Everyone is watching closely as this new council takes its first votes. People are anxious to see who falls into what categories and who falls in line with each other. Unfortunately, our first votes won’t tell you much. Last night, there were three or four votes that may or may not tell us anything. Here’s a few conclusions that you could draw . . . but then again, maybe not. I think its too early to tell.
We like infill development.
We voted unanimously to approve the project on Monroe St.
We’re all fiscally responsible.
Alder Brandon had a test for us to find out if we were fiscally responsible. He insisted that we amend our operating budget instead of our capital budget to buy a $200,000 piece of software. The difference is that if we buy it in the capital budget it costs us $280,000 because we would be borrowing for 10 years and if we buy it through the operating budget, it is only $200,000 because there is no interest or borrowing. Pretty much a no-brainer and it passed unanimously after a big unnecessary speech by Brandon. Congratulations! We all passed the test and are fiscally responsible! (Alder Brandon’s amendment is not currently in legistar, but should be soon.)
We want more information.
The proposal to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a vendor to advertise for our small(er) business bus pass pilot program was sorely lacking on detail. While many agree that this is a great idea and that we should do it, it was clear from the resolution, that we didn’t have any detail. And it was clear from the staff testimony that we didn’t have any goals laid out for the folks responding to our RFP. The issue was referred.
We’re a mixed bag.
On the issue of textbooks, we had an unusual split. There were multiple amendments, but when we finally voted, the split in the votes was a bit unusual.
The pro-business, libertarian streak, anti-student, anti-mandate, pro-staff, pragmatic voters were: Pham-Remmele, Rhodes-Conway, Sanborn, Schumacher, Clear and Konkel.
Those who were anti-business, anti-civil rights, pro-regulation, feel-good were Compton, Gruber, Judge, Kerr, Palm, Skidmore, Solomon, Verveer, Webber, Brandon, Bruer, Clausius and Cnare.
We’re long-winded.
We only discussed two items of any substance, the bus pass pool and textbooks, and it took us 2.5 hours. Hopefully, people are just settling down and figuring out how to do things more efficiently and effectively, otherwise we’re going to have quite a few long meetings.
“Aldermanic courtesy” is alive and well.
Alders Rhodes-Conway, Webber and myself asked several questions regarding the bus pass pool and the council agreed to refer to the next meeting while we get a copy of the RFP and determine if we need to amend the resolution to set out some clear goals for the pilot program.
Also, we all proved that we could congratulate our fellow alders when they work hard and that we all know how to thank people.
Some of us are serious about being more collegial.
Our pub rotation choice last night was Restaurant Magnus. Our “cruise director” Tim Bruer made sure that we continued in our attempts to be a council that may disagree in meetings, but can be more social and friendly after the meetings. Joining in the after-meeting chat were Pham-Remmele, Schumacher, Clausius, Rummel, Konkel, Bruer, Clear, Judge, Kerr, Webber, Verveer, Gruber and I think that was it. Noticeably missing were the Mayor and his staff as well as the band-of-merry-moderates (Brandon, Cnare, Palm) caucus.
Conclusion.
So, maybe this doesn’t tell us much, but its fun to put the ridiculous labels on us and draw the ridiculous conclusions that the media and some politicians often do, just to point out how ridiculous the labels and conclusions are. If you were to analyze the one split vote you could conclude that:
1) the Progressive Dane caucus is split, watch for the WSJ editorial declaring one more time that our party is losing power and for Vicki McKenna to continue ringing her hands as she worried about who she is going to trash on AM radio; and
2) the aforementioned band-of-merry-moderates caucus is sticking together and being divisive on the council.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s just not that simple.
