Nerk Informer

I attended the Firefighters Town Hall event last week and it was quite informative (as well as frustrating at certain points). I will have more to say about that in the coming weeks, but one thing I want to note which occurred at that event was that Service Director David Rhodes stated clearly - after a citizen pressed the issue – that the Administration opposes closing the Pearl Street bridge (the pedestrian bridge which has garnered so much attention in recent months). I fully intend to hold them to their word, because we would make a mistake to just leave their response as is.

Also, I noticed when reviewing the agenda for the school board meeting last Monday (which completely slipped my mind) that the Superintendent was placing a request – which I can guarantee was approved with little to no opposition – to have the authority to waive the requirement for competitive bidding in securing a contract to replace much of the lighting for the district. I am no fan of no-bid contracts, primarily because they aren’t transparent and oftentimes emerge because the contractor has an unethical relationship with those in power. Sadly, the School District and the City have an unhealthy love for no-bid contracts and I don’t believe we hear enough about this.

It is OUR job as citizens to demand transparency and adherence to the ethical standards of representative governance.

Here are this week’s documents:

This Week’s Available Minutes

Full Council

Finance

Service

School Board (June 11th Agenda and Video)

This Week’s Available Agendas

Full Council

Service

Capital Improvements

Stay Tuned…