At the beginning of the informal Common Council meeting last night, Council president Tom DePietro made passing reference to "Communications." One of those communications was a memo from city clerk Tracy Delaney certifying that the petition to amend the city charter "complies with all of the requirements of law." The petition, which had been delivered to the city clerk on Wednesday, March 5, was reviewed, certified, and submitted to the Common Council two days later, on Friday, March 7.
No reference was made to the matter until, just before DePietro was about to call for a motion to adjourn, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) asked if there was a plan to respond to the petition. DePieto told her, "I have no intention of putting it on the agenda for a number of reasons that I have discussed with Crystal." The reference is to Crystal Peck, legal counsel to the Council. DePietro continued, "One is, even if we took it on and decided to make changes to the existing document, which I don't have much respect for, we're on their timeline, so it wouldn't give us a hell of a lot of time to do that. Secondly, they don't have to pay attention to anything we do."
Morris persisted, asking DePietro, "Don't you think it would be worthwhile to at least have a discussion?" There was further conversation among the councilmembers, which can be heard here, beginning at 1:04:35, during which DePietro opined, "I suspect the people who signed the petition didn't read the whole document."
In the end, DePietro agreed to schedule a public meeting to give the Council and the public the opportunity to discuss the proposed charter change, which would transform Hudson's form of government from mayor-council to city manager-council and reduce the number of people on the Council from eleven to five. The proposed amendments to the city charter can be found here.
According to the timeline, within the next sixty days, that is, before May 5, one of the following things can happen:
- The Council may adopt the law as proposed or not adopt the law.
- If the Council decides to amend the law, that is the equivalent of not adopting the law.
- If the Council does not act on the law at all, that is also the equivalent of not adopting the law.
If after two months no action is taken or the Council fails to adopt the proposed law (without changing it), an additional petition can be filed requiring that the local law be submitted at the next general election that is not less than sixty days after the second petition is filed.
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Utterly bizarre!
ReplyDeleteHere, Tom had the golden opportunity to put an item onto the agenda which he doesn't agree with but critically, an item that would stand no chance of advancing further in the council.
It would have allowed him to demonstrate benevolent and strong leadership for once, but he blew it. As I predicted here a few days ago, it would be such a Tom thing to do. Naturally, he promptly proceeds and does it.
Tom is an absolute disgraceful embarrassment. Once again he has proven himself to be an unprofessional, selfish jerk. We deserve a whole lot better than this bozo.
ReplyDeleteDePietro opined, "I suspect the people who signed the petition didn't read the whole document."
ReplyDeleteI know that I did and most of the people I know who signed, knew full well what they were signing and why. The dismissiveness and blatant disregard for the people, tell me it's time for Tom to take the gavel home and put it on his mantel.
It is time for someone to take the President's seat who has consistently and doggedly fought not only for her constituents, but for all of Hudson's citizens. I will be voting and supporting Margaret Morris for Council President.
No surprise here as this is Tom’s modus operandi and has only been bolstered by years of citizen apathy and non contested elections. His distain for Hudson’s citizens and those who dare petition their grievances, an enumerated right in our constitution, couldn’t be clearer.
ReplyDeleteI also signed the petition. And I did in fact read it. And I, like others, have voiced our opinions on how it could be further improved, both at the public info sessions and in the “public square.” The reason why I signed it and the reason why I still support it, blemishes and all, is perfectly demonstrated by Tom’s behavior. We have a mayor and council president who feel above their constituents and refuse to engage any of their concerns. Most agree that our charter is old and needs updating. They have refused to entertain all collaborative efforts to create a commission, or even a discussion. Unless they can handpick and predetermine the outcome in secret—like their forthcoming Comprehensive Plan. This citizens led reform is the only thing forcing them to take any action. And even then, he will do everything possible and use city resources to silence the rest of the council and I’m sure, try to prevent it from getting to the ballot. I’m not holding my breath on the “public meeting.”
This is very reminiscent of last month’s meeting where Tom tried to block the rest of the entire council from voting on eliminating the redundant truck route on 3rd and Columbia. It’s also quite ironic since, in a recent Register Star article about the Council President campaign, Tom dismissively said Margaret doesn’t know much about Hudson north of Warren Street. But let’s look at their actions and not just words: Margaret worked tirelessly to remove a truck route that has been detrimental to the quality of life of the 2nd and 4th Wards while Tom single-handedly tried to stop the rest of the council from approving it, all to protect his interests on his one block of Worth Ave.
Spot on Jack and Victor -
ReplyDeleteTom -
Just last week in the Registrar Star you called the City of Hudson under your leadership the most "transparent" it has ever been.
🚩 And here you try to brush a lawful petition by 200 voters, organized by a true grassroots resident movement, under the rug. Only in the last 3 minutes of the meeting... when someone else asked... did you mention... the biggest grassroots civic movement in Hudson for years.
You have not won a contested election in 5 years, and it shows.
A good leader would immediately hold public meetings… not state publicly before hand that you will not take action anyway, and deploy talented residents and elected officials to consider updating the charter to meet the demands, and decreasing city population, of the day.
You mock Peter Spear's Citizen Assembly work but honestly… you could learn a lot from him when it comes to listening and engaging.
Even Caitie (Spark of Hudson), Peter (Friends of Hudson Youth) and others who wrote sincere public letters to critique the specific changes, or the nature of a very corporation, in the Charter Change Petition… still mostly admitted that improvements can be made to the current Charter, and mainly criticized the initial process that got us here. They also showed up to meetings and frankly raised fair points reasonably.
No one, as far as I know, has argued that the City Charter should stay exactly as it is today.
What I find fascinating is which people are tolerating Tom's unwise, political, and mercurial behavior and giving him bad advice.
🛤️ Where are the guardrails, the advisors, or as they say in Game of Thrones, the Hand of the King;
1️⃣ City Council attorney Peck, who owes a duty to the Council and the City, not to Tom
2️⃣ Hudson City Democrats (HCDC), one of whom is Tom's domestic partner
3️⃣ The Columbia County Democratic leadership, one of whom is Tom's domestic partner
4️⃣ Kamal, the Westchester County born and raised Mayor of Hudson
5️⃣ Other elected Council members?
🥊 This is one of the many reasons why Common Council President Tom DePietro should have resigned when he assaulted John Friedman (one of a dozen Charter Change organizers and his neighbor).
Now…. years later… he is still so blinded by emotion that he would rather the City spend more money, have more acrimony, and put its head in the sand like an ostrich soon to migrate to Missouri, than be responsive to tax paying residents in Hudson.
I expected more from an American, a New Yorker, and a Hudsonian.