The work of revising the city charter promises to be long and arduous--as it should be. After all, the charter establishes the structure of local government. The process of creating a charter commission to undertake the task is also proving to be long and arduous, not to mention contentious. Common Council president Margaret Morris, who is attempting to create a charter revision commission to review the city's charter, which has not been comprehensively reviewed and revised in more than fifty years, is being questioned and criticized for the way she has approached establishing a commission. In the following statement, Morris explains her efforts in the past four months.
At the Informal Meeting of the Common Council in April, I announced that I was beginning the process of establishing a Charter Revision Commission and invited interested members of the community to submit letters of interest to me.
The following morning, I received the first expression of interest from a community member. Over the course of several weeks, I was contacted by other community members to discuss the Commission. Some decided not to pursue membership on the commission. My approach was to have members of the community volunteer, rather than personally selecting people. I did not reject any of the individuals who came forward.
At the July meeting of the Common Council, I presented a draft Local Law establishing the commission. At that time five community members had confirmed their interest in serving. I proposed a Commission made up of five community members, the President of the Common Council and the Majority Leader. In discussion, the Common Council suggested that there should be a community member from each ward and that the Common Council should be included in the appointment process.
At the August meeting of the Common Council, I submitted a revised Local Law which addressed both of these concerns, with a proposed Commission made up of seven community members, with at least one from each ward, the President of the Common Council and the Majority Leader. Appointment to the Commission would be in consultation with the Common Council.
Prior to the August meeting, I reached out to every member of the Common Council and reviewed with each member the roster of candidates who had stepped up to volunteer for the Commission. Despite repeated attempts on my part, I was unable to reach Councilmember Cousin. I did, however, include a community member that she had proposed for the Commission in the list of potential members.
In addition to reviewing the list of potential candidates with the Common Council members, I also reviewed it with Mayor Ferris.
At the August Formal Meeting this week, the Common Council voted to table the vote on the Commission pending further revisions. The formal process for appointment of members in consultation with the Common Council--a process that Council Member Foster asked about in the meeting--would have been an executive session of the Council to discuss the appointments. I explained that process at the meeting.
Throughout this process, my intention was to include interested community members in the Commission and specifically to avoid a process where I or any other member of the Council would personally select the Commission membership.
It’s too bad we didn’t see this type of performative activism from Cousin when she was a Supervisor and the county usurped 11 Warren. But, like most of her current committee meetings, she’s was mostly absent.
ReplyDeleteCurious how Tom DePietro is back in town and all of a sudden Claire (who was unavailable before to meet with Morris) runs interference, while her real-world boss (Kaya from Kite's Nest), shows up to the meeting.
ReplyDeleteTotal setup.
Couple of observations:
1. Tom was basically the Mitch McConnell of the Council during his time as president.
2. Pretty funny that the 5th Ward used to be more conservative (Scalera stronghold) and it is now the "Social Democrat" nexus of welfare brokers who buy adjoining lots to merge properties.
And they talk about "gentrification" pushing out the long time locals...
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Welfare Broker /ˈwɛlˌfɛr ˈbroʊkər/ noun
A paid intermediary who earns income, institutional power, or political influence by administering, obtaining, advocating for, or expanding public subsidies intended for other people.
Morris writes:
ReplyDelete“My approach was to have members of the community volunteer, rather than personally selecting people. I did not reject any of the individuals who came forward.
“At the July meeting of the Common Council, I presented a draft Local Law establishing the commission. At that time five community members had confirmed their interest in serving.”
At the July Common Council meeting, Morris stated that she had five commission members in mind. If what she wrote here is accurate and she did not turn away any interested parties, that would mean that the screening process was essentially, “they volunteered so I nominated them”. Full stop. Five people said, “we’ll do this”, and Morris said, “good enough, let’s go”.
Expand the candidate pool. Get the word out. Broaden the input.
MB reads Morris so closely, except the inconvenient bit:
Deleteother residents expressed interest but declined (time commitment to do the work?), while Cousin from the 5th Ward avoided repeated direct reach outs from Morrris and then helped derail the proposal at the meeting.
So what we really learned here is that one CC member lacks integrity (Cousin).
And a few others flip flop. If the others who had concerns why did they not share it before?
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And advertise where, exactly?
The mayor’s promised nonpartisan municipal newsletter still does not exist, and much of the Council appears not to read its own paperwork.
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Hudson City Hall: no newsletter, Kite’s Nest Welfare Brokers inside City Hall, so many mistakes the City of Hudson can't afford the lawsuits.
I am baffled by the continued insistence to make this about Cousin and, more irrelevantly, the mayor’s promised newsletter.
DeleteCity Hall has a website. It has an app (Hudson Hub). It has Facebook and Instagram accounts. Invitations to volunteer for the commission can be advertised on any or all of those platforms, for exactly zero dollars. What are we talking about.
Charter change should happen and it’s important. Let’s do it right and treat it like a city wide conversation and project.
Sensitive - didn't realize you were a Cousin supporter. Yikes.
DeleteFirst - see how out of date City of Hudson's official IG/ FB pages are, the Hudson Hub App was down for months (at City Hall acknoledged) and could not be downloaded, and here we are on Gossips that still, a decade later, does a better job of summarizing City Hall's own meetings than City Hall.
See here: https://www.instagram.com/hudsonnygov/
And it is not for lack of talent. Hudson has great Clerks, Treasury Staff, and HPD, it is a choice.
The point is to build a neutral non-partisan newsletter and move off of social media as a primary tool. It was a campaign promise. Remember when the "Facebook Mayor" was voted out of office.
Mayor Ferris is a PR professional. This is what he did for 15 years and now he spent his first 6 months picking fights, betraying the Council, arguing for higher state taxes, and making decisions that explode legal costs.
Mayor Ferris likes town halls where he is the center of attention.
But good leaders empower other leaders.
Why not create a channel that the CC President and Dept Heads can leverage.
And that remains an asset for future administrations.
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And the points above are not about Cousin, per se, it is about:
1. Inconsistency and Integrity:
She asks of Hudson CC what she does not practice herself at HHA.
2. Potential Conflict of Interest
She raises boatloads of money from billionaires and For The Many type groups and then argues for their interests in front of the Council. See the Rent Control law.
3. Politics and Waste of Time
She could have met with Morris and expressed her views, and they could have developed a shared solution with the other CC members.
This constant game of politics wastes tax dollars. Taxpayers want competent governance, leave the politics to DC.
Of course, MB, everyone agrees on transparency and a participatory charter process...
and that is separate from captured career politicians who have never won a competitive election and only try to derail reform that 3/4 of the City voted for...
Not a Cousin supporter.
DeleteI get Hudson Hub alerts all the time.
It would cost nothing for City Hall to dust off its social media.
We’re here on Gossips because Gossips posted this article.
Hell, why don’t *you* post that Morris is looking for commission volunteers? You have a platform and you say that everyone agrees on a participatory process. Why not amplify Morris’s invitation?
One council member voting to amend a resolution in an attempt to avoid granting the CCP sole decision making authority is not what I would call derailing reform. I don’t grant your premise.