At tonight's council meeting, with the 60 day countdown beginning tomorrow, I just had to write and then read an open letter to the council.
Following is the letter:
April 12, 2010
To The Mayor and City Council, City of Shawnee, Kansas
The city has recently posted information soliciting applications from individuals desiring to replace Council Member Scott as a result of her resignation.
I am going to suggest that the council refrain from appointing a replacement and let it go to a special election.
The manner in which this resignation was handled is abhorrent. Action could have been taken by the council member to resign in such a manner, with a delayed date, so that the seat could have been voted on during the last general election.
Now some folks are going to say that with the current financial situation it would be to the city’s advantage not to have a special election. So, let us address that with a simple time line and some common sense and logic.
In November 2009 Ms Scott purchased a new home in Arizona. The documents for that purchase were notarized by our own city clerk. Here is where the common sense comes in. It had to be obvious to other city officials, and members of the council that there would eventually be a resignation. As the mayor said on numerous occasions, he could do nothing until he received a resignation. But, again, it was obvious that eventually one would be forthcoming.
Knowing that, it was incumbent upon the city manager to plan for that day. Current Charter Ordinance 40 provides for a selection of a replacement by the remaining council members. If they are unable to do so, within a specified time (60 days) then it would go to a special election.
If one was to wager on this, then it would probably be 99% that the council would be able to perform that selection. Still, since city councils can become fractious, and this one is no exception, there would always be the possibility that they could be unable to select a replacement and a special election would be necessary. Therefore, back in November it would have been proper planning to plan for the availability of funds in case that became the scenario. Did the city manager, or does she now have a plan to pay for a special election? Gosh, did we give Wonderscope that $10,000 that many thought was unnecessary? Why did we plan for 5 people to go to DC for the NLC conference? Why not only 2? If Sandifer and Kuhn had stayed home we could have saved almost $6,000. Are there other areas that could have provided the necessary funds? Like reducing or eliminating any future travel this year by council members? Or do certain council members need to take additional trips?
It would be incumbent upon this council to validate the will of the people by allowing the voters of Ward I to elect Ms. Scott’s replacement.
I would hope that Ms Scott, who has given up many hours of her time to support veteran’s causes, would agree with the statement that many have served and many have paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the right of the people to elect their officials.
