Wednesday, June 16, 2010

One or two more things

This has been on my mind since Monday night and after thinking about it some and talking with others, I just had to write something. It bothered me a little in the wake of one of the exchanges Monday between Council President Mary Wickenheiser and Frank Doutrich, a formmer member of the governing body.
The comment was made "if the shoe fits..."
So here goes.
At the May council meeting, eight people spoke for well over two hours. They all signed the sheet, asking for the opportunity to address council. About midway through citizen comment portion, an older, wearing a hat, dressed in jeans and carrying a bag walked into the meeting. That's really nothing new, as people get there late all the time and leave early.
The gentlemen, who rents two properties on Locust Street (both without electric), quietly approached Solicitor Robert Pfannebecker. Once the last speaker was finished and President Wickenheiser was ready to move on to the business part of the meeteing, she was interupted by Pfannebecker, who said the gentleman, came late and wanted to speak.
So, he was allowed to speak, even though he did not follow procedure and extended the comment portion until 9:26 p.m. The entire meeting was over about 45 minutes later.
So Monday night, just two citizens signed the sheet to comment. There was a group of cabin owners from along the river, who were at the meeting and probably wanted to comment.
However as the meeting ended, a cabin owner raised his hand, asking how to be allowed to speak.
Now, I didn't think anything of this until later or the next day, but because the cabin owners were unsure about the policy, shouldn't have at least one of them been allowed to address council? After all, that's what happened the previous month.
The other thing I was a little startled about and outside of last year when I was without a job and later recovering from my accident and even for a few months earlier this year, there's been another change.
President Wickenheiser was explaining to the cabin owners the proper way to get on the agenda. One, they can sign the sheet and be recognized to speak, or, they could call the borough office prior to the meeting and be placed on the agenda.
Well, President Wickenheiser was quickly corrected by Borough Manager Norm Meiskey. Somewhere along the line, it was changed that residents no longer can call the borough office and asked to be placed on the agenda. The only ones who need to call are those who need assistance with visual aids, etc. So, when did this change and how come even the council president, didn't know about it?
Just a few thoughts!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barry,

Great question. Mary Wickenheiser has no clue on what's going on in this Borough unless Norm tells her what to say.

Anonymous said...

NOW everybody knows who is really running this borough!!! Norm gets everything he wants AND talks down to women and council tolerates this behavior from him.

Anonymous said...

Good thoughts Barry

Anonymous said...

Norm Meiskey needs to go! WHY can't Council stand up to this guy and let him know who's in charge? Of course, if it wasn't Norm, it would be Sheriff Lutz. This Council has no backbone and if you attend the meetings, you'll see most Council members have NO clue as to what's going on. Norm or Leo do their talking for them and control their votes.

Anonymous said...

So what do you think Norma nd Leo have in mind for the riverfront cottages?