Two Bad Ideas Brought to City Council

Two very wrong proposals were placed on the agenda that spend money we really don't have and to give authority to the City Manager to spend up to $250,000 without City Council approval.

City Management hired a consultant Management Partners who took exactly one month while we were debating the budget to come up with a list of issues that they feel needed to be changed. One month is nothing to determine what a city needs. The City spent $80,000 for the one month report and today on a 5-4 vote the council approved an additional $500,000 for a study that had no parameters.When I asked if the Council would be given the contract to review, the City Manager responded "no." So I voted against the expenditure. I will be damned if I will asked to approved spending $500,000 and I can't see the contract.

The other motion was to increase the authority of the City Manager to make purchases up to $200,000 without City Council approval. In this economic situation it is fiscally unwise for a City Council to give authority to spend this level of money without oversight. I asked if any other City in California allowed their City Manager authority up to $250,000 and the answer was "no."