City Beat - The Weekly Recorder

CITY BEAT

By Allyson White
The Weekly Recorder
March 13, 2009

The next part of the agenda meeting continued smoothly as there was no fighting amongst any members of city council or the mayor. It was city council’s first agenda meeting in the evening and appeared to run smoother than those held in the daytime. Three days later City Council held its business meeting which also included public hearings for zoning changes. Many onlookers prior to the start questioned “can we be so lucky this runs as smooth.”

First however, Mayor Spossey made a motion to move a personnel hearing to the end of the meeting. After the change in the nighttime game plan, city council got to business. They unanimously voted to make changes to zoning ordinances to restrict halfway houses and other types of facilities in Washington. Many residents in the audience applauded the group’s efforts to clean up the community. Councilman Blackhurst described the measure as “sweeping in their scope.” According to the changes, it also includes restrictions on allowing current facilities of this type to expand and also stops them from “further plaguing neighborhoods” as some residents describe it. “While contributing little economic benefits, these elements place an unneeded strain on the police department and school district,” Blackhurst said. Staniszewski also applauded council’s efforts. Staniszewski said “this can help clean up our neighborhoods.” Blackhurst agreed and thanked the police and fire chefs among his fellow city council.

Next, during public participation, a resident complained about her taxes doubling due to the recent tax hikes and how it’s “driving people out of the city.” Staniszewski was quick to agree with her and also cited the fact he is the only one who voted against raising taxes. “I warned them this would happen. My warnings fell on deaf ears. We need to focus on regionalization, merging departments and cutting wasteful spending,” Staniszewski stated.

The resident then complained about not selling Strawberry Alley to W&J questioning “why didn’t you just take the money.” Mayor Spossey then pointed out that a majority vote of “these people” decided not to sell it. The usually quiet councilman Terry Faust quickly responded saying “it would hav e been a one-time payment that fell into the black hole and lost.” Some familiar with the operations of the city quietly have confirmed Faust is right and the city is notorious for many years of doing this. Also agreeing with Faust, Staniszewski explained that all of city council and the mayor originally agreed on “remaining firm” on three negotiation items; but, two people in city government later changed their minds for “unknown reasons.” Originally, the city requested $100 per student. Staniszewski asked “if tuition is $38,000, would $38,100 be the deal breaker.” Staniszewski continued “It would have generated approximately $150,000 per year, not just once, but year after year to help ease the burdens of the taxpayers.” As the discussion was beginning to drag on, Mayor Spossey decided it was time to move to the next item.

City Council officially voted to demolish an old garage which could pose danger near a playground in the city. Known for commenting on decisions made by city council, Staniszewski said “this is a great example of residents working with city council to address their concerns and clean up our neighborhoods.” Staniszewski said an environmental study needs to take place first “to make sure there are no dangers such as asbestos” and he said the building “could be down as soon as 60 days from now.” Mayor Spossey quickly rebutted stating the environmental study was already done. Lane Turturice, the city attorney, clarified the environmental process and confirmed Staniszewski is correct.

The next few motions were standard bills to be paid. Next was a motion to pay Washington School District a real estate tax refund since “the property is exempt.” Councilman Blackhurst questioned why the school district paid it in the first place and stated “don’t they already know they’re tax exempt.” Tur turice explained it was a refund for a piece of property the school district recently purchased. The meeting continued with regular business. Mayor Spossey thanked the Washington Hospital Teen Outreach for continuing the summer playground program throughout the city. Council also approved the farmers’ market to return to downtown Washington from May 14th to October 29th.

Council also authorized councilman Staniszewski to participate in the state’s bulk purchasing of salt for the 2009-2010 winter season based on his recommendation. Staniszewski stated “this is another effort in regionalization” He also said he hopes to move the city closer to using all salt next year. “We’ve been experimenting with all salt on certain roads recently to see how it affects our inventory and bottom line,” Staniszewski said. He also reminded everyone that the 19 year old street sweeper “swept its last street.” He contacted outside municipalities to help for the short term.

The city donated $1,000 to the fireworks display. Councilman Faust stated the amount used to be $3,000. Faust also indicated that due to the economy more people will probably stay in the area this year as opposed to traveling for the 4th. He hopes everyone will visit Washington Park and enjoy the fireworks.
City Council also unanimously accepted the resignation of Charles Phillips. The vote to advertise to hire a parking office maintenance employee passed 4 -1 with Staniszewski as the lone vote no citing “city government should only focus on police, fire and streets during these economic times.”

Finally, city council and Mayor Spossey held an executive session for a personnel hearing regarding firefighter Victoria Bozic. After the hearing portion appeared to be over, Bozic and her attorney came into the hallway showing signs of anticipation. Shortly thereafter, Councilman Blackhurst followed as he recused himself since he is a retired firefighter. After what appeared to be some deliberation, the public, Blackhurst and Bozic returned into the room. Voting unanimously to fire the employee was council woman Virginia Ullom along with Mayor Spossey, Staniszewski and Faust. Afterwards, the only comments came from the city attorney, Lane Turturice, where he said Bozic “lied” in an “elaborate web of deceit.” Many expect this saga to continue as another chapter concludes in the city beat.