This morning, members of the Citizens' Initiative for Hudson
Charter Change submitted their petition to Tracy Delaney, the City Clerk, thus setting in
motion the next phase of the campaign to change the structure of Hudson’s city government.
 |
| Tracy Delaney, accepting the petition from Nick Haddad and Kristal Heinz |
The following is quoted from a press release issued by the Citizens' Initiative for Charter Change:
The bound and covered document, 138 pages in all, containing 240 voters’ signatures, represents several years of study and work by a team of local volunteers, all registered voters in Hudson.
The process now enters a 30-day period, during which the clerk is required to determine the legal sufficiency of the petition, subject to judicial review. Whether or not the City Clerk determines the petition to be legally sufficient, she is required to submit the proposal to the Common Council. It then has 60 days to consider the proposal.
If the Common Council fails to adopt the proposal without change within 60 days following its filing, and such petition meets all the requirements of law, voters who did not sign the original petition may file an additional petition with the City Clerk requiring a submission of the proposal at next November’s general election. If this additional petition is found to be adequate, the Clerk is required to present the matter to the County Board of Elections to include the petitioned for local law amending the charter as a referendum on the November ballot.
Finally, if the referendum receives a majority of the votes cast in November, the local law change will be adopted, and the new charter will be in effect as provided in the proposal, giving the Common Council two years to implement a council-manager form of government.
Great news! Time for people to start getting serious and not assuming the status quo will continue through putting your head in the sand.
ReplyDeleteIt will be real interesting to see how this plays out in the council. I hope they can come together and tweak it into something that we can all be proud of. Many good points have been made by people here, elsewhere in the public sphere, and at the information sessions—including by the few council members that cared enough to attend. It will also be a good test to see which of them is dedicated to the future of Hudson and righting the ship, and which of them are too lazy or unconcerned to roll up their sleeves and do the work of the people.
I don't see a world where the council will do anything with this. In fact, I am curious if this will actually make it onto the council's agenda. Tom indicated to me that it might not. It would be such a Tom move.
DeleteWhy don't the Citizens Initiative folks partner with one of the mayoral candidates and show us how you can "do politics" in Hudson. --peter meyer
ReplyDeletePeter, I can't speak for the rest of the group, but after 3+ years of regular meetings and homework, I'm ready for a little break!
DeleteKristal, having worked for a dozen+ years trying to fix our local school system, I know the feeling. Get some sleep, take a vacation. Onward. --peter meyer
Delete🧐 So… let me get this straight…. let's zoom out for a second…
ReplyDeleteThe Columbia County Democrats want to have an election about a County Manager... they say to have a more efficient county that is professionally managed... #efficiency #apolitical
Skeptics of that plan might say they are doing an end run around the Republican Supervisors... who mostly oppose the idea?
And then City of Hudson residents (mostly Democrats?) want to have an election about a City Manager... they say to have a more efficient city that is professionally managed... #efficiency #apolitical
Skeptics might say they are trying to do an end run around the City of Hudson Democrats… who mostly oppose the idea?
So… why is a professional County Manager good for the County... but a professional City Manager not good for the City?
Asking for an immigrant….
🐳 2025…. so much material for The Hudson Wail Memelord...
Should be noted that the calculus behind the Dems' push for an elected county executive is not efficiency or professionalism. It's very much politically motivated since they think that in a county-wide non-districted election, they have the majority of the votes.
DeleteIt's why, unlike Greene County, this county executive would be elected and not appointed. It would make Columbia County in its administrative structure more similar to Hudson than for example Newburgh.
This is inaccurate.
DeleteThe proposed county referendum would make the County President/Executive position an elected position that voters of Columbia County would vote on.
Hi Joe -
DeleteThank you for the detail on _how_ the supposed professional County Manager vs. the professional City Manager might be selected.
[I have not read about the County proposal, where can one find that? ]
🤷♂️ But my point stands; Democrats want one thing in the County, and another in the City... and frankly another in the Country.
Is the party pro direct democracy, or representative government (Constitutional Republic)? Or do you decide based on how you think you will win in the particular geo?
So, forgive me… are you saying that the Columbia County Democrats want 60k people to vote on which County Manager should work for some term (2-4 years?)?
Not saying that is a horrible idea… the Sheriff and judges have to campaign, which I always find weird since they are neutral law enforcement and justice positions and we put them in this undignified partisan environment every few years. I guess other counties have county-wide elected offices… as you pointed out separately.
But then I wonder, and I know you don't speak for Sam Hodge or other national Democrats and career politicians:
A) where was this hyper democratic energy last year during the Biden/Kamala hotswap when no democratic primary happened in the Democratic Party?
Should the Columbia County Dems take over the DNC and bring back big D energy? 😉 Kamal might then get a job outside the 12534... wait, maybe this is the way... Just kidding.
B) If a County Manager who has to stand for an election… then that means this person has to campaign for some period in a county bigger than the population of the country of Lichtenstein, which means this person has to raise political donor money… which means this person has to recruit political staff, which means this person has to take political positions on issues far and wide… and then post election becoming a neutral apolitical executive in charge of a budget and public infrastructure operations.
To illustrate the point;
DeleteSee how Democratic Party endorsed Mayor of the City of Hudson, Kamal Johnson, born and raised in Westchester County before moving upstate and now enjoying his 40s in the countryside, cannot do his job, or campaign, without leaning on the City of Hudson paid for Mayoral Aide, or his romantic parter cum Housing Justice Director, or the subsidized housing of Galvan in the 1st Ward. If Kamal wins the election, or even before… he has to manage his political patronage network… take care of his loyalists… will we see Justin Weaver become the City of Hudson Clerk when Tracy retires next month… will Michelle Tullo become the City Planner when the grant that pays for half of her salary expires, will Galvan get another multi-million dollar PILOT tax break?]
So why would this County Manager not be just another career politician like Kamal? Could this backfire horribly if all the City of Hudson career politicians like Kamal, Claire etc. start doing their career politician thing in the County?
How do you think a typical working family in Ghent, Austerlitz, or Chatham will feel about the Dems when Verily shows up with some super niche culture issue poster at the town crossing, along with For the Many astro-turfers from Poughkeepsie, and a small mob of Albany Free School "youth".. and they shout down Chatham residents at a town hall meeting?
But I digress... the image is just hysterical... because Chatham people do not suffer fools.
~
There are some exceptions… but the most competent and experienced urban planners and executives are not career politicians… they might become a politician at the end of a successful business, military, academic, medical etc. career… but show me a truly great career politician, someone that runs for office, and then decides why.
[Commercial Break: Sam Adams was the only real career politician Founding Father… but he was a lawyer and gentleman farmer for more than a decade before he held offices for 30 years. I mean… there is a reason they named a beer after him and not the others]
🙈 Just don't tell Claire Cousin about the County Manager election... then she might run for that as well, bring her Dark Tides Foundation donors and primary whoever Sam Hodge and friends handpick to run to represent "the people".
Too soon?