Tag Archives: municipal election

local news, political news

Hoping for smooth City Council transition

We’ve all suffered from motion sickness while watching the new president of the United States take command of the federal government.

Will there be a similarly rough ride at Amarillo City Hall when the new City Council takes over after the May 6 election? Oh, I don’t expect it. Then again, I didn’t expect the outcome we got after the 2015 municipal election … let alone the outcome we witnessed just this past November when Donald J. Trump got elected president!

However, my hope springs eternal at many levels.

We’re going to get a new majority on the council. One of the incumbents who’s not seeking re-election, Place 3 Councilman Randy Burkett, has been a key player in the rocky ride we’ve been through at City Hall. That he’s leaving office after just one term bodes well for calmer times. He’s been a disappointment to many Amarillo residents, although I acknowledge that many others view him as a champion for their point of view — whatever it is.

With a new chief administrator on the job, City Manager Jared Miller, it also is my sincere hope that the new council will let him do the job he was hired to do.

It is to run the city, to ensure that each department functions well, to hold department heads accountable and to make sure the public’s money is being spent prudently and efficiently.

I look forward eventually to meeting the new manager. Since I’m now a former full-time journalist, I’m likely to have to pursue that opportunity myself. I pledge to do so.

As for the council, I am hoping for a more tranquil atmosphere than what we’ve witnessed for much of the past two years.

Voters got angry two years ago. The source of that anger continues to baffle me, given the city’s economic vitality and the tangible progress that has occurred on many fronts. But they were steamed enough to oust two incumbents; a third incumbent didn’t seek a new term, so voters selected a new majority two years ago.

One of the new guys, Mark Nair, then decided to ask for Jarret Atkinson’s resignation as city manager. It took Atkinson a few weeks, but he bailed.

The city then brought in an interim manager, Terry Childers, who took no time at all to demonstrate his ability to turn a simple mistake into a full-blown controversy; I refer to the episode in which Childers misplaced his briefcase, called the emergency dispatch center and bullied a dispatcher over the phone. It didn’t get any better for Childers, who eventually quit after muttering into a hot mic that a constituent is a “stupid son of a b****.”

There was open bickering between council members. There were instances of a council member — Burkett — speaking out of turn regarding negotiations to lure a baseball franchise to Amarillo. Mayor Paul Harpole walked out of an executive session because of a supposed lack of trust in council members.

We’re getting a new bunch this time around. May the new majority offer a semblance of tranquility for a municipal government that likely has exhausted its motion-sickness remedies.

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Meanwhile, City Hall asks for some tough decisions, too

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So, perhaps you thought your tough decisions begin and end with the vote for president of the United States.

Hmm. Wrong!

Amarillo City Hall has put forward a package of seven ballot propositions. They total nearly $340 million. If we approve them all, our municipal property tax rate will increase a few cents per $100 assessed valuation on our property.

What we’ve got here is a comprehensive list of projects covering a multitude of areas involving the service that our city provides.

Here’s the link that summarizes them:

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

The package of measures represents a significant change in the process of governing at City Hall. The list is almost mind-numbing.

The list includes projects set for streets, public safety, municipal facilities, parks, the Civic Center, athletic facilities andĀ the vehicle fleet.

My guess would be that every single one of Amarillo’s 200,000 residents partakes in at least one of those municipal services. Thus, we have a vested and tangible interest in ensuring we get the most of them.

This is a fascinating method of securing public support for these services. If voters approve all of them, they all get done — over time.

Voters, though, have the chance to decide which of these projects are the most important. If they don’t want to improve the city’s park network, they can vote no on that proposition. If voters think they’re safe enough and do not want to improve police and fire protection, well, you can say “no” to that one, too. Hey, if you like the condition of the streets, you can reject that one, too.

Here are the proposals as presented by the City Council:

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/Resolution_Callilng_November_Election_16.pdf

The total price tag, I should add, was winnowed down from an original wish list of nearly a billion bucks.

Amarillo’s elected and senior administrative leadership have boasted for as long as I can remember — and I’ve been observing City Hall for more than 21 years — about the city’s famously low municipal tax rate.

The city also carries relatively little debt, unlike other cities of comparable size around the state.

City Hall has done a thorough job of examining areas that need improvement. It has asked us — the taxpayers — to dig a little deeper to pay for them. It’s reasonable to ask those of us who partake of the services offered to pay for them.

Those agents of change who took office in the spring of 2015 promised to do things differently than what has happened before. I’ve been critical of some of the changes brought by the City Council.

This one, though,Ā represents a positive — and proactive — new direction.

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In the weeks ahead, I’ll be looking at some of these individual propositions and offering a comment or two on them. Until then, study up.