Actions are sometimes performed in a masterly and most cunning way, while the direction of the actions is deranged and dependent on various morbid impressions-it's like a dream.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Ch. 17
Ms. Longrie is fond of positioning herself as the champion of open government, the more transparent the better. That is, until she decided to go to Washington with no funds budgeted for the trip.
Any councilmember can ask for an action item to be placed on the regular council meeting agenda for a vote, something like "send the Mayor to a conference in Washington at a cost of $x". Rather than that straightforward request, Ms. Longrie scheduled a council presentation for the March 9, 2009 meeting concerning her 'appointment' to the body holding the conference. (This item first appeared in early 2009, but was repeatedly postponed along with some other council presentations.) Note that during budget deliberations the council deliberately set a 2009 travel and training budget limit of $2500 for the entire council.
On freshly minted City Manager Antonen's first night on the job, Ms. Longrie's council presentation on this item ran to 34 minutes, culminating in first a vote taken during council presentations to suspend the rule forbidding votes on action items during council presentations, and then a vote to send her on her way to the conference next week.
See if you can tell how much this trip will cost:
Ms. Longrie goes to Washington
[34 minute streaming mp3, 3.9 mb download]
Stephan
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