huntsville.gov.form
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Forms of Government (CONTINUED)
If the Triad form of administration is a good thing for areas as big as Davis and Weber Counties, would it be good for a place as small as Huntsville? The positions of Mayor and Council "persons" don’t seem to have ordinances governing their areas of responsibility within the Town, and appears to be at the sole discretion of whoever is Mayor at the time. As a result, people call the Mayor directly or leave a message on the Town voicemail in communicating a problem or issue.
If you take note of the Town Gazette from time to time, or if you are hooked up to the Internet, you can now determine the area or the person assigned to it, by the Town Website, which is a good resource for information. Even though the people elect the Council positions, the Mayor makes the assignments to them, and because of this aspect, more or less still controls what they do. And while a Councilperson may be assigned a set of duties at the beginning of their term, it can be changed at any time, at the sole discretion of the Town Administrator. It seems a bit arbitrary, and in the control of one person, when so many are involved, and further complicates the process over areas of responsibilities.
As a further example: The past couple of winters, which have been unusually light at times, have lead to some snow removal problems for a number of people, trying to get to Church, parking for business customers, the Elderly struggling, etc. A Petition was being circulated around Town, as phone calls to the Mayor over several years apparently hadn’t gotten results. Upon hearing about this petition, the Town employee over Snow Removal, who is related to members of the Council, confronted and intimidated one of the petitioners in their own yard, about starting this petition.
While Councilman Truett, who has been assigned the roads by the Mayor, tried to correct the problem, as well as the approach made by this employee, the employee quit Snow Removal. It was not long after this series of events, that Councilman Truett was confronted by the Mayor during a public meeting, over a totally unrelated issue, which was covered in the previous issue of this paper. This employee has also resigned any other duties he was performing under the supervision of Councilman Truett. It’s not yet known whether wages have been adjusted to reflect these changes.
After Councilman Sorensen’s support of Councilman Truett regarding this issue, Councilman Sorensen was removed from his assignment over the Cemetery and any supervision over this employee. This responsibility was given to Councilman Stevenson. While it’s difficult not to run into conflicts of interest or personal agendas in the administration of a small community of any kind, it doesn’t take much to see preferential treatment and arbitrary decisions being made, with little accountability or oversite.
Whether a change in the distribution of power, such as a 3 person Commission, which would be more logical for our size of Town, or the pre-assigned duties emanating from ordinances regulating them, we need some changes, because at this time, it’s apparent that control of resources – both inanimate and human – are at the discretion of one or two people, as much as we are told otherwise, and subject to change at any given time. This creates chaos and disorder for both people trying to serve and those they are serving. In this age of expanding complications, we need to simplify the process of governing for all concerned. Any alternatives to address these conflicts of interest, and problems, should be taken under consideration of the citizens, as well as the members of the form of government we are currently being administered by, in the best interest of our Town and the citizens who live here.
If you take note of the Town Gazette from time to time, or if you are hooked up to the Internet, you can now determine the area or the person assigned to it, by the Town Website, which is a good resource for information. Even though the people elect the Council positions, the Mayor makes the assignments to them, and because of this aspect, more or less still controls what they do. And while a Councilperson may be assigned a set of duties at the beginning of their term, it can be changed at any time, at the sole discretion of the Town Administrator. It seems a bit arbitrary, and in the control of one person, when so many are involved, and further complicates the process over areas of responsibilities.
As a further example: The past couple of winters, which have been unusually light at times, have lead to some snow removal problems for a number of people, trying to get to Church, parking for business customers, the Elderly struggling, etc. A Petition was being circulated around Town, as phone calls to the Mayor over several years apparently hadn’t gotten results. Upon hearing about this petition, the Town employee over Snow Removal, who is related to members of the Council, confronted and intimidated one of the petitioners in their own yard, about starting this petition.
While Councilman Truett, who has been assigned the roads by the Mayor, tried to correct the problem, as well as the approach made by this employee, the employee quit Snow Removal. It was not long after this series of events, that Councilman Truett was confronted by the Mayor during a public meeting, over a totally unrelated issue, which was covered in the previous issue of this paper. This employee has also resigned any other duties he was performing under the supervision of Councilman Truett. It’s not yet known whether wages have been adjusted to reflect these changes.
After Councilman Sorensen’s support of Councilman Truett regarding this issue, Councilman Sorensen was removed from his assignment over the Cemetery and any supervision over this employee. This responsibility was given to Councilman Stevenson. While it’s difficult not to run into conflicts of interest or personal agendas in the administration of a small community of any kind, it doesn’t take much to see preferential treatment and arbitrary decisions being made, with little accountability or oversite.
Whether a change in the distribution of power, such as a 3 person Commission, which would be more logical for our size of Town, or the pre-assigned duties emanating from ordinances regulating them, we need some changes, because at this time, it’s apparent that control of resources – both inanimate and human – are at the discretion of one or two people, as much as we are told otherwise, and subject to change at any given time. This creates chaos and disorder for both people trying to serve and those they are serving. In this age of expanding complications, we need to simplify the process of governing for all concerned. Any alternatives to address these conflicts of interest, and problems, should be taken under consideration of the citizens, as well as the members of the form of government we are currently being administered by, in the best interest of our Town and the citizens who live here.
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