[RP TownTalk] Town Council Meeting 2 April 2018

[Bob Smith]

 There is NO CRISIS Facing the town that demands or dictates that the voter expansion legislation must be passed at this time.

At the Monday 2 April, The Town of Riverdale Park Town Council meeting, the council will have the opportunity to decide on either taking a brave stand and deviating from the US Congress style of voting on legislation that is incomplete and flawed, and even unread, or pulling a piece of flawed legislation that needs to be reworked properly before proposing a forward leaning  inclusive charter amendment that is better thought out and fully vetted with the honest and open specific public hearings to ensure the impact is understood.

I raised concerns about this legislation at the Council work session on 26 March 2018. Some of my questions were covered with comments that implied this has all been covered before in the legislative committee meetings. The legislative committee meetings are not online yet. Hard copy minutes, actually summaries, are available but are not easy to understand if the questions raised have been sufficiently covered - the state of the legislation presented at the working session were not sufficiently mature to assure that the issues raised are addressed. Comments about the staff handling the list, with no firm plan on how that will be done were deemed insufficient.

I raised my thoughtful concerns to the legislative committee in email from me, public information, publicly shareable email, with no pretense of privacy, I believe the legislation is flawed and incomplete. I believe there is sufficient evidence to say that there will be a cost for this legislation. That suggestion has fallen on deaf ears. As taxpayers, I believe we should know what the impact of the change is going to be - no matter what the projected cost. 

I raised an objection to this level of town charter change utilizing the expedited two LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE sessions to create the document and bring it to the council.  I believe this and any such major change to the charter should have a full public hearing with a polished, complete, and detailed set of documentation for the legislation.

Again, there is no known crisis dictating that this legislation must be passed in the next 60 days, we have time to do it properly.




Bob Smith

sfmc68 at verizon.net

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