Monday Night at City Hall

Dan Udell's video of Monday night's organizational and informal meetings of the Common Council are now available on YouTube.

Of interest is the statement read by Council president Tom DePietro at the beginning of the organizational meeting, in which he commends city attorney Andy Howard for "demonstrating time and again that he works for all of us and that he follows the rule of law not demands of a few rulers." DePietro expresses pride that the City has "opened up the budget process to the public" and asserts, "Fiscal responsibility does not mean simple austerity; it means you should be able to see where every penny of your tax dollars are spent." He also addressed the unfortunate incident that occurred at the public workshop in which the budget for the Youth Department was discussed. He acknowledged that the incident, which he called "a despicable criminal act," was a "low point in our year" but asserted that the same night was also a high point because of the number of citizens in attendance at the meeting and concluded, "The happy consequence of that night--a properly funded Youth Department--was often ignored in the subsequent media frenzy."
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