City Beat - City of Washington

City Beat

By George Murin
The Weekly Recorder
May 16, 2008

Washington- BILL No. 8 is dead. The landlords of the city of Washington rallied together and put enough pressure on Mayor Spossey and city council to force them into killing the proposed bill. Bill No. 8 would have had each rental unit in the city inspected and each resident of the unit registered; of course a fee would have been attached. When the mayor made the announcement at the end of the May 8th regular council meeting, he said “That’s it. It’s done!” When asked if there would still be a meeting with the landlords Monday, he responded “there will not.” The audience broke into applause. The rest of the meeting was dull in comparison.

During public participation, John Campbell, the Elm Street manager thanked council and the fire and street departments for their help to clean up the Highland –Ridge area; Controller Nick Dubina announced that the 2007 audit was complete and copies are available; Danny Isiminger of Isiminger’s towing, donated $500 to the police department and $500 to the fire department. Brenda Davis brought up the landlords concerns but also questioned why the solid waste bill when up $50 when Waste Management only increased the bill by $12? No one on council had an answer. Councilman Matt Staniszewski reminded her that he voted against it. Matt always reminds people that he voted against the budget, tax increase, etc…. She thanked him and then pressed again for answers. The mayor said that council would have to check on this, but right now he didn’t have the figures.

Of the 20 plus motions during the meeting, all passed without opposition, except the vote on the final reading of Bill No. 10, which appoints a solicitor for the purpose of delinquent taxes. Councilman Staniszewski voted against the bill without explanation. Most of the bills were for routine matters, paying bills and such. But $52,632.99 was transferred to code enforcement demolition; this will allow many more dilapidated buildings to be torn down.

Joe and Lynn Manning were appointed to chair the 200th birthday celebration. Joe, a captain in the fire department, left during the meeting to respond to a structure fire on Maiden Street and missed the vote. (The fire department has been very busy lately, having responded to 7 structure fires in April, according to their director, Councilman Tom Blackhurst.) The city’s 150th celebration was a tremendous event and I’m looking forward to see if they can top it, or even come close.

The next agenda workshop will be held on June 2nd at 9:30 a.m. and the next meeting is June 5th at 7:00 p.m.