Last Tuesday, 4/19/11 the council's Public Works and Safety Committee had its monthly meeting.
One of the items on the agenda concerned the policy about mowing rights of way. In some cases it is the home owner's responsibility, in other case the city's. Basically it appears that the committee was trying to make the policy uniform in nature with specific guidelines.
The above is a subject that cannot be gone into in just a few paragraphs here, and yes, I do have my thoughts on this subject. Especially with regards to some specific areas that were mentioned.
What bothered me was the committee chairperson, Dawn Kuhn just flat out lying to a member of the public over what some may consider an inconsequential matter.
An elderly gentleman got up and complained about his hearing aids being broken and that he could not hear what was being said even with the PA system that we have.
Ms. Kuhn's response to this was:
"These are not PA system microphones. They are purely recording microphones, for our minutes and our, uh, for the record of the meeting so it doesn't matter how loud we speak into them or how closely we are they will not amplify our voices."
If they aren't connected to the PA system why did the assistant city manager head to the room where the equipment is stored when this was going on? If they aren’t connected to the PA system, then how come every time I get up to speak, I tap the mike to make sure it's on and you can hear the thump?
Other examples that they are connected to the PA system:
When the council chambers are filled to capacity the proceedings can be piped into the lobby and also into the council's conference room.
My point here is that if Ms. Kuhn, a seven year veteran of the council, having served 2 years as council president and currently is the chairperson of this committee would lie to a resident about something as picayune as this, what else would she lie about?
A cup of coffee says Kuhn will try and do some kind of Tijuana Two Step on this. Oh, her quote above is not from my memory, but from a CD of the meeting.
Good starts with being honest with residents, especially senior citizens.
