Wake up, Woodstock. OK, Woodstockers, what do YOU think?
The City of Woodstock conducts important business at the semi-monthly meetings of the City Council. These meetings are tape-recorded.
What does the City do with the tapes? After the City Clerk (a part-time position) prepares the Minutes, she destroys the tape. Really? So there is no longer any accurate audio record of exactly what was said at the City Council meeting.
A Petition will be circulated in Woodstock, beginning this week, asking the City Council to immediately implement a procedure for preserving the tape-recordings.
Why am I hot about this? Because the City of Woodstock has failed to ascertain just how great the flooding and sewer back-up problems of the August 6-7 flooding were. Some (perhaps many?) think that over 1,000 properties might have been affected. The engineering report carried the number at 345, although the number known to the City might now be 420+. I heard Mayor Sager say on September 4th that a letter would go to “everyone.” Another reporter heard it, too.
But the tape is gone, and the September 4th Minutes contain NO reference to his remark. The tape has been erased or destroyed. (This destruction of the tape is allowed by City Council and the City's administrative rules.) Now there is no proof as to what Mayor Sager said. He either said “everyone” or he said something else in regard to the distribution of the Notice from Public Works about the availability of the hired engineer from Baxter & Woodman who is temporarily posted to Public Works.
Watch for the Petition and sign it if you believe the tapes of the City Council meetings should be preserved. If hundreds sign the Petition, it will no longer be my sole voice asking the City Council to do something they should have been doing for years.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
6 comments:
Are you just talking about sewage backups/flooding? I'm not trying to play dumb, but how is it the city's fault that because we had record rains in this area and i live in a low area, or because i have an old home with cracks etc, or my sump pump wouldn't keep up, or don't even have a sump pump altogether and my basement got flooded?
The reason to preserve the audiotape recordings of City Council meetings is much broader than the August flooding issue. It would be "the" record of what was actually said, in event of a dispute about who said what. Currently, the City has delegated preparation of the Minutes of Council meetings to a part-time note-taker. She does a very nice job but, if she thinks something isn't important, she leaves it out. Ex., Mayor Sager's remark, as another reporter and I heard it, that the letter about the engineer at Public Works would go to "everyone", not just to 345 people. She is a City employee; the tapes belong to the City, contrary to Mayor Sager's comment last night that the tapes belong to the City Clerk. There is no reason not to preserve the tapes. If enough voters want the tapes preserved, I'm sure the Council will respect their wishes. A reader suggested today that City Council meetings ought to be televised on a Public Access channel. Now there's a great idea!
Dear Anon, here's why: The city stooges that approve all of their butt-buddy-builders' building plans in this city without a 3rd grade knowledge and/or care of drainage have caused massive home flooding in 1000's of homes. Drive around and look at various yards: Home A drains directly in B; C drains into B; water on B is landlocked and B floods. A 300BC Egyptian knew that water flows downhill and needs an escape path, but the overpaid-no-work stooges in City hall are are either stupid or criminal in the drainage schemes that they have signed off on. Didn't that idiot builder at the new WHS flood several acres and almost drown an elderly woman in her own home just last year?? And do note how Sager & Co. are trying to...keep in the closet...the massive financial loss $$$ to the community....
I guess if you agree with Gus you don't have to be told about freedom of speech, libel laws and how you are a coward.
No one has to agree with me. All views are welcome. Truthful comments will not be deleted. If I know a posting is false, malicious, libelous, etc., I shall delete it.
Gus Wrote:
"No one has to agree with me. All views are welcome. Truthful comments will not be deleted. If I know a posting is false, malicious, libelous, etc., I shall delete it."
Haha, bullshit, you leave plenty of malicious content up. Plenty of false comments too because you don't know the actual laws, you just like to pretend you do. It's almost hit or miss whether you actually get something right.
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