Council 12/27

I attended Council on 12/27, and here's what I saw.

Pool Board expansion. I think changing this setup does not benefit the Village. The Board themselves told the Mayor in Nov/Dec that they thought 7 was right. We have a good number @7, and there is no data, no rationale for this change. I support diversity, for sure, and I challenge the Mayor to manage that with his appointments.

Scott McIntosh being left off the Board. Scott did a nice job in his short tenure, and I think he should be allowed to continue. Considering all his work on the Board this year, this action feels partisan. As Andy Black shared with me last year, volunteers are hard to come by and you take them when you can get them. Let's keep Scott.

Jeff Andrews action to override the decision. I support leaving the Board at 7, and I support Scott M. So it's a no brainer that I would try to preserve both. And with a 5-0 vote, it's not a minority position. Well done, fellow Council members.

Parks Board expansion is also concerning. With the information provided, I don't support a change. I understand the need for more sleeves-rolled-up-work vs Pool Board, but there is nothing wrong with deputizing volunteers as needed. There are many would-be volunteers that are unaware of opptys to serve. To that end, why don't we drive awareness when boards have vacancies, when volunteers are needed. It's unfair to the handful of folks who volunteer for nearly everything. Let's open this up to all!

South 80 Trail. I don't support implementation before Council & Public review (Denise brought up this point and I share some of these concerns), but a staked layout is appropriate as a next step. I look fwd to this pre-step.

Jeff Travers resignation. I'm a fan of Jeff and I'm sorry to see him go, but I understand the difficulty of 2 full time jobs simultaneously. Good luck Jeff. Related, I've been a fan of Tim Feichtner for a while. I know he'll do a good job. Of interest - we only have 1 full time firefighter (+ Rick the Chief) on the fire side. It's an interesting model and worth trying. The savings are nice if it works.

I voted in the affirmative on everything as all votes were procedural except for the spending ordinance. This is common late in the year and it seemed reasonable. Also of note was the mowing ordinance, which again is reasonable and only lets us advertise for bids.

Cortney

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