Recently, Councilman Bill Blackman commented that during a time when the city budget is limited and employees have not had a raise in three years, he felt the travel expenses of his fellow colleagues was too much. He made the suggestion that Council take on the role of approving the travel plans of other council members. Mr. Blackman, we'd like to ask the question is that line of thinking (approving the travel plans of your fellow colleagues) keeping in step with how you, James Johnson and Mr. Mayor (the exclusive Wilson City Council Nominating Committee) regulates and approves who serves on the City's Boards, Commissions and Committees?
You've made the statement and you're of the opinion that the amount of $5000.00 to $6,000.00 dollars is too much when it comes to travel expenses. Duly noted for the record. However, the Council budgeted over $31,000.00 toward travel expenses. Did you make your objections to the amount allocated & budgeted at the time of approving them known?
The question then arises on a board where the members have been chosen by the citizens to serve their terms equally amongst yourselves, what right do you feel you have over another to determine who does what and who goes where concerning the affairs of this city?
What process do you have in mind that you feel would obviously better regulate the authority of a fellow colleague of equal stature? Again, seeing that you all were elected to serve equally across the board.
4 comments:
If Councilman Blackman chooses not to educate himself and remain ignorant of the opportunities offered to him by the League of Municipalities and other such organziations, that is fine. He should not be dissing someone like Councilman Pitt and Councilman Coleman for wanting to improve their knowledge. It seems to me there is some jealousy and envy surrounding this controversy. Instead of being proud of his fellow councilman for being elected to an position on the National League of Cities, Councilman Blackman chooses to try and dishonor Councilman Pitt. Anyone that knows Bill Pitt knows that he is is an honorable man and does a lot for this community. It has been the custom of each city and town to pay for the expenses of their council members, mayors and city employees who choose to go to the educational meetings. I think we need to investigate all past expenses with a fine tooth comb and see just what is going on. Seems to me there is more to this story than what Mayor Rose and Councilman Blackman are telling. Sooner or later, the truth of the expenses will come out.
LOL... And remember Mayor Rose, if more comes out due to this story and you ever feel the need for legal consultation, there's always a ready and willing William Darden to advise you, and he'll save you some money too!
As I watch the City Council meeting on televison, it is clear that the one vote that Councilman Pitt has does not effect the change of one issue or salaries of city employees. Most of the time, it is 6 to 1. So to indicate the blame lays on whatever the amount of travel pay these councilman have filed is missing the point. Did everyone just forget about the "million" dollars allocated to fight a fight in another county. I would like to see Brian Bowman's travel expenses. Please let's focus on the right folks. We need term limits. They all need to go starting with the Mayor & James Johnson. Changes and fairness will never happen. PS..Rumor has it Councilman Pitt had asked to be on the agenda to give a report and it was ignored. Have you ever tried to get on the agenda @ the City Council meetings. (Ask Ricardo Dew) That is something else that needs to be discussed.
"Rose said the council should limit travel expenses, especially when city employees haven’t had a raise for three years." Well, he wasn't singing that song last year about this time when he and how many more council folks went to Myrtle Beach, SC for an extravaganza at the ElectriCites Fun-Tastic get-away-get-together at the 2010 Public Power Policymakers Conference. Where was the coverage on that story and WHY didn't we get a full report back from Mr. Mayor & council members upon their return letting us know of the benefits the City receives from their attending such a function. Matter of fact we'd like to see a copy of their expenditures. To the council reporter, the date of the conference was August 13-14,2010. Let's see if you will do a follow-up on this one. We'll be waiting for this story.We want to know who all went. Where they stayed. When they checked out and what theu did while they were there. What amount was turned in as an expense account for this trip.
Post a Comment