City Alders plow ahead despite concerns (motion failed) by Personnel Committee, you know, the experts.This is part one of the Board of Estimates Recap – Items 1 – 17.
Board of Estimates met last night, they approved everything else from the Personnel Board (1, 2, 5 – 10).
On this item (3 & 4):
Lauren Cnare points out that the motion is to approve the item.
Mike Verveer asks for a summary of the discussion at the personnel board.
Mayor Paul Soglin says it was very succinct, from what I understand and his understanding was that no one was there.
Verveer asks who wasn’t there.
Soglin says he’d let someone else explain it.
Human Resources staff comes up to the table.
The Mayor says, correct me if I am wrong, I’m sorry.
Human Resources staff says it was an interesting discussion. He says the personnel board has concerns about the placement in the City Attorney’s office, questions about how the management of the position would work, even tho the City Attorney was present and indicated that he would supervise the position, the fact that you have 20 alders with potential requests caused some concern. Those were the main areas of questioning. When they made the motion, the motion failed, there wasn’t any discussion about what the ultimate reasoning was for the failure of the motion.
Verveer asks if he was the only person there to address the questions. They indicate the city attorney was there as well.
Verveer says that staff was available to answer questions, so it wasn’t as simple as no alder was able to be there?
Staff says that they responded, laying out the position, they had the report from the subcommittee appointed by Alder Cnare, so they had all the documentation. And we answered all their questions.
Verveer asks if there was no discussion just a lot of questions.
Correct.
No discussion. They vote and it passes unanimously.
So, um, I’m guessing this flies through the council without it being discussed and they go ahead and hire under this crazy scheme and just see how it works. The City Attorney will supervise the council’s staff member. Sounds nuts to me. I agree the solutions are not great, but this is silly . . . and yet another citizen committee, completely ignored. Why even bother referring things to committees if they are just going to do what they want anyways?
Other items that pass quickly are items 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
Brenda, From your mouth to God, Buddha or whatever powers that be ears! I moved to Madison almost 3 years ago from the Twin Cities and it has been a rental nightmare! I am a 56 year old female, who pays rent on time and is impeccably clean and considerate of other tenants. If only I was aware of what life would be like on Raymond Rd.
Orchard Village Apartments and it’s management team was the worst. Too many things to mention. Why is Madison so overpriced? It is a moderate sized city but does not offer enough for the cost. I feel there is a great deal of potential but under the Walker regime, along with his cronies, no one but the mighty rich will be able to survive, especially in this economy. My current landlord has hiked our rent by $150.00 per month with another $100.00 per month increase by June 1st due to HER unemployment! We pay for everything including water, salt for water softener, etc and we are planning to move by June 1st or before. Thank you for being the voice that needs to be heard. If your enemies don’t like what you have to say, it is because you point out flaws in the system that work to their advantage but not for the greater good of all. Good luck to you as you continue your pursuit of fairness and equality…So…You hiring?