomination procedure here. 

After reading,  any and all comments would be appreciated.

A couple days ago I wrote about some problems in Lake Geneva, WI.

The Mayor had suspended four Council members for misconduct in office.  I still doubt the legality of a Mayor suspending fellow elected representatives, but he did.

Well, here is the latest from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel…

The remaining members of the Lake Geneva City Council took a pass Monday at appointing replacements for four members suspended by Mayor William P. Chesen after deciding there weren’t enough non-suspended members at their meeting to form a quorum.

The action followed a request for a restraining order against the appointments by suspended Aldermen Penny Roehrer, Mary Jo Fesenmaier, Arleen Krohn and Thomas Spellman in Walworth County Circuit Court, according to their attorney David Williams.

“It appears that without a quorum you can’t conduct business,” Williams said after the meeting. “The city is in a bit of a pickle here.”

Chesen suspended the four Thursday, alleging misconduct in public office and violations of open meetings laws.

But the suspended council members say the suspensions were retribution for their voting to appoint former Mayor Spyros Condos, a political rival of Chesen, to replace former Ald. Gary Dunham, who resigned last month.

The suspended aldermen also filed a lawsuit in circuit court challenging the suspensions, Williams said.

Circuit Judge John Race is expected to schedule a hearing on the request for the restraining order within the next several days, he said.

Chesen, who could not be reached Monday night, has scheduled a “removal from office” hearing for the suspended council members on Sept. 23.

It’s unclear how that hearing could be held if there are not enough council members present for a quorum, Williams said.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Oh, how I wish I could be at that meeting on the 23rd!

I have to tell you this is a new one on me. I wasn’t aware a Mayor had this power.

Lake Geneva’s mayor has suspended four members of the Common Council, accusing them of neglecting their duties and violating open meetings laws.

Mayor William P. Chesen also accused the four – Penny Roehrer, Mary Jo Fesenmaier, Arleen Krohn and Thomas Spellman – of creating “inefficiencies for staff and the citizens,” according to the suspension orders.

A Mayor suspending Council Representative for neglecting their duties? Creating inefficiencies for staff and citizens?

Could this story get any screwier?

The move came on the same day former Mayor Beatrice Dale and others launched a recall drive against Roehrer and Spellman, accusing them of not voting “according to the wishes” of their constituents.

 Roehrer, Krohn and Spellman said the suspensions and recall drive are payback for their vote, along with Fesenmaier’s, to appoint former Mayor Spyro Condos to a vacant council seat rather than schedule a special election.

Spellman said Condos’ appointment gives development opponents a 5-3 majority on the council. That’s something Chesen and development proponents won’t stand for, Spellman said.

Condos also is the target of the recall effort.

Dale initiated a successful recall drive that ousted Condos from the mayor’s office in 2001 amid accusations of unauthorized spending and other abuses that were disputed by the incumbent.

Chesen scheduled a “removal from office” hearing for Sept. 23.

It should be one hellofa meeting.

I was in a meeting with a couple of City Council Representatives. The wording of a motion was brought up in the discussion.

Council Representative #1 says, “That’s not what we voted on.”

Council Representative #2 pulls out the minutes and reads the motion word for word.

Council Representative #1 replies, “Huh, I didn’t know that.”

I just shook my head.

I’m still shaking it.