City Council Gives Up. Again

After reading accounts online this morning, from Erin Duffy in The Times, Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman in the Trentonian, and the always authoritative and passionate From the Front Stoop, last night’s City Council session sounds like it was entirely frustrating and depressing, at least to those who have some hope that at least some mechanisms of this town’s self-government can work as they are supposed to. There’s little chance of that, now.

Council passed, as expected, the first reading of a revised ordinance to halve the salary of the Indicted Occupant of the Mayor’s Office. The proposal will likely pass  at its second reading two weeks from now, again as expected.

But the will of the majority of Council will probably not turn into law. The IO will veto the bill, and any override vote will fail because East Ward Councilwoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson will oppose the bill, as she did last night.

The Councilwoman’s frequent, incoherent  shifts of position on this issue over the last couple of months haven’t won her any “Profiles in Courage” points. Last night’s vote puts what will probably be the final nail on her future political career. Other than providing graphic evidence that little of value will come out of this Council if five votes are required for effective action, there is no reason to talk any more of her. She is now irrelevant for the next 18 months, merely an obstacle to be worked around.

I hope that standing up for Tony Mack was worth it. Good Riddance to her, and may the people of the East Ward find someone better to represent them next year!

In the public comment section of last night’s meeting, several citizens expressed their opinion that concentrating so much on the IO and his salary was a distraction from the many hard decisions and critical issues that our city must face. I fully agree with this, and wrote as much back in February of last year. It is a distraction. But it has also became a crucial milestone for Council to follow through with and pass.  Failure to do so is already having significant consequences, and none of them good.

How? Because in other business undertaken by Council last night, the Administration showed that they are now free to ignore Council with impunity, and that they do not fear that Council will take meaningful action to stop them.

Case in point: mayoral “aide” and all-around fuck-up Anthony Roberts “called in sick” for a scheduled appearance before Council to answer questions about the funding of the commemorative bust of President Obama unveiled last month in City Hall. Other than not showing up last night, he refused to acknowledge Council’s invitation, and failed to respond to the Times’ resuest for comment earlier in the week. Consider this another blatant act of insubordination from Mr. Roberts toward Council.

Also, last night’s session was intended as a docket review, to review action items before Council and allow Members to ask the Administration questions about those items and provide more information to inform their votes. Other than the Superintendent of the Water Works, no one from the Administration was on hand last night to talk to Council.

Another Dis from the IO and his people.

You want another example? One of the items on the docket review was review of a change order to an existing contract with a city vendor. This vendor has been disclosed as a contributor to the Obama bust. Last month, West Ward Councilman Zachary Chester asked the city Law Department for guidance as to whether the vendor’s contribution might trigger Trenton’s Pay-to-Play ordinance, and complicate the current contract and proposed change order. Last night, the city Law Department told the Councilman they hadn’t yet looked into the matter.

Yep, flipped off once more. And the Law Department is supposed to work for Council as much as they do for the IO!

I will leave you with one final example. Last summer, after a number of problems with tenants of a few city-owned properties surfaced, Council passed an ordinance, signed by the Occupant, requiring the Administration to present to Council a list of all tenants with their leases or other terms of their tenancy of the city properties. Up until last night, no such information had come to Council, according to North Ward Member Marge Caldwell-Wilson. She disclosed last night she’s sent a letter to Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson threatening legal action unless the Administration produces the data that should have come to Council months ago.

Get the picture? It is clear to me that the inability of Council as a body to pass laws over mayoral veto has led the IO as well as many others of the Administration to ignore Council as much as they can. Although last night’s results can be attributed solely to Ms. Reynolds-Jackson, the other two members of the IO’s fan club, Kathy McBride and Alex Bethea, can be counted on to faithfully back the Occupant and render Council powerless.

So is Council a lost cause? Not at all. There are powers available to them that can be exercised by a simple majority. If, that is, the Majority is willing to exercise them.

Most immediately, Council can begin to assert the authority granted to it under Section 2-9 of our City Ordinances. This section states, “The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.”

OK? Get it? If someone like Anthony Roberts is repeatedly insubordinate of Council, “calls in sick” for Council appearances, and otherwise blows off requests from Council, Fire His Ass!

If the Administration doesn’t follow the Ordinance on City Properties (or city-owned vehicles, for that matter!), find out who’s responsible, and start the process to Fire Their Ass!

If the City Law Department continues to favor the interests of the Executive Branch to the detriment of its obligation to the Legislative, find out who’s responsible, and start the process to Fire Their Ass!

Council also has the power to formally convene and undertake investigations of city departments and employees. They can issue subpoenas, and conduct open hearings. This process would, of course, take a lot of time and be very expensive. But the power to do so is available to them, and can be exercised by a simple majority.

These are just two examples of effective action that can be taken by a simple majority of City Council. I think that Ms. Caldwell-Wilson, Mr. Chester, as well as George Muschal and Phyllis Holly-Ward have shown that they can work effectively together, despite the continued wrong-minded obstruction of their three dead-weight colleagues. Their hearts, and their efforts, are in the right place.

I’d like them to discover they do have the ability to take action. I have the feeling that one or two targeted removals of insubordinate and ineffective employees for cause will have a positive impact on the ability of others in the Administration to work with Council.

Then, maybe then, we can get past these distractions and get back to business.

I sure hope so.