Saturday, December 29, 2007

COUNTDOWN TO A NEW BEGINNING

In a matter of a few days, the City will once again have change in the running of City Government.

Ed FitzGerald will take over as Mayor, Council will start with 2 new members in Tom Bullock and Mike Summers, a third new face will be arriving shortly after with the filling of the at-Large vacancy.

Council will also be lead by a new President for the first time in many years. My guess would be Mike Dever would assume that leadership role. I will be curious to see if the Council members will vote for the new President with one seat vacant or wait until the at-Large vacancy is filled.

Who will fill that at-Large slot, I have heard rumors as to various names and I can only confirm one name as to have already submitted their paperwork. The names bandied about are Dan Shields, Brian Powers, Joe D'Angelo. None of these names that I have identified can be confirmed as submitting their paperwork.

One Council member expected about 20 people to submit their names, whether that is the case we will have to wait and see after January 4th.

On Tuesday, January 1, 2008 a new year begins with new faces in leadership of this City, however, the problems are old and the identity of those problems is simple, its the fixing of those problems that will be hard. It is going to take hard work and compromise of beliefs to get things done.

Let's make this a Bi-Partisan approach!

UPDATE:
Since writing and posting of this Dan Shields has confirmed on the Observation Deck that he has submitted his name for consideration. So that makes two candidates for the slot. I certainly hope that the Council members make some of this process open so that nobody can claim that the fix was in on the selection. But, it wouldn't surprise me if they already had their guy selected and are just waiting out the timing for other people to submit their names to make it look somewhat legitimate.

Here is another possibility: Council could just sit on the vacancy until April 1 and then by rules of the Charter, Mayor FitzGerald could appoint someone to the post. That would certainly cause a stir! Then you can go back to this post.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Wishing you and yours a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Residency Requirement

Saw this Channel 5 website:

LIMA, Ohio -- A state appeals court has ruled that Ohio towns can require police officers, firefighters and other employees to live within the city limits.

It's the first time that an appeals court has ruled against a 2006 state law that blocked cities from imposing residency requirements.

The ruling issued Monday by the 3rd District Court of Appeals affects only the 17 Ohio counties in western and northern Ohio that fall under its jurisdiction.

Those counties are: Allen, Auglaize, Crawford, Defiance, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Logan, Marion, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Seneca, Shelby, Union, Van Wert and Wyandot.

Since the law went into effect, at least eight cities have filed challenges against it. City leaders in Toledo, Akron, Youngstown and Lima argue that home rule powers ensure their right to set residency requirements.

But firefighters and other city employees said they should have the right to live where they want.


This is a huge boost for these municipalities. This may be a huge hammer for the new union contracts that Fitzgerald and the City Council have to negotiate.

The other thing that this could would be to further solidify the position of having the Directors be required to live in the City.

There is another point to view this potential change, with respect to the City's deficit, Mayor FitzGerald and Council will certainly have to make cuts in services, will being a resident provide a city employee with a little bit more cover or protection if they live in the city. I am looking at this as sort of reverse hiring issue. Certain cities give preferential treatment to prospective employees who live in the city. The question remains can the reverse be true?

We are in for some interesting times here in Lakewood.