At a special session of the City Council last night a revision of the sewer board was passed.
The new board consists of three members:
1. the Mayor or his designee
2. two members appointed by the City Council, one of whom must be the City Engineer or a registered professional engineer
That means for the time being, the board consists of the Mayor's designee, Ron Carroll and Bill Utz who is a current member of the Sewer Board.
Compensation is yet to be set, but will be set by the Council. Furthermore, expenses are limited to $1,200.00 annually per member.
The board may function with the members now named, as two members constitute a quorum.
This ordinance matches the state statute governing the establishment of local utility boards for second class cities except for the allowance of a "designee" to serve in place of the Mayor.
A search can now commence for the third member of the board.
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7 comments:
sell out
John,
I have no real feelings about the way the Sewer Board should be made up. It is more important who the people are than how many. However, the main reasoning seems to be to make our board match the state statute. Why then the exception for a "designee"? Does that not make us still outside the statute?
Just curious as, again, I have no problem with what has been done--I think.
iamhoosier:
Pop quiz. Choose A or B.
A)
The use of a designee is recognition of the fact that the Mayor is more than simply the person occupying the office of the Mayor at that particular time. It is, in this expansion of the title "Mayor", inclusive of the Mayor's administration which is the mechanism by which the Mayor implements his policies.
For me, it is analogous to saying the FISA bill gives the President the power to spy on Americans without a warrant. While I would put nothing outside the bounds of what Bush would do if he could, I do not expect him ,personally, to have the abillity to carry out such searches. In that construction, "The President" is a term inclusive of all the workings of his administration of which he is responsible.
Not to elevate Doug England higher than his status deserves, but "designee" is tantamount to the "Royal We" in expressing the personification of the polity by a specific temporal being who lacks omnipresence to carry out actions throughout the realm.
Or...
B)
As some would say, we simply caved to the Mayor's awesome power and devious nature.
I've already chosen my answer.
"Pseudo-intellectual" has been thrown around lately on the NAC blog. Since my own intellectual capacities strongly lean to the pseudo side, please indulge me the following question.
If "A" is the reason, what is the need for the use of "exception"?
By the way, very good answer and I do "buy" it. For what that is worth.
iamhoosier:
Not an "exception", but a more expansive use of the term "Mayor".
Thanks for catching that the pedantry is redolent of the recent exchanges on NAC.
2011 Gonder, you are history politically.
"2011 Gonder, you are history politically."
The gutless anonymous instinct never ceases to inspire a laugh.
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