On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew …show more content…
Some folks even went up to talk about how great a job the city had been doing with the removal of graffiti or how the new skate park fence was a brilliant idea. Once everyone who wished to speak had a say, it was time to talk go through the consent calendar. A few of the consents were easily passed with unanimous consent, but one council member, Christopher Armenta, and the vice mayor, Gary Silbiger, had issues with C-5. On the calendar, this agenda item reads as the following, “Approval of Professional Services Agreements with Associated Soils Engineering, Inc., Geo-Environmental, Inc., and Zeiser-Kling Consultants for Geotechnical Engineering and Construction Services.” Councilman Armenta was worried that the council would not have any oversight over the process of awarding geotechnical service agreements to particular firms, and that the amounts given to a particular firm could wind up being an exorbitant amount of money. Vice mayor Silbiger had similar fears. Silbiger suggested that instead of contracting out a consultant, he wondered if there could be a permanent consulting position, but the city manager disagreed because the city needs to bring in all sorts of consultants with varying expertise. The city manager noted that one consultant with limited range would have little to do much of the time, and the consultant would waste the fiscal budget of the city. The mayor and the other councilmen tried to soothe Armenta and
In larger cities and metropolitan areas it is important for the leader to be experienced in conducting business on a larger scale than the city alone. Elected mayors are politically motivated, but representative of the voting population and
The mayor is weak, the city council is composed of numerous individuals, and the city manager is supposed to stay out of politics." Thus, council manager cities have a tendency to respond more to tip top and white collar class concerns than to those of the regular workers and ethnic minorities. The business first class and the white collar class have more organizations and leaders who have entry to city government and know how to function the system Just a minority of council-manager cities have mayors who routinely give strong political and strategy leadership. One of these exceptions is San Antonio, where mayors for the most part are strong leaders The council-manager form seems to function admirably in cities where most individuals are of the same ethnic gathering and social class and share regular goals. Obviously, couple of focal cities fit this description, yet numerous suburbs
The meeting had an agenda that was published two days in advance per required by california state law. It was followed religiously by the council without deviation. They called the meeting to order and when everybody was quiet they started with the flag salute/presentation of the colors. They had the system of nominating ideas and seconding them to vote. They were speedy about it and there was no hesitation. However, out of the five city council members only three of the individuals so while the voted to vote they moved almost all of the votes to the next meeting when there would be more Council members.
Discussion of local government is a subject where eyes glaze over and information floats in one ear and right out the other. Most citizens know in greater depth about national politics rather than local, even if the city government has a greater influence and impact on daily life. With the permission of Professor Duckworth, I watched Frisco Independent School District’s board meeting online (link provided, pg. 4). The school board meeting explained a lot about the process, organization, and the structure of local politics.
There are numerous techniques the mayor can use to create effective teamwork among city employees one of which is an atmosphere of accountability and trust as a common goal. The American Management Association (2014) stated, “When people work together in a climate of trust and responsibility toward a common goal, they put aside turf issues and politics and focus on the tasks to be done. This
This chapter is designed to deliver a general overview of the New York City Commission on Human Rights and how it supports the people to understand their rights and obligations under the City’s Human Rights Law that prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment, housing, and public accommodations and forbidsdiscriminatory harassment and bias-based profiling by law enforcement. This chapter has included many things for instance, description of is human rights, NYC Human Rights Law, Discrimination, and Protected Classes, (race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, religion, intersectionality and immigrant status). Subsequently, this chapter talks about human rights law protection against discrimination,historical wars, treaties, constitutional
Here's a letter that dares not let Mayor Jack L Publice off the hook. It's all here: the compromises, the backstabbing, the attempts to hold annual private conferences in which flagitious pissants are invited to present their “research”. My hope is that the following text will delight the critical and offer food for thought to those contemplating his cankered calumnies. He sees no reason why he shouldn't galvanize the beggarly herd into enthusiastically supporting his misinformed squibs. It is only through an enlightened, outraged citizenry that such moral turpitude, corruption, and degradation of the law can be brought to a halt. So, let me enlighten and outrage you by stating that Mayor Publice uses the word “hyperconscientiousness” without ever having taken the time to look it up in the dictionary. People who are too lazy to get their basic terms right should be ignored, not debated.
The second objective our agency will advise to NFL to complete is for each team to create and develop their own town hall meetings in their own cities. The purpose of these town hall meetings is to connect the players with the police officers and start a dialogue about how change can happen. The NFL would like the three following tactics to take place during these town hall meetings. First, all players who decide to protest the Anthem must attend or will be subject to fines by the Commissioner. Second, all police departments and fire departments in the surrounding area of the team must be invited. The NFL wants everyone to feel welcome, so that we can discuss changes for the present and the future. Third, the teams will sell tickets to the
The meeting that I attended was at Lodi City Council. The city council meeting was very interesting. It was held on February 17, 2016 at 305 West Pine Street, Lodi. During the meeting they talked about many things like authorizing the Mayor, on Behalf of the City Council, to send a Letter of Opposition for SB, and Complaints with dealing with wasting water. But in my opinion the main topic that they talked about that caused a buzz was the Public Hearing to Consider the Appeal of Bella Terra Plaza / Rio Valley Charter School for Reconsideration of the Planning Commission Project Indecision. In this meeting there were many comments from the public and many different opinions throughout the meeting.
Getting members of the community involved in governing and decision-making is important. Implementing programs like the participatory budgeting one found in at least one New York City council district. In such programs, a community's residents have access to a certain portion of the district's annual budget and through a series of neighborhood assemblies and public meetings over the course of several months, residents brainstorm ideas of projects that are needed in their neighborhoods. At the end of the process, the residents get to vote on the project proposals to choose which ones are most important to the community and the projects receiving the most votes get implemented (“What do you want in out neighborhood”). In programs like these, people in low-income, majority minority neighborhoods are able to be part of the decision-making process and projects that are important to them can get done. Though participation in participatory budgeting programs in U.S. municipalities has a lot of room for growth, it's things like this that can help mobilize minority groups and encourage participation in the local political
I asked Mr. Gary how often the City Council overrules his proposals. Ashworth (2001: 91) states that his board overrules him at least four times a year and sometimes more. Furthermore, Ashworth (2001: 92) points out that at meetings he has influence, but sometimes he is overruled, instructed, given assignments, and his ideas get modified. I based my question on Ashworth’s statement where he stated that we should maintain relations with the governing board. My question was also based on Mr. Gary’s discussion on his relationship with the City Council. Based on his relations with the City Council, I wanted to know whether his proposals were ever overruled by his City Council as
Every city proceeds to conduct business as usual during the week. They maintain a corporate level of organization with a legislative infrastructure. Mayors are usually tasked with keeping up the city and state up to date based on budgets available. Weighing in on the pros and cons of the suggestion of the budget can have a negative or positive impact on the outcome. People who are in this type of leadership role, learn to exercise their abilities to maximize potentials for the best interest of the city.
The major event of the night was the city employees’ recognition and introductions. First, four new members were hired on at the city: Rachel Neise, public works electrician; Valecia Serl, public service dispatch; Jordie Arnolead, rec-center receptionist; and Russe Swingle, the police department. In addition, many member were recognized for their service: Ericka Clausen, five years at the library; Cathy Beardsley, rec-center; Mr. Ritter, fire department; and Deputy Kelsh, police department. There was also an employee excellence banquet at Prairie Park in Sterling the following Friday in order to recognized the long-term employees and their families. Then, City Manager Saling brought up the issue of non-profits and their budgets. The Council decided to set up a sub-committee of members of the Council to redefine the application process the non-profits must go through in order to apply for monetary aid. Members decided to have some elements of criteria ready by a special set meeting before the next actual council meeting. Next, Pedal the Plains is going to be coming through Sterling again this year and some local artists brought forth ideas to use this year. Among the projects is a bicycle trellis archway by Merino artist Brad Rhea, at a cost of $3,985. The second project is a stainless steel bike and the cost for that
My question to Mr. Gary was how often does the City Council overrule his proposals. Ashworth (2001: 91) states that his board overrules him at least four times a year and sometimes more. Furthermore, Ashworth (2001: 92) points out that at meetings he has influence but he can be overruled, given instructions, handed assignments, and replaced. I based my question on Ashworth’s statement, ‘Relations with a governing board’.
Last week I attended the regular City Council meeting with Haylee. We arrived at City Hall around 5:20 which gave us enough time to get inside and take our seats. When five thirty rolled around the Mayor asked the City Clerk to read roll call for the attendance by all of the Council Members. After roll call, the Mayor asked for a motion to approve items that are routine for the council such as approving moments of the previous meetings, bills, or permits. The Council can approve it with one motion or they may request to discuss an item in more detail. After the approvals were made the Council began to talk about Old Business and New Business in the community such as street lighting projects, etc. After an review of the projects the Mayor asked