03/01/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 3/1/2005 Large positions as they aze the only members elected city-wide. This is important as the president is next in line to be the Mayor should something happen. He would also like this proposal to be assigned to a Council committee for discussion. President O'Grady explained that the request to send it to committee is about a year late. He sent that issue to committee about a yeaz ago. The issue now belongs in the Charter Review Commission, and the commission is considering it. He hopes they act on it in such a way that the person who is running this yeaz as awrite-in candidate understands that there may be an issue on the ballot in November to make the next four years the last four years of the office. He does not agree with Mr. Lambert's recommendation to limit the appointment to Council-at-Large members. Additionally, he made a recommendation to the Charter Review Commission to consider eliminating the at-lazge members and expanding the number of wazd members so that we have a greater number of representatives to a small number of constituents within the ward. Councilman McKay said the four wards were created in 1950 when the city had a population of about 5,000. He believes there might be better representation by having seven wards and no at-large positions. Mr. Lambert did not agree as he felt the at-large members have a specific function. The four wards vie for tax dollars and compete to get services. The pie can only be divided up so much. It's the prudent effort of the at-large members who make sure the entire well being of the city is served properly while the ward representatives work diligently to see that their wadds and their constituency are taken care of. Councilman McKay commented that may not always be so if all the at- large members are from one ward. Councilman Miller indicated that he has asked the Law Director to look into whether or not the term of President of Council could be ended after two years. As a courtesy, he has informed the potential write-in candidate of his proposal. Joseph Bouman, 23950 Gessner Road, as a private citizen has become involved in an effort to retain the city bus system. He has been working on the numbers with the help of employees and management of the bus line and a national transit consultant who agreed to work pro bono. The bottom line is that we need a subsidy of $760,000 rather than $1.8 million. This certainly indicates we need time to study this issue because $760,000 is not enough to close down a going business that RTA has admitted exceeds the quality of their operation. At the Town Hall meeting, Congressman Kucinich said, "No one will have anything shoved down their throats. I guarantee it." Also, County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora has written a letter asking for an extension of time. He hopes the city can wait until March 15 to make a decision. Margo Walsh, 5250 Columbia Road, Bridlewood Apartments, is concerned about the NOMBL issue as she rides two buses to get to work everyday. If the city loses NOMBL, some of the drivers could lose their jobs and that is not good. The cleanliness of the NOMBL buses is much better than the RTA buses. Also, she feels the NOMBL drivers are courteous. She also is concerned about the lack of a gate in the fence surrounding the 6