It irks me when I read about a local official who does something dumb. Really dumb.

After all fighting dumb is what “Why Your City Council Makes Dumb Decisions and What You Can Do About It” is all about.

Then I read this from Orland, CA …

Mayor Wade Elliott’s suggestion to move City Council meetings from Monday to Tuesday nights was rejected by his colleagues this week.

Elliott brought the proposal up during the council’s comment period – even making a motion to adopt it – but it did not go far.

Elliott also asked to change the meeting time to 6 p.m. in order to get everybody home earlier, he said. Councilman Bruce Roundy advised him the change had not been agendized for action, so a vote could not be taken at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Now I don’t give a hoot if Orland, CA holds their meetings on Monday or Tuesday. Or, what time they hold their meetings.

But a Mayor makes a motion on an issue that isn’t on the agenda?

It just makes me want to scream!

It gives all Mayors a bad name.

I seldom call an an idea stupid… but this is stupid.

Indio Councilman Glenn Miller would like see the formation of a Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee that assists and keeps a close eye on city spending habits.

“It’s more of an advisory committee to help us with making some decisions,” Miller said. “I think it’s vital that we’re very transparent and open and I think this is the best way.”

He envisions a committee of about five to seven residents who may have a background in finance.

Councilman Miller, keeping an eye on city spending is what you were elected to do. You weren’t elected to appoint 5-7 number crunchers to watch city spending. You are suppose to do it. Appointing such a committee is shuffling off your responsibility to someone else.

I can hear it now “don’t blame me it was the Blue Ribbon Committee …”

Stupid.

Does anyone watch Undercover Boss. A great new show where the CEO of a company goes undercover to see what it is like to work at the bottom of the pyramid. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it.

It is very difficult for a Mayor or Alderman to go undercover in their own city. But if you are a Mayor or Alderman I highly recommend observing what it is like at the bottom of your pyramid. Get in a plow truck and ride for a shift. Ride with one of your police officers for a full shift and see what the streets look like to them. Don’t know how your Wastewater Treatment Plant works? Get down there and find out.

Come on. Get your backside out of the chair and see your decisions in action.

I dare you.

I was having a discussion with a Mayoral candidate the other day. We were discussing yard signs. I told him my philosophy of yard signs.

Only place a yard sign in the yard of someone who contacted your campaign and wanted one. You don’t call anyone and ask if they want a yard sign. I don’t care how much you think someone may support you, they must ask for the sign.

If someone has a sign of mine I do not want them asked why they have one, and have them answer, “I was asked and I didn’t want to say no.”

I would rather have 50 signs in yards of people who want them, rather than 100 signs in yards of people who don’t.

Also, no vacant lots.

Here we go again…

Fresno, California (KFSN) — Fresno’s City Council is coming under fire for praying before its meetings. A group of non-believers claims the prayers are unconstitutional and they’re threatening to sue the city. But Council members are defiant and vowing to fight.

Can’t we get over this?

There have been legal challenges to prayer at government functions and ABC30 Legal Analyst Tony Capozzi said the Supreme Court has been clear in its response.

“The fact that they invoked Jesus Christ doesn’t mean they’re promoting a religion,” he said.

But Capozzi said the Council has to walk a fine line, making sure it invites members of different faiths to give the invocation.

The atheist group said it’s nearly impossible to represent all faiths, as well as people without faith.

Here it is if anyone wants to read it …Supreme Court decision  Marsh v. Chambers.

Congress opens with a prayer. State legislators start with a prayer. City Councils can start with a prayer.

I just love it when the Mayor gets blamed for not removing snow fast enough from the streets.

I remember Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandik losing his primary fight with Jane Byrne over a snowstorm.

So it just tickled me when I read about the problems in Washington.

The competence of Washington officials was again under fire on Wednesday as heavy snow shut the US capital for a third business day, with normal services not expected to resume until at least next week.

Roads, many still covered after the bad weekend weather, were blanketed by another several inches of snow on Wednesday morning as uncleared slush began to freeze over.

Freezing slush… YES!

“Maintaining and improving this essential service should have been a higher priority for the mayor and the city council than building a billion dollar baseball stadium,” said Gigi Ransom, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Washington, referring to a controversial sports complex built in 2008.

Irrelevant arguments… YES!

Karyn Leblanc of Washington’s department of transportation said the city had done a “fantastic” job keeping the fleet running, given the historic snowfall.

Verbal snow-job … YES!

Adrian Fenty, Washington’s mayor, who has come under criticism despite efforts to update the city’s snow removal practices, also defended the district government’s actions, saying it had long used up the $6.2m earmarked for snow removal this season and would apply for federal emergency funds.

Federal emergency funds to remove snow … NO!

What’s wrong with the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly “dating” a lobbyist?

The Oshkosh Northwestern tells us what’s wrong …

Are you paying your share of property taxes?

That’s a loaded question isn’t it. I suppose it depends on the definition of “your share.”

Anyway the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future believes there are certain groups that aren’t paying their share of property taxes and they are coming after you if you are in one of these groups.

 * Huge health-care systems that are non-profit

* Real-estate speculators who abuse agricultural assessment

 * Owners of billboards assessed at a fraction of their value

*  High-income seniors in tax-exempt housing

Legal loopholes allow certain groups of people to reduce/eliminate their property taxes. That is a fact.

My question is …  if someone does take advantage of those legal loopholes, does that make them guilty of not paying their share of taxes?

Would you pay $40 to hear your Mayor deliver the State of the City address?

He or she would have to be really entertaining wouldn’t they? Even then forty bucks … Nah.

According to the Modesto Bee such a plot was uncovered in Modesto.

Modesto leaders sent mixed messages this week about the mayor’s State of the City address, calling it a City Council meeting and then changing course to avoid breaking an open government law.

The state’s Ralph M. Brown Act prohibits city councils from charging admission to their meetings. But Modesto appeared to be doing just that when it called Mayor Jim Ridenour’s annual speech a City Council meeting.

Ridenour is delivering the speech at a Feb. 17 Chamber of Commerce luncheon that costs $40 to attend. Because the City Council is expected to attend, the city clerk sent out a public notice calling the event a council meeting and listing one agenda item: the State of the City speech.

That put the city on the wrong side of the Brown Act, which says it’s illegal for city councils to hold meetings in facilities that bar people on the basis of race, gender, religion or “where members of the public may not be present without making a payment or purchase.”

Brown Act expert Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said Modesto could avoid the violation if it let the public listen to the speech without paying the $40 lunch fee.

“While they can offer things there like lunch or coffee for a fee, the part that they can’t charge for is admission,” Scheer said. “That has to be permitted for free. This is either a situation where they are required literally to provide a free lunch or they have to have a mechanism where people can opt out of eating.”

Past State of the City speeches have been sparsely attended, aside from government employees, their families and a few business leaders. Organizers of this year’s event say they hope to bring the speech to a wider audience.

Let’s see … Sparsely attended in the past when the speeches were free and they hoped for a larger crowd by charging $40?

Even if this wasn’t illegal, the idea was ill conceived from the start.

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Cicero   – 55 BC