The ISSUES are NOT the ISSUE

By Norm "Opa" Segel

We must define what is a qualified candidate.

I submit that in performing these duties, the Council is also responsible for assessing the quality of work performed by the City Manager and the various Directors and Chiefs who report directly to the City Manager.

These responsibilites require Councilmembers with certain skills. The ability to discuss a few hot topic items at a local debate does not necessarily make for a qualified candidate. The City's annual general fund expenditures exceed $175 Million and total annual expenditures exceed $250 Million. We need qualified people to sit on our Council.

Ideally our Council, or for that matter any City Council, would be composed of people with different skills and different experiences. The perfect Council might look like this:

1 Lawyer 2 Engineer 3 Accountant 4 Business Person 5 Educator 6 Architect or Designer

Other people might offer a different composition and they might be right. My point is: We need certain basic skills on our Council. This group of people must deal with many technical, legal and financial issues each week. For example; when looking at items dealing with the City's infrastructure, and Engineer would be invaluable.

Some might say that people with these skills are already employed by the City. They are correct but the Council has the ultimate responsiblity and must be in the position to make judgments on what City employees recommend or have done.

WE MUST ELECT QUALIFIED PEOPLE