Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, Hudson residents will have a chance to meet the team that brought the charter change proposal forward, ask questions, and discuss the proposal with friends, neighbors, and elected officials.
The folks who have worked for three years to craft this initiative have provided this information in advance of tomorrow's meeting. I am flattered it includes a link to a Gossips post.
What is the initiative about? This is a citizens' initiative to change Hudson's form of governance from a Mayoral/Council model to a City Manager/Council model, introducing professionally trained and experienced management of the City. The City Manager/Council form of government has been successful in many cities throughout the US for over 100 years. Currently, one-fourth of the cities in New York State have this form of governance.
Why need for change? In addition to several points made in the FAQs, a compelling example of the need for change is Hudson's annual budget. The Common Council recently passed Hudson's 2025 annual budget, again raising the budget by approximately $1 million. Since 2020, Hudson's annual budget has increased $1 million yearly, from $14.9 million in 2020 to $19.7 million in 2025. That's a 32% increase in 5 years!
Compared to the 62 cities in NY state, Hudson ranks #6 in highest per capita budget cost at $3,413 per person, and #1 in total cost and per capita cost compared to the 10 NY cities with populations less than 10,000 (our per capita costs are over $1,000 higher per person with the #2!).
Click HERE for an informal benchmarking study submitted to the Common Council by a concerned citizen.
Click HERE for a Gossips article on this initiative.
Click HERE to access the Citizens' Initiative for Charter Change website, including information about the change, proposed draft changes to the existing City Charter, and FAQs.
Rather than accepting what has now become cliche “ Everything costs more” maybe it’s time to look at what is dispensable.
ReplyDeleteTaxpayers are looked at as endless source of dollars.
I hope Kamal and Tom show up to whine some more and make the fools of themselves that they are.
ReplyDeleteAs my contribution to create the kind of shared understanding we need to make good decisions, I wanted to share a conversation I had with folks from the National Civic League.
ReplyDeleteIt is America's oldest good governance organization, was instrumental in developing and promoting the council-manager form of government, and is the author of the Model City Charter, the gold standard of government structure for over 130 years.
As part of my efforts to spread the good word about citizens assemblies, I was introduced to Nick Vlahos, the Deputy Director of the League’s Center for Democracy Innovation. I invited him and Derek Okubo about their history, about charter reform, and the rise of citizens’ assemblies.
You can listen here:
https://thatbusinessofmeaning.substack.com/p/nick-vlahos-and-derek-okubo-on-reform
The 9th Edition of the Model City Charter was released in December 2021 was the first full revision of the document since 2000.
Importantly, for the first time in its 125-year history, the trusted Model City Charter dedicates an entire article to making civic engagement a central part of good governance.
This meaningful innovation in good governance, by our nation’s authority, is not represented in the charter revisions being proposed, making those revisions already outdated.
You can read about Article VII of the 9th Edition here:
https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/model-city-charter-9th-edition-article-vii-the-role-of-public-engagement-in-local-governance/
Thanks Peter -
ReplyDeleteMan, if only there was some Citizen Assembly entity that could give you upside for all the work you do for them for free ;-)
re: "Civic Engagement" - the Citizens' Initiative for Charter Change have already spent more hours in the freezing cold and at Farmer's Markets and in coffee shops "engaging" than almost any other group in town.
They answer emails. They return calls. They do house visits by request to collect signatures to help the disabled and senior or those with young kids.
Action speak louder than words.
So just for posterity... mayor and CC President were no shows... room was fully packed... 50 plus people on the coldest week of the year... questions were answered...
ReplyDelete