People are shocked and appalled that former Greensboro City Council member Florence Gatten —-now vice chair of the commission that oversees the Greensboro Coliseum —– would ask fellow commission member and local blogger Tony Wilkins to vote on a motion based on information she’d just handed him.
I’d say that’s pretty much business as usual. At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council voted unanimously to support a resolution opposing the (now revised) state Senate bill restricting municipal broadband. Council member Nancy Vaughan had distributed the resolution to her fellow council members right before the vote.
I realize it was just a resolution, but I have to wonder how many council members understood a very complicated issue that could —-emphasis on could —- have serious consequences down the road, similar to the situation down in Davidson. I hold out hope that council members do understand the issue and cast their vote in opposition to the state dictating their infrastructure issues, but you never know.
Then there’s the issue of city staff, which —-as John Hammer reports repeatedly —tries to slide stuff by the council all the time. A perfect example occurred at the very same meeting, where Hammer reports that the council was asked to vote on a bond sale based on a report they’d just received.
Fortunately council members Zack Matheny and Trudy Wade asked some hard questions, and the vote was delayed. With that in mind, Hammer is still optimistic that “(t)his is a City Council that is going to play a part in running the city….. Unlike past councils that were willing to go along with anything the staff presented.”
Which makes you wonder how many motions were passed unanimously when council members had little or no idea what they were voting on.
