Home Rule Charter Commission Meeting Agenda

Thanks to Mike Fleck for giving us an agenda for the Home Rule Charter Commission meeting for Saturday June 24, 2006, 10AM in City Council Chambers (5th Floor Alpha Building).

Your Neighbors

Council Meeting Audio 06/14/06

Hey Neighbors,

We are so sorry for the longer waits for postings. Keyboard time is not as plentiful when the weather is pleasant.

The meeting is 3 hours long. The first hour is the public hearing for the anti-discrimination ordnance. The meeting was later dominated by (you guessed it!) police issues. Or to be more specific, the re-chiefing of Larry Palmer. Lots of comments. Mayor Panto and Mike Fleck both exercised their right to publicly comment.

Get it here. (20 Mb)

Your Neighbors

Easton-American Graffiti

History, Heritage, Hypocrite

Our mayor’s string of scofflaw incidents have a lot more in common than the embarrassment they have cast upon him, the city, and his constituents. The all share the disturbing trend of red-handed apologies.

The simple fact that our mayor never initiated the airing of any of these violations of the building or third class city codes to the residents on his own should not be ignored.

And when he used his city owned phone, email, and city employed executive assistant to facilitate the sale of his personal property, he committed a misdemeanor with a pretty stiff penalty.

Paragraph 912 of the Third Class City Code states:

City Property not to be Used by Officers for Gain; Penalty. No portion of the property of the city shall be used for private gain by any officer of the city, councilman, agent or employe of said city, or any department thereof; nor shall the same be willfully used or injured, or be sold or disposed of in any manner by any officer, councilman, agent or employe, without the consent of the council. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to undergo imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. Upon such conviction, the party offending shall be forthwith removed from his office or employment, and shall not thereafter be eligible to election or appointment to any place of profit or trust under said city, or any department thereof.

"I made a number of important and dumb mistakes,"1 I trusted and voted for him.

(This commentary ran, somewhat edited, as a Morning Call editorial on Sunday, June 11, 2006)
1 Mayor Mitman offered the quote in response to the indiscretions chronicled in June 7, 2006 Morning Call article.