TONIGHT: Dispatch discussion; TOMORROW: Work Session, Council Vacancy Selection Process Discussion

Many of you hopefully received the May 2012 schedule of events from Katy Zippert at the City (if you did not, you should get your email on the City distribution list so you can get that and similar updates - just email Katy at kzippert@pepperpike.org or go to the City website and click on the "Join Email List" button).

Just in case you did not, and since the topic of the City's dispatch services has been around for literally a few years now, I'm guessing many of you will be interested in hearing the Mayor when he provides information on four options to the Council tonight. I've not received any materials related to any of the options yet but you can read this Chagrin Solon Sun story from yesterday and see that they will be: keeping it in Pepper Pike, going with Beachwood, going with Lyndhurst or going with the Chagrin Valley Council of Governments dispatch services center. If you are interested in this topic, now is the time to come and hear what is being proposed and be sure to give us input.

Likewise, tomorrow night (Weds.), more information about the process related to filling the vacancy of Councilwoman Paulette Morganstern, who resigned effective May 1, 2012, will be forthcoming. If you are interested in hearing about that and/or contributing comments, questions or concerns, I would advise that you attend that meeting as well.

Tonight and tomorrow's meetings are at the City Hall and start at 7:30pm. Tonight's is about Dispatch only, tomorrow is a work session so there will be other business as well.

[updated] 2012 Organizational Meeting to be held Monday, 1/30/12 at 8PM in City Hall

Notice received by me this evening so I am just the messenger. I would expect an agenda to be made available sometime tomorrow.

Update: FYI only:


Article III Section 2 of Pepper Pike's Charter says that there "shall" be an organizational meeting each January and that at that meeting "or as soon as practicable thereafter," Council shall elect one Councilman (yes it says "man") as Vice Mayor, one as a member of the City Planning Commission and Council shall appoint a Clerk of Council.

As to the calling of the meeting, that's covered by the Pepper Pike Code, Chapter 220.01 which provides for how the Mayor or any three Councilmen (yes, "men") can call a special meeting: "At least twenty-four hours notice of a special meeting shall be given to each Councilman (yes, "man") and the Mayor, which notice may be in writing and delvered to the person notified or left at his or her residence, or verbal notice may be delivered directly or by telephone to the person notified." I received an answering machine message and an email, both before 8pm this evening.

I have not been asked for input, nor have I provided nor have I been provided any information about these positions.

Last, Pepper Pike Code, Chapter 220.05 addresses Committees: "The presiding officer of Council [in Pepper Pike, that has been the mayor - we have no Council President] shall appoint a Finance and Planning Committee, a Road and Safety Committee and such other standing or temporary committees as he or she deems proper." That is all that's said about those two committees.  

Upcoming Pepper Pike City Council meetings & news items

Mailed out tonight:

Greetings.

A quick rundown:

1. This week's Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is scheduled for its usual day (1/11/12, second Wednesday of every month) but will be starting at 8pm.  You can see the agenda here or via the attached document (a pdf).

Please note: For those who may be interested in this topic, the agenda lists "Sterling Lakes/Brainard Traffic Issue" as an item under the heading, "Discussion."

2. There is a regular City Council meeting next week on 1/18/12. No agenda yet.

3. The podcast of five new mayors on the WCPN Sound of Ideas show, including Mayor Bain, can be heard here.

4. The Chagrin Solon Sun's article on Mayor Bain can be read here.

5. Detailed property tax information for Pepper Pike property owners can be found here.

6. Vote-by-mail applications (vote by mail voting begins January 31 - hard to believe!) can be found here.

MEETING TIME CHANGED: Road & Safety Meeting this Weds. at 8:00PM not 7:30PM

We received notice yesterday and it's on the City's website (thank you!) here.

BONUS for reading this blog: You can now listen online here to the five new NE Ohio mayors talk about the tasks they face and how they'll face them (a lot of time spent on the topic of regionalism and collaboration and how exactly they plan on moving forward on those issues).  The conversation took place Thursday morning on WCPN's Sound of Ideas show and included Pepper Pike Mayor Richard Bain.

Quick Reminder: Swearing-in 1/2, Special Council Session 1/3

Happy (almost) New Year!  Two quick reminders:

1. On Monday, January 2, 2012, Mayor-elect Ricard Bain, Council Member Gail Mayland and Councilmen-elect Jim Lemay and Tony Gentile will take oaths of office at 11:00 a.m. in City Council Chambers. All are welcome to attend.

2. On Tuesday, January 3, 2012, there will be a Special Council Meeting at 7:30 PM in the Pepper Pike City Hall Chambers. This meeting is open to the public. The agenda as it currently stands and is posted on the City website is here, HOWEVER, I understand that it will be updated to reflect a shorter list of legislative items due to additional review of the agenda by the incoming mayor.  That revised agenda will no doubt be posted at its earliest convenience.

Thoughts on 9/29/11 CVT Article, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

I emailed the following to CVT editor David Lange and to our intrepid Pepper Pike reporter, Sali McSherry. I'm appreciative of their coverage of the City and its concerns and I wanted to send them my thoughts rather than just have them on this blog.

For those of you who have not read the article, you can read it here:

Chagrin Valley Times, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

Dear Mr. Lange and Sali,

I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to share a few comments with you about the 9/29/11 article about the recommendations in the Pepper Pike Finance Review Committee (“FRC”) report. I provide these comments with all due respect and consider this communication to be public, should you have any interest in publishing it in some way (as an LTE perhaps). I am not suggesting that you do that, it's entirely up to you of course. I will, however, be sharing these thoughts on my city council blog.  I am fully aware of the frustration many residents have expressed with the state of the City and Council's role in that - I often share or even initiate that frustration.  So I wanted to highlight a few other pieces of contextual information that I believe further explain how situations have unfolded.

My thoughts:

ABJ: "Voters to decide if Akron City Council should permit citizens to speak during meetings"

Just sayin' - from the Akron Beacon Journal last week:

The proposed charter change headed to the ballot would require council to “enact legislation to permit members of the public to address council at council and committee meetings.”

The comments would have to be “in accordance with the rules of council” and the majority of council could vote to extend the speaking period.

The amendment also says council can “impose reasonable limits on speaking and may restrict speakers to matters within council’s authority.”

To be clear: this charter amendment comes from sitting Akron City Council members seeking a way past the current situation which is, according to the ABJ piece, that, "Citizens currently are not allowed to speak at Akron council meetings unless a public hearing is held on a specific topic or they receive permission from the council president."

If the amendment is approved,

...a special committee would be formed to look at how other cities handle speaking periods.

[Council President Marco] Sommerville said council also would hold a hearing to get public input before voting on the ordinance. Sommerville thought Tarle’s language would be disruptive because one council member would have had the opportunity to extend the speaking period as long as he or she wanted.

Good luck, Akron.

Demystifying School Board Meetings and Public Audience Commenting

The Civic Commons Radio Project is featuring two podcasts residents should hear.

First, a description of the show:

The Civic Commons podcast is a dynamic half-hour public affairs program airing Saturday mornings on 88.7 FM, WJCU and Tuesday evenings on WYSU. It features citizen voices more than talking heads, citizen commentaries instead of expert drones, and hosts who are always looking for different ways to set the stage for discussion. Hosted by award-winning public radio host Dan Moulthrop, produced by Luke Frazier of NOW Productions with assistance from WJCU and edited by Daniel Steinberg of Dim Sum Thinking. The podcast is part of The Civic Commons, a regional effort to bring more citizens into the conversations that matter (find out more at theciviccommons.com). You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. (Download iTunes.)

Now, the two shows.

The first one aired on Tuesday, July 5 (you can listen here) and is about school board meeting participation:

Have you ever been to a school board meeting? Isn’t something about them kind of bizarre…almost like Kabuki Theater? A stylized dance where citizens stand and speak, board members listen (or not), papers get shuffled and then folks are thanked for their input and no real conversation takes place?

In part one of a two-part special on citizen engagement with public bodies like school boards and city councils, Dan and Luke try to understand and de-mystify school board meetings with the help of parents and school board members. It turns out that there are some things that can increase both citizen access and the amount of conversation. We just have to be willing to drop the makeup and masks. [emphasis added]

The second one aired this past Thursday, July 14 (you can listen here) and is about public comment periods at places like city council meetings:

If you've ever testified before some kind of elected body, you may know that sometimes all you get back is a perfunctory thanks for being there. And then nothing. In part two of a two-part special on citizen engagement with public bodies like school boards and city councils, Dan and Luke solicit help from elected officials and a renowned policy guy to try to figure out what's going on in the public comment period of these meetings. Ultimately there are ways to improve engagement with boards and councils, and to make them more like satisfying conversations. [emphasis added]

The renowned policy guy is John Green, a fantastic authority who has been involved in many forums and, full disclosure, has included me in a couple over the years (once long before I was in elected office, and again last fall). As Civic Commons writes:

Guest John Green (Director, Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at Akron U) points out that traditional meeting structures are the product of 19th Century rural life, when rotating citizens rather than professionals debated simple choices with constituents. So what now?

I look forward to listening to these and if you listen, I hope you'll comment below about what you thought.

Meeting & Event Information of Interest to Pepper Pike Residents

I sent this information out via email just a bit ago.  If you'd like to be added to the distribution list, let me know.  Also, I forgot to include Monday, August 1 which is the monthly Planning & Zoning meeting.  It starts at 7:30pm and like all the other meetings, takes place in City Hall and is open to the public.

Good evening and I will be succint (!):

1. TONIGHT: The monthly Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is this evening at 7:30pm in the City Hall.  Always open to the public, it is also always on the second Wednesday of the month, same time, same place.  You can read the agenda here or see the attachment.  You can see that the Woodmere dispatch agreement and the rubbish fee will be discussed, in addition to several other items.

2. NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT (7/20): The monthly Council meeting will be the evening of Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm in the City Hall.  Always open to the public, it is also always on the third Wednesday of the month, same time, same place.  The agenda should be up by the beginning of next week.

3. Monday, August 1, evening: The Pepper Pike Community Band will play its second free concert, rain (in the Fire Station) or shine (in the Pepper Pike Park). I've attended the two concerts already held this year and they were lovely. They begin at 7:30pm.

4. September 15th (a Thursday): The Pepper Pike Civic League will hold its annual Candidates + Issues Meeting at the Brady Middle School. These events usually start at 7pm and will feature the candidates running for Pepper Pike Mayor and Pepper Pike City Council, among other possible elected positions.

5. If you've not had a chance to view the Feagler & Friends edition from last week regarding the merger study and regionalism, you can view it here.

6. I keep a blog about City Council, the City and other topics of interest to those who follow government, politics and citizen engagement.  It's called In The Arena, you can see it here, and you can subscribe to it via an RSS feed or you can visit it as you please. 

Thank you as always for your time and for choosing to be in Pepper Pike.  I look forward to hearing your questions, concerns and comments as always.

Read, Offer Feedback on Financial Review Committee Report

I sent out the following email this morning. Please share the Financial Review Committee's report with other Pepper Pike residents   The Committee's report includes many recommendations, including one for a road levy of 2.6 mills. One ordinance, among the many that will be introduced at tomorrow evening's Council meeting in response to the Committee's report, would move the City toward placing a property tax levy on the August ballot.  Please consider providing feedback to the Mayor and Council through phone calls, emails, regular mail or face to face visits in regard to this recommendation as well as any other questions, comments or concerns you may have.

Good morning,

Three quick notes:

1. As you may recall, the mayor convened a committee of seven citizens last fall, the Financial Review Committee.  Their final report was given to Council last Wednesday. It is now available online.  You can read it here or open the corresponding attachment in this email [no attachment to this post though].  If you have trouble opening the document, please contact the Clerk of Council, Sheila O'Connor, at 216-896-6128.

2. The monthly City Council meeting will occur tomorrow, Wednesday, April 20 at 8pm in City Hall. It is, as always, open to the public.  You can see the agenda here, but I've also attached it [again, not attached to this post]. It is in a pdf format.  If you are unable to open it, please contact Sheila for that as well.

3. The Pepper Pike Civic League's Town Hall Meeting is Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at Brady Middle School, 7:00-8:30 PM. The focus is on getting to know our new Cuyahoga County Council.  The featured speaker will be Jack Schron, our 6th District Representative. You can see the flyer for more information here.

Thank you as always for letting me serve and for living in Pepper Pike.

Best,
Jill

City Council Meetings as Performance Art Theater

No, really.

Over one weekend, in a series of 15 minute pieces, 16 female directors will answer the question “What is political theater?”

CITY COUNCIL MEETING
City Council Meeting is a new, participatory theater work conceived and written by Aaron Landsman, directed and developed by Mallory Catlett. Part play, part town hall meeting, City Council Meeting is performed participatory democracy. Catlett and Landsman have made a structure and script that draw on actual government meetings from around the country. For the Culture Project’s Women Center Stage series, they are opening up the form to create short, pointed disruptions throughout the room, which can raise staged bureaucracy to unexpected levels of poetry.

And a bit more description:

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Supported by a HERE Artist Residency, I am working on a new piece with director/dramaturg Mallory Catlett that looks to be performed participatory democracy. Inspired by photographer Paul Shambroom, and by a truly Shakespearean city council meeting I attended last year in Oregon, this piece is about the poetry in bureaucracy, the architecture of power and the comedy of procedure. Audience members will have a chance to be Mayors, schoolkids and priests, testify on issues of their concern, and webcast live. City Council Meeting is about the imperfection of democracy and the imperfection of theater. Please stay tuned. City Council Meeting was a finalist for the 2009 P73 fellowship.

Finally, a Q&A:

Where have you attended city council meetings?
In New York, Chicago (IL), Portland (OR), Bismarck (ND), San Antonio (TX) and Minneapolis (MN). In most of them I also interviewed a council member or other official. I also read through all the rules and procedures for Chicago's city council, and sat in in a closed door session in Bismarck. All told, I'm guessing I clocked about 30 hours.

How do you turn a city council meeting into a play?
Very carefully.

What's the most common issue that came up?
It ranges from "The rent is too damn high" to "What do we do about the apocalypse." Which I guess for some people are one and the same thing.

I'm guessing there wasn't a lot of drama. Did you keep yourself awake by digging a pencil into your thigh?
In fact, I got so thoroughly bored doing research that I can use my thigh as a giant pencil! Actually, I have seen some of the best theater ever at city council meetings. Some of which is in the piece. Some of which involved disinfectant. Also the physical set-up of the space, with a person giving a dramatic speech facing upstage, a group of powerbrokers facing her down, and a video monitor displaying the whole thing to the folks back home, is what originally drew me to this. Did you know there is a whole spate of ethnographic studies on "Performative Governance?" It's true. They discuss the application of an appearance of civic engagement in dramaturgical terms. Ultimately, this piece is trying to find the poetry in bureaucracy, the sublime in the procedural.

I can't chaperone a field trip to NYC for the March 5 and 6 performances, but if anyone is there and goes, let us know how close to reality it gets.

Upcoming Meetings: P&Z (8/30); Special Council Session (8/31)

Two meetings coming up this week:

1. A Special Council Meeting has been scheduled for this coming Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 7:30 PM at the Pepper Pike City Hall Chambers.  The meeting is public and the sole agenda item will be a discussion on the reinstatement of one police officer.

2. Also, the agenda for Monday night's Planning & Zoning Commission meeting is now posted to the website and you can find it here (pdf).

Please feel free to contact me (or any members of Council or the mayor or City government from here) if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Have a very nice weekend - it looks like it's going to be beautiful.

Meeting Reminders and Website Updates

This text reflects information I shared in an email I sent out today.  The information under the third item is in this blog post already.

Good day to everyone.

The disclaimer per usual re: being on this list: If you would like to be removed from my distribution list, please let me know. I understand and respect people's desire to receive less email. Please know that I do not share your emails with anyone, this is my personal list and those are two reasons why I keep your email addresses in the "blind copy" recipient section.

1. Meeting Reminders

• Monday, August 30, 2010, 7:30 pm, Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, City Hall, open to the public (as always).  This meeting is the September P&Z meeting which, if normally scheduled, falls on Labor Day (Monday, September 6, 2010).
• Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 7:30pm, Road & Safety/Planning & Zoning meeting, City Hall, open to the public (as always).  This meeting, if normally scheduled, falls on the evening that the Jewish New Year begins (Wednesday night, Sept. 8) and therefore was moved to 9/7/10.
• NOT YET SCHEDULED but mentioned at last week's City Council meeting: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, a special Council session to discuss the topic of re-hiring a police officer.  This meeting, to the best of my knowledge, has NOT BEEN SCHEDULED but this date was mentioned at the 8/18/10 Council meeting last week.

2. City Website Updates

Meeting Reminder & Agenda; City Website Updates

Here is the text of an email I sent out this evening. If you desire to repeat or use any of the information, please be so kind as to provide attribution and a link back to the original source:

Good evening or good morning, depending on when you find this email in your inbox!

The disclaimer per usual re: being on this list: if you would like to be removed from my distribution list, please let me know. I understand and respect people's desire to receive less email. Please know that I do not share your emails with anyone, this is my personal list and those are two reasons why I keep your email addresses in the "blind copy" recipient section.

1. City Council Meeting this Wednesday, 8/18/10 You will find the agenda for the meeting here on the City website but I've also attached it to this email (in pdf format).  It is a scan of the copy I received but I will replace it on the website with a pdf of the original once I've received that version.

2. City Website Updates

a. The Mayor's "Collaborative Plan for Pepper Pike's Future"

Prohibition on talking to other electeds is common

A few residents have heard my story about learning that I can't talk to more than two other council members at any time without being in a public meeting. And they've also heard me comment on how I feel about that - and felt about it when I learned about it.

Not that I ever think we are alone, but here's more evidence that we're not, as a town in Connecticut, just trying to get its grass cut, is held up by similar rules:

Killingworth’s governance is managed by a three-person Board of Selectmen. Should two of the three selectmen meet and discuss lawn mowing or any other aspect of town business, the gathering would constitute a quorum of the governing body and an illegal meeting, since its holding had not been posted in a public notice.

With Selectman Richard Cabral not available, and in order to get the lawn mowed, [Selectwoman Catherine] Iino had to post the special meeting so she legally could talk to [Selectman Fred] Dudek about it.

“When I became a selectman, I was told you can’t talk to the other selectmen,” Iino says. “I thought they were joking.”

“I understand the need for public access to deliberations, but with a three-person board, you just can’t have a working conversation,” she said. “It seems you ought to be able to have a conversation about running the town without violating the law.”

I have no objection to public notice requirements or meetings.  But I would love to see these rules updated for the 21st Century. Especially in a place like Connecticut where some of the communities and their rules literally date back nearly 300 years, the advent of audio and video recording, not to mention electronic notification of meetings can be treated as the evolutionary tools they are that can alleviate some of these scenarios and enhance and improve government efficiency.

Akron City Council Expands Public Comment Opportunities

According to this article (it appeared in today's Plain Dealer, but was originally in the Akron Beacon Journal a couple of days ago), Akron City Council did not permit citizen commenting during council meetings, unless a public hearing was being held on a specific topic.

People wishing to speak when a hearing isn't scheduled must submit a written request to the clerk's office the day before the meeting. The requests are forwarded to the council member who chairs the committee in charge of the topic the resident wishes to address.

Now, however, as the result of one of many suggestions related to Akron's charter review process (you can see the commission's report here; Akron has their charter reviewed every ten years; Pepper Pike's charter provides for no charter review and has not in fact ever been reviewed systematically the way other cities review theirs on a routine, as-required by their charter basis):

Beginning next week, the council will permit a half-hour open mic before the regularly scheduled 7 p.m. council meetings for anyone who wants to talk about anything.

One member of the council — the first week it will be Jim Hurley, who represents Ward 1 — along with representatives of the administration, will listen to the comments.

Council President Marco Sommerville said this will ''provide another layer to better assist the citizens of Akron.''

Sommerville made the change in response to a petition drive by former Akron Councilman Ernie Tarle for a charter change that would require a half-hour public comment period during council meetings and 15 minutes during committee meetings.

Sommerville said the change would be an experiment and a group may still be formed to take a look at whether additional opportunities for comment are needed.

The article seems to indicate that there will be a three-minute speaking time limit.

City & City Government Events This Week

I sent out this communication this evening. If you would like to receive these emails, please send me your email address and I will add you to the list. Thank you.


Good evening (or morning as the case may be).

As always, let me know if you want to stop receiving these emails. No problem to remove anyone.  Also, if you know of others who might like to receive this information (which is from me and not an official city communication), feel free to pass that information on to me as well.

1. Pepper Pike Community Band concert tomorrow, Monday, July 12, Pepper Pike Park, 7:30pm.
You can read more about it here, including a list of music scheduled to be performed.  The band, upon request, agree to performing pro bono this year, except for the purchase of its sheet music which the City did pay (something under $600, closer to $400 I believe, this discussion is in the Council meetings but the band director had bought the sheet music prior to the decision that events such as the ice cream social, the concert and communications like the Pepper Pike Post were being suspended this year).

2. The monthly Finance Oversight Subcommittee meeting will be this Tuesday, July 13, Pepper Pike City Hall Chambers, 7:30pm.  This meeting is open to the public. Council members on the committee are Gail Mayland, Scott Newell and Jill Miller Zimon.  Residents on the committee are Don Jacobson, Kevin McGinty, Enid Rosenberg and Michael Shore.  The City's Finance Director, Prashant Shah, is also on the committee which is a subcommittee of the Finance & Planning committee.  This committee was created earlier this year and will be a permanent committee that will watch and follow the month to month and year over year revenues and expenditures.  It will report back to the full Council regularly.

Special Council Meeting: Thursday, June 24, 2010 (tomorrow night)

The Mayor has scheduled a Special Council Meeting for this Thursday, June 24 at 8:00pm at City Hall.  It is, as always, open to the public and I hope those of you who can will consider attending.  The subjects to be discussed can be viewed at the City website here or on the official agenda which can be viewed at that City web page via the link.  They subjects are:


-Discussion on sequestering the estate tax
-Update on Dispatch Center
-Discussion on Funding the levy campaign


I also wanted to let you know that minutes for all previous Special Council Meetings are now posted on the City website.  The most comprehensive page from which to open these documents is here.

Absentee ballot applications for the August 3 election have started to arrive at city households.  If you have not received one and would like to, please go here for information on how to obtain one.  Remember, you do not need any specific reason to vote by mail in (or absentee) ballot. Pepper Pike will have two issues on the ballot and you can read more about them (a tax rate increase and a budget process-related charter amendment) here.

Feel free to contact me or any of your elected officials with questions, comments and concerns, as always, from here.

Upcoming Pepper Pike City Council Meetings, City Information

Please find below the content of an email I sent out today to those on the distribution list I have. For those who would like to receive the periodic updates I send but currently are not, just send me your email address and I will add you to the list. However, I do also post the content on this blog (all though, seriously - only about 20 people read it!) for those who prefer to not add to their email inboxes. I completely understand!

Here goes:

Good Afternoon!

A reminder: if you would prefer not to receive emails from me, please let me know.  If you know of other residents who might like to be included in the distribution list, please let me know that too (they can contact me as well).

Enumerating just seems to keep things orderly so I hope no one minds the formality.

1. This week
a. I do not have the agenda yet for this week's City Council meeting. The meeting will be on Wednesday, June 16 at 8pm in City Hall Chambers. I've requested that we discuss a "Plan B" (to start consider budgeting for 2011) in the event that the August ballot tax issue does not pass.  Another item that should be on the agenda is continued discussion of whether any part of or all of the Dispatch Center (also sometimes called the Communications Center) will be outsourced to either Chagrin Falls or Beachwood.  Two important documents for that discussion which you can access from the City website tab, Dispatch Center Documents:

6/9/10 Report from Mayor's appointed investigator, Tom LeKan

February 2010 Report from Baldwin-Wallace study

b. The Oversight Committee will meet an hour prior to the City Council meeting, on June 16 at 7pm in the lower level conference room.  This meeting is open to the public.

Clarification to Chagrin Valley Times article regarding Pepper Pike tax increase

This article in today's Chagrin Valley Times describes how Council reached a unanimous vote last Saturday and is placing a .5% income tax increase with a sunset provision plus a charter amendment related to the budget approval process on the August ballot.  Goodness knows that the reporters have been spending nearly as much time in Council chambers as we have, and I'm grateful for that.

I want to provide one clarification to today's piece. The following paragraph from it should attribute Council Member Rick Taft with the proposal, not me:

Councilwoman Jill Miller Zimon's proposal for an "equitable" tax at a May 12 meeting was opposed by most of council. She had proposed placing a 0.5-percent income tax increase along with a second property tax levy on the ballot. Specifically, she proposed a 2.5-mill police levy that would generate about $600,000 and cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $250.

The record will show that Rick actually made that proposal to Council that evening. And the millage he proposed would raise closer to $1 million (1 mill raises $394,000 according to the City's finance director).