by Jack Lee
BREAKING NEWS: A review of the Chico City Council’s Policy and Proceedures indicate the Mayor and three City Council members have acted in violation of the rules and possibly unethically as well.
According to a provision in the rules governing the council agenda, established around 1998, the council should have placed the Global Warming Initiative under “Reports and Communication” before it became an agenda item. Under the Reports and Communication section it would normally have been summarized and then council could decide if they wished to place it on the agenda and this would have required a majority vote. Since the four liberals on the council appear to have joined forces, this may have only been a formality, yet it would have been an important step that might have allowed for more preparation before the issue came before a regular council session.
The basis for this proceedural rule came about when some cities introduced highly controversial issues that a municipality may have had little or no authority over, such as “Impeaching the President” or banning “Capital Punishment” or some such hot button topic that came in the form of a resolution or non-binding initiative, just to make a political statement during an election time.
The policy in question here provided a sort of buffer to keep the city council from being abused by such issues, special interests or even by a few of their own members, for political gain during an election year. The fact this policy wasn’t followed and was skipped over tends to ad credence to the speculation that this latest vote on “Global Warming” became an opportunity for political grandstanding. At least two members of the city council members stood to gain some advantage with their base of supporters by pushing this initiative through without the usual debate and research, which is often referred to as “due dilligence.” This angered Council members Bertagna, Wahl and Herbert, who wanted more discussion, saying they didn’t have enough information to make an informed vote and were concerned this initiative could potentially obligate the city to a number of costly ventures. The two council members who stood to gain by fast tracking this issue were Maureen Kirk and Mayor Scott Gruendl. Not surprisingly, they were aided by the other two liberals on the city council, Holcombe and Schwab, which caused a council divided once again between liberals and conservatives, although the council is supposed to be by definition a non-partisan elected body.
The timing and methodology by the four council members wreaks of manipulation and this brings discredit to the City and this Council. They used this election time opportunity to cozy up to a special interest group and voted in an initiative that has still not been fully explained and leaves some of the other council members wondering what costs may be in store for the city if this initiative is sustained and it’s influence fully exploited.
Gruendl, Kirk, Holcombe and Schwab…. you have recklessly violated the rules and it appears you have done so for your own self serving agendas and not for the public good. The people of the City of Chico deserved better and now that this little charade has been exposed, I expect we’ll get better.