If you are new to all of this, and would like to review the background, see comments from council member Steve Gold, here. If you would like to review the minutes to this workshop, you may do so here (when they are posted). For now, below is what I witnessed and I am prepared to stand corrected:
- Most importantly, the Mayor granted the request of the people and the council to put a moratorium into effect until next Monday's city council meeting. Usually no actions are taken at a council workshop, so this is the most that could be done.
Traditionally, members of the public will not be heard at a council workshop. However, many members of the public were allowed to speak due to the urgent nature of this issue. - Different angles were addressed by each party, there was a shop-keeper that was elated that her tree was gone--informing everyone that it was diseased--the general consensus beyond that was: a. to make the public part of the process; b. to complete this project in the most informed way possible to maintain street aesthetics, avoid maintenance problems in the future and ensure that our sidewalks are safe.
- There were questions that went unanswered (which may be due to the fact that this was a workshop) like: Who signed the contract for this work? However, there were questions that the council didn't have the answer for, such as: How much was the contract for? How much will it cost us to stop or change the work?
- Due to the unanswerable questions, there was a tone of frustration in the room. A former highway superintendent for the town expressed disappointment at the lack of communication of the government with its citizens and was concerned about the tax dollars this would cost us because of this. Stopping or changing work on a city contract (or any contract) costs money.
Robert Brush and Lee Kyriacou propose to form a committee outside of city government, to know a little more on this issue, click here.
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