Category: General Interest

Submitted By: gerald@wineinger.com – Click to email about this post

To keep this simple we can look at just one chart Manzanita Today created from their research.

1. Randy Kugler was hired in August 1989 as Manzanita’s City Manager therefore, he was not involved in the 1988-1989 budget which was approved in May 1988 or the 1989-1990 budget which was approved in May 1989. These budgets started in July of 1988 and July 1989 respectively, before he was hired.

2. The percentage numbers for Water Fund Share of Administration Personnel Cost are used in an apples to oranges comparison.

a) Kugler’s budget needed to charge the water fund for all water billing which was being done by the one full time clerk located in City Hall.

b) Today’s Water Fund has a full time utility clerk that does billing for water. There is no need to transfer this cost to the Water Fund, because it is already paid for directly by the Water Fund.

“Many journalists also abide by the principle of limitation of harm which means that they have a responsibility to not harm others while reporting a story.”

Submitted By: gerald@wineinger.com – Click to email about this post

I found factual errors in the March Manzanita Today Newsletter, created by an editorial staff of Manzanita citizens:

To keep this simple we can look at just one chart Manzanita Today created from their research.

1. Randy Kugler was hired in August 1989 as Manzanita’s City Manager therefore, he was not involved in the 1988-1989 budget which was approved in May 1988 or the 1989-1990 budget which was approved in May 1989. These budgets started in July of 1988 and July 1989 respectively, before he was hired.

2. The percentage numbers for Water Fund Share of Administration Personnel Cost are used in an apples to oranges comparison.

a) Kugler’s budget needed to charge the water fund for all water billing which was being done by the one full time clerk located in City Hall.

b) Today’s Water Fund has a full time utility clerk that does billing for water. There is no need to transfer this cost to the Water Fund, because it is already paid for directly by the Water Fund.

“Many journalists also abide by the principle of limitation of harm which means that they have a responsibility to not harm others while reporting a story.”

Submitted By: hakerjo@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Women’s bike one speed cruiser great shape.

reply to:
hakerjo@gmail.com

Submitted By: cbbcalm@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Start ” right now ” watching < TREME > a series on HBO : (worth paying for this) it will prepare you for Sunday’s concert at theGrange, TREME is filmed on location ,Luisiana after Katrina ..the real musicians, the people there’s their stories…some actors we have not seen before …absolutely wonderful ..
coco

Submitted By: dwieb1@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

We have an incredible and beautiful beach in Manzanita. I assume it’s a big reason anybody comes here. As we approach the busy visitor season it’s important to realize everyone is responsible tor keeping it that way.

The beach is not a dump; please don’t use it as such.

Also there are dog waste stations at every beach access point, which leaves no excuse for being irresponsible with your dog(s). It seems the bigger the dog the more likely its piles won’t be picked up and deposited in the appropriate bin. C’mon, is that what you’d like to see on YOUR front porch?

Please be responsible.
-Dave

Submitted By: sharlaksmith@yahoo.com – Click to email about this post

Submitted By: davisturner01@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Anybody needing small engine repair/maintenance can contact me at (503) 638 6662. Located nearnehalem.

Submitted By: seagullsroost315@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Nehalem Bay Food Pantry located in the basement of the Nehalem Bay United Methodist Church has been providing food and hygiene products to our neighbors for several years. About a week ago we noticed an increase in people needing a little extra help to make it through the month as monies from SNAP were cut back.
We do all we can to help our neighbors but currently we are running out of many of the needed items. I am asking for help from our community. When you do your grocery shopping please pick up something to help out. Currently we need cleaning products that are not available from the Tillamook Food Bank such as dish soap, laundry soap in smaller sizes. Also hygiene products such as shampoo, toothpaste and bath soap. Of course, we can always do the shopping for you so a donation of $s works, too.
These items are tax deductible so ask for a receipt if you need one.
You can drop things off anytime the Pantry is open:
Monday, Friday & Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
and Wednesday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Thank you.

Submitted By: Gingerlee58@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

This morning around 8:00 am~ I was walking two Corgis clients at the very North end of Neahkanie beach. No one was around and I had these two Corgis off-leash. Suddenly, a very large Coyote from up above the bluff raced down and charged the dogs ! I thought it was a large off-leash German Shepard. I started screaming and ran towards the dogs and Coyotes. He stopped but stood his ground. Bold. Unafraid of me. I quickly leashed up the dogs and ran South. He followed us for the longest time on the beach! Insane behavior. Please tell your friends with small dogs on the beach.
Ginger Matyas

Submitted By: pattyrinehart@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

FOR LEASE: OFFICE SPACE IN MANZANITA
2nd floor office space for lease in Manzanita for $1,250/mo. First and last month’s rent plus security deposit of $1,250 due upon signing, minimum 1 year lease. Longer lease preferred. Space is 558 sq ft plus shared restroom and small kitchen area. Quiet office adjacent. Pay your own electric bill. Do your own recycling. Sewer, water, and garbage service included in the rent. Move in cost is $3,750. Leave a message at 503-368-6081 and Patty will return your call. Available April 1, 2023

Submitted By: Tinnindeb@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

As Ronald Reagan so famously said, ‘There you go again.’

Randy Kugler’s answer to the question on his recent Budget Committee application explaining why he wanted to serve the City of Manzanita, ‘Inattention to structural budget problems during the past 20 years has created both funding problems and community discord when those issues have been raised for public discussion.’ Posted on the City’s website.

Indeed, Mr. Kugler has beat the indirect costs drum for years with no evidence given of financial wrongdoing. He’s even threatened to sue.* The City’s Audits continue to be conducted and authorized. Is there a conspiracy that has continued for 20 years, over multiple staff members, a variety of elected officials, independent auditors and accounting firm reviews?

*Footnote: “We asked our outside auditors, Accuity, LLC to thoroughly review the situation. They found no issues or concerns. Randy then took it upon himself to challenge their competency, reported them to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, and forced Accuity to hire attorneys to defend themselves.” Mike Scott, Tillamook County Pioneer, July 10, 2020

Mr. Kugler whined that previous city administration officials ignored his advice on indirect cost models and, more importantly, ignored him as a candidate for the City’s Budget Committee. A new City Council voted 5 to 0 on an excellent slate of Budget Committee members at the March Council meeting. Mr. Kugler was not chosen.

The Council voted 4 to 1 to accept an indirect cost model that Mr. Kugler continues to rant and bully against. The City has worked diligently at reviewing the indirect cost model. The City has hired an outside accounting firm in the past. More recently Mayor Simmons has praised the Warrenton Mayor so there was a review of Warrenton’s indirect cost model which they used for the last 20 years. This model was voted on at the March Council meeting. Mayor Simmons was the No vote and she explained her vote by saying, ‘I like direct costs’.

We can’t ignore the fact that Mr. Kugler, in the 1990’s when he was the Manzanita City Manager, used the water funds to keep the lights on at City Hall literally, including paying part of his salary from the water fund. Mr. Kugler using his indirect cost methodology to pay himself.

Deb Tinnin
A Manzanita Voter (I was accused of voter fraud by Mr. Kugler after he lost his Council race.)

Submitted By: Constanceforncrd@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Community, we are at a critical junction with the new pool. There is a workshop/board meeting tomorrow night, 6pm at NCRD, with the option to zoom in. PLEASE do not take this lightly, our 25+ yr dream of a new pool is at stake!

Submitted By: rkinor@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

I want to thank Manzanita Today for keeping the topic of the annual transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of your monthly water charges from our Water Fund to the General Fund each year alive and under scrutiny. When this issue hits your pocketbook later this year after the City announces the need for water rate increases because “revenues are not keeping up with expenditures” please remember to thank the editorial staff of Manzanita Today for their timely reporting.

Whenever Manzanita’s unofficial newsletter directs the full attention and resources of their research team to do their lead story on one Manzanita resident, I must admit it’s not quite like being highlighted as Citizen of the Year but I am nonetheless honored.

Manzanita Today describes itself as “a publication independent of the City of Manzanita” however two of its editorial board are also members of the City Budget Committee. These two members researched the Warrenton overhead allocation model, passed on their findings and assisted City staff in developing the model outcomes for Manzanita and then gave their recommendations as Budget Committee members that the Mayor and Council should adopt this model.

I am not sure how the members of an “independent” reporting publication can essentially serve as City staff and also public officials who advise the Council on these policy matters and will ultimately vote to approve our City Budget based on the costs contained in this model. Any claim of objective journalistic observation and reporting would seem to be at odds with the role that board members of Manzanita Today played in this matter.

And please do read the memo that I submitted to the City Council asking for some common sense explanations to the reasons being given as to why Manzanita should just do what Warrenton does on this matter. The full memo can be found here. tinyurl.com/3szm79ye

Finally, note at the end of my letter I reminded the Council since our voter approved City Charter clearly spells out how water fund revenues are to be used, I suggested “ If you remain uncertain as to how to decide what policy decision is in the best interests of Manzanita, the citizens who approved the above Charter language should be given the opportunity to share their thoughts with you.”

The City certainly is not reluctant to do surveys asking what folks think on a host of important community issues. Sometimes they are not all that concerned if you even live in the City and the real impact on your household budget is sometimes unclear. This is not one of those issues and it is going to cost you.

Given that we are now finding out how our past Councils failed to address the future funding needs of our water system, storm system and streets and the millions of dollars that will be needed to now address the funding of these systems, maybe you believe that keeping more money in the Water Fund is a better policy then using it to pay for City Hall salaries and office expenses. If you are like me and believe funding improvements for our water system is a priority, let our Mayor and Council know that you would like to have a direct voice in reconsidering this decision.

Randy Kugler

Submitted By: jettkeyser@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

We are an open gathering…meeting each Wednesday in the sanctuary at St Catherine’s Church. We meet at 6 p.m. to engage with what matters through meditation, focused reading, and sharing. From the ridiculous to the profoundly healing…we enjoy ourselves as we can. You are welcome to contribute. Our meetings are always free as a matter of principle.

Submitted By: ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Posting on behalf of Kim Rosenberg. loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
Resolutions. They Aren’t Just For New Year’s Anymore!
We are always dealing with history–our personal history, our family’s history, our nation’s history. And when it comes to the city hall in Manzanita, our town’s history.
Whether or not we agree about the path taken for city hall, we’re on it now and we’ve invested a ton of resources. We’ve gone through changes in councilors, the mayor and a couple of city managers along the way.
There wasn’t consensus in 2017 about the necessity of buying the Underhill property in the first place or building a city hall on it after. The debate got real personal, real quick. A bond to finance a new building was voted down and things stopped for a time.
But you know what they say about the past, right? You might be through with it, but the past ain’t through with you.
Back in August 2020, at the behest of council, City Manager Cynthia Alamillo wrote Resolution 20-21 approving the design and construction of a new city hall on the Underhill site. Basically, the resolution makes the City’s case for a new building on a new site and lays out a road map to make it happen.
The resolution was approved by the Council and became effective immediately.
But when Alamillo left her position, things slowed down again. A pro tem city manager was hired. Pro tem managers have to be replaced within 6 months and they typically just keep the lights on until a new manager is hired.
It helps to know who does what in city government. Luckily, in our little town we don’t need a flow chart except for storm water.
Our style of government is the weak mayor form–kind of a crappy name but all it means is that the elected council including the mayor all have an equal vote. The mayor has no formal authority outside council and no veto over council decisions.
A city manager is not like an office manager getting the coffee, ordering glue sticks and making copies, but a highly skilled professional hired, “solely on the basis of administrative qualifications.” (Manzanita City Charter p 4) Managers serve at the pleasure of the council but it takes a majority vote to remove a manager.
The council sets the policy and the city manager makes policy happen. The city manager doesn’t invent policy on their own although, they can and do help shape it by knowing what the rules are and what’s possible. The council, the mayor and the city manager are supposed to work together like a team. The city manager also runs the day-to-day operations of the city and manages the staff that works for the city. There are laws and regulations that apply to just about everything in government. Tons of rules and processes and ways of doing things the right way so we’re legal and that when people leave, there’s a record for the next guy, which hasn’t always been the case.
The Oregon Municipal Handbook says the relationship between the city manager and council (in Manzanita this includes the mayor) is best when council, “respects the manager’s leadership role and responsibility for administration.” (Chapter 3 p 3)
Leila Aman was one of five applicants who applied to be Manzanita’s City Manager. Aman has a Masters degree in Regional Planning and Management/Development from Cornell University. Before Aman came here she worked for the city of Milwaukie, Oregon as Community Development Director leading a staff of 12 and a budget of 3.2 million dollars. She was involved in creating opportunities for affordable housing and managed Milwaukie’s city hall relocation and renovation. She was involved in updating the city’s residential code to reflect their Comp Plan update.
Aman was appointed by unanimous council vote about 20 months ago. For the first six months she got to know us and recognized that the community was deeply divided about City Hall. She came to the Council asking to start fresh by evaluating all the options available including a remodel of the old schoolhouse, which had been off the table. She’s reached out to the community in different ways to gather our ideas about the project.
Good city managers don’t choose which existing policies, ordinances and resolutions they will administer. Whether or not they agree with them, they are supposed to stick to the rules as they are. Aman has. She signed off on a dune grading application because we had nothing legal in place to stop it, but she worked to get our current and real moratorium on the books. When I bitched about the tree ordinance Aman showed me what the rules say. She told me those rules could be changed and what the steps are to do that. When I wanted to understand why the parking ordinance changed, she brought out the boxes of records and found the answers.
Since she was hired, Aman’s been digging Manzanita out of the deep hole of our history–from digitizing records stacked in boxes to updating everything including our archaic financial software. She’s started to gather community input for the update to our Comprehensive Plan. She’s moved staff into roles of greater responsibility and developed a team that is effective and professional.
I may not like that our land use documents and ordinances suck because nothing’s been updated for decades but Aman didn’t write the rules we have and they don’t change magically overnight just because we want them to. There are a lot of steps to everything in government, the rules are complicated and it all takes more time than you think, just like a kitchen remodel.
I know what an ordinance is. But what’s a resolution when it’s for a city and not the one I make yearly on New Years to learn Czechia?
An ordinance is a legislative act. Ordinances are formal documents about single topics with the force of law. They are the long-term rules for a city’s on-going concerns like tree removal, building height and parking requirements.
A resolution is an expression of policy concerning some particular item of business coming before the legislative body. Resolutions are written and they usually deal with something temporary–like building a city hall. A resolution requires a majority vote of council to pass but once it does, it’s effective immediately and it has to be amended or repealed by a majority vote of council.
Resolution 20-21 spells out what the plan for city hall was back in August of 2020 when Cynthia Alamillo was the city manager, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. Aman has slowed the process down and the Council is evaluating options and doing their homework. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing.
On February 15, 2023 Council chose the location for a potential city hall on the Underhill site and made the decision to demo the Q-Hut after learning the estimated cost to fix it up for storage would be 500-600k.
In April there’ll be a public presentation of the City’s financial projections and then in May, they’ll discuss financing options and there’ll be a vote by Council. Some of us will be happy with what they decide, some of us will be unhappy but most of us will be somewhere in the middle.
In a representative democracy we don’t always get our way. If you’re a tree hugging hippie girl like me, you pretty much never get your way. The issues important to some of us don’t matter to others. The people elected weren’t the people we voted for. Bummer. Or the people we voted for turned out not to be who we thought they were. Major bummer.
The good news for us is that in our style of city government each Councilor has an equal vote. We have a City Manager who is working hard at the direction of Council to create policy for the future. There’s no boss. But maybe there’s a team. Team Manzanita. I hope so.
Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Submitted By: mkuestner10@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Latest issue of Manzanita Today just came out. Enjoy!
Click link below, or copy and paste into your browser.

mcusercontent.com/1697bcf6a8e7243c316921c9e/files/8aa15127-9ba0-406c-eca6-e3c2521ff1f4/03_13_2023_Manzanita_Today_Newsletter.pdf

Submitted By: dixiegainer@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Your County Rep. Cyrus Javadi is on three committees in the Oregon legislature -Housing and Homeless Committee, House committee Behavioral Health and Health Care, House committee Economic Development and Small businesses,

All of these committees may address local concerns at this time.

and here is his e-mail address in the legislature: Rep.CyrusJavadi@oregonlegislature.gov

here is a link to a recent interview of Cyrus Javadi
www.podcasts.com/tillamook-today-on-ktil-386b4ddb6/episode/030723-rep-cyrus-javadi

Submitted By: constanceforncrd@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

NCRD’s monthly board meeting is tonight, 6pm! Please join via zoom (link found at www.ncrd.org) or in person at NCRD. Given the magnitude of choices we will soon face, it is imperative we, as the voting community, be engaged and involved now more than ever. Here is what I am watching: the search for a permanent Executive Director for NCRD; the Special Districts election in May (3 seats available on the board); the bond measure for the Nehalem Bay Health District (www.nehalembayhd.org) in May; the NCRD Operations Tax Levy in late fall; the ongoing new pool project; the SWOT project; the PAC/stage accessibility Project. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask on your behalf, please forward to constanceforncrd@gmail.com, by 5pm.

These are my questions:
1. Has the search for a new Executive Director begun? If not, when will it begin? How long did it take to find our ED the last time?
2. Have the 2 final candidates, not chosen for the ED position, been contacted to interview or apply again? If so, what was their response? If not, why not?
3. The SWOT presentation/exercise was public, will the SWOT comprehensive report/recommendations from the SDAO be made public? If so, by when? Who will be implementing the recommendations?
4. It was implied last month there was a possible solution to address the lack of stage accessibility for those with mobility concerns in the PAC? What is the status? If this is not accurate, will a committee dedicated to this issue now be formed? By when?
5. There are 3 open seats on the board for the May election, Mary G. indicated early she will be running. Wally B & Jennifer H, please share your intentions of running, or not.
6. If there’s time, I’m curious. What policies has this board written in the last 10+ years?
Respectfully/Constance

Submitted By: nbwa@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

Nehalem Bay Wastewater Agency is accepting applications for an Office Assistant. The chosen candidate must have an educational level equivalent to a High School diploma; excellent interpersonal skills, verbal and written communication skills; proficiency with Office Suite software, an aptitude for learning and using web-based computer applications such as financial/fund software, utility receipts/billing, and mapping/GIS. Final candidates will be interviewed, pass reference checks, and subject to a background check.
The starting pay range is $22.37 to $25.92 per hour DOE.
Applications and a job description are available online at www.nehalembaywastewater.org or at the administration office, 35755 7th St., Nehalem, OR 97131. 503-368-5125
No applications will be accepted after March 31st, 2023.
VETERANS’ PREFERENCE. NEHALEM BAY WASTEWATER AGENCY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.

Submitted By: jettkeyser@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

We meet each Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m at St Catherine’s sanctuary next to the Hope Chest and close to the Shell Station on 101 between Manzanita and Nehalem.

We always enjoy some guided and silent meditation, focused readings, and community sharing…

This is an open learning community…

You are always welcome to attend and contribute at no cost.

Submitted By: ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Posting on behalf of Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com

Select and Appoint

I supported changing Manzanita’s appointment process back in August and I supported fixing the glitches in the new process this January. Prior to 2022 it was solely the Mayor’s purview to appoint the members of any board, commission or committee. The Mayor also had all the responsibility to remove appointees. It made sense back in the days when it was like pulling teeth to get people to serve, but those days are gone.

A couple of things happened in 2022 that precipitated the direction taken by the previous Council.

A member of the Planning Commission’s term was ending. Mayor Scott placed a reappointment for that position on the City Council’s consent agenda but Council disagreed that such an important role should be a reappointment with no discussion. The Mayor agreed and the process of how the City appoints members to committees, commissions and boards began to change.

When the STR standing Committee was forming, people applied for positions and Mayor Scott met with Councilor Spegman to review all the applications before making appointments. The Mayor chose Spegman who had different views than his own but they came to consensus about their picks. This attempt to change things moved the ball along but didn’t go far enough. At the same time, City Manager Aman was researching the appointment process in other cities.

It was the clear intent of the former Mayor and Council to remove the discretionary power of appointment and removal from the Mayor to the Council. To me, that’s the direction to head, away from centralized decision making to consensus among equals.

It doesn’t matter to me if it’s the old mayor or the new mayor or some future mayor appointing people or removing them, it’s a bad look and gives too much control about too many things to one person. I supported an attempt to blind the current process, even though our community is small and it would be easy for some folks to figure out whose applications they were reading. Appearances matter in a town as divided as this one.

When it looks like friends pick friends or that there’s “an old boys” club you have to belong to in order to serve, the community suffers and mistrust spreads faster than head lice in a preschool naproom. People feel they can’t trust the process. They have the perception that things aren’t fair. It doesn’t matter whether what people think is true or not. They feel itchy and they’re going to need the special shampoo and a little bitty comb.

The previous Mayor and Council adopted the City’s Rules of Procedures for Council Meetings back in August about the time three spots would be coming up on the Planning Commission at the start of the new year.

The appointment process moved from the Mayor to a select committee but there were some flaws in the wording. That happens in technical and legal writing quite often because words are tricky beasts. Over the summer the select committee did the work as it was spelled out in the August Rules of Procedure.

The select committee was to present a slate of candidates “to the mayor for consideration” (my italics from August Rules and Procedures).

There is no mandatory language giving clear guidance for what would happen if a mayor rejected a slate of candidates in the August Rules of Procedure. So I read the Manzanita City Charter.

It reads, “The Mayor shall appoint a committee provided for under the rules of the Council.” The Rules from August just say the Mayor gets a list of candidates for consideration not what the mayor can do if they don’t like the list.

In the August Rules it also says that, “all appointed persons may be removed by the Mayor or a majority of city council” but it doesn’t say what happens if the Mayor and the majority of Council disagree. Awkward.

Using the new process for the first time to appoint three new Planning Commissioners with new and newish council members and a new mayor at the first Council Meeting of the year, the new Mayor did end up rejecting the slate. No matter what she was going to do people on one side or the other were going to be mad.

So after the January meeting, Council began tweaking the appointment process further.

The Rules of Procedure are easier to amend and update than is the Charter. The Charter can only be changed by a citywide vote and it takes time, resources and a whole lot of cash money to do it. Our Charter is a hot mess. I’ve read it a bunch of times. It wouldn’t be an easy in and out kind of revision to do the whole deal.

On February 8, 2023 Council amended the August rules. Here’s what’s changed:

The Mayor and Council will appoint two Councilors instead of one for the select committee.

Those two Councilors will choose a third member of the select committee from the committee that has the opening(s).

The City Manager will be a non-voting member.

Applications will be posted on the City’s website.

All qualified applicants will be interviewed.

A select committee member will present a slate to the Mayor with a ranked list of all qualified candidates.

So no one is left hanging again, the mayor or someone from the select committee will contact the applicants and give them a heads up before the appointment takes place at the next City Council meeting.

As for the actual appointing, the amended rules now read, “The Mayor shall make appointment (s) based on the selection committee’s recommendation or elect to appoint candidates from the qualified list.”

The use of the mandatory shall means that the mayor has to use the select committee’s recommendation or appoint from the qualified list. So there’s that. But…

What the amended rules don’t say is what happens, if the Mayor doesn’t like the slate but there’s not an extra list of qualified candidates to choose from? Also, when choosing from the qualified list, does the Mayor have to go by the ranking in appointing candidates? If the Mayor doesn’t have to use ranking to choose, why is there ranking of candidates to begin with?

The select committee’s slate of recommendations will be part of the record

The last change is in removals. It now says that “all appointed persons may be removed by a majority vote of City Council” not just the Mayor.

One thing Council learned recently is that appointments for the Budget Committee are different and we’ve been doing them wrong for a long time. ORS 294.414 requires the entire Council to vote to appoint Budget Committee members. That’s Oregon State Law. It will be interesting to see how this will all work at the next meeting. Council agreed to use part of the process from the Appointment Rules–all the way down to where the appointment is made when the Council will vote.

We’ll also get a chance to see how the regular appointment process works for a new vacancy on the Planning Commission. Some of the changes Council has made already (like posting the applications for the community to see) make sense to me. I didn’t think it was such a good idea before they did it, but now I see that it lets people know more about the background and experience of the people chosen to fill important committees and commissions.

Maybe you knew more than one of the people applying for the Planning Commission and you wondered why some people were interviewed and some were not, or maybe you didn’t know any of the applicants and wondered about their backgrounds and how they were chosen. Maybe you had questions about the make up of the select committee.

I think Council is trying to clean the windows to let us see inside. And, kids? We might need more Windex.

Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com