Last week it was a really long week at City Hall . . . and there were only 4 work days. I hope the new year starts to improve quickly! There are about 25 staff people in City Hall who managed to make some mistake, and ended up apologizing or knowing that I am very unhappy with them at the moment. I only say that, cuz I think they will all think that I am writing this blog specifically about them. The reality is, it is about them, but more importantly, its about “the system” and how it is broken. And how things can add up quickly. And as an explanation about why I sometimes lose my cool with City staff. There is just so much the public does not see.
Having a full-time job and trying to be a good and responsive alderperson and good employee is a difficult balancing act. Sometimes I do really well, sometimes it is harder. Last week was one of the “harder” weeks because I spent so much time chasing mistakes and trying to fix them. What the public sees of an alder’s work and what gets printed in the paper, is just a tiny fraction of what actually goes on. Sometimes the biggest battles are the ones no one ever hears about. It’s getting the paper shuffled from one end of City Hall to the other. Alders rely on staff to do their jobs and do them correctly. And when things go wrong, small mistakes add up and ultimately affect public policy.
In this last week I had the following problems:
- Staff giving out wrong information/withholding information to/from the public and the press. I had to request an Assistant City Attorney talk with the folks that were possibly violating open records laws.
- Despite email to the contrary, an item didn’t get introduced because it wasn’t entered into the Legistar system and ended up in a 2 week delay. This of course, caused concern with neighborhood representatives.
- A meeting wasn’t properly noticed and had to be cancelled. Rescheduling the meeting is proving difficult and I probably won’t be able to make the new meeting.
- An item almost didn’t appear on the agenda because there was no fiscal note, but the item was introduced last November.
- An item wasn’t put into our Legistar system and so the alders received the information late for the meeting and wrong information was handed out in its place, causing concerns that didn’t exist.
- Even tho I submitted information weeks ago, I had to wait until 24 hours before something had to be done to get a draft from the City attorney’s office. Then review it and get 4 different sponsors to sign off on the draft or they were refusing to release it. (Not the standard procedure.) The draft still had at least one mistake, but in order to get it out to the public prior to the meeting, it had to go out with the mistake.
- An item that is not “tentative” appears as “tentative” on a public agenda and is causing confusion and inadequate notice for the public.
- I was given excuses for mis-steps that were obviously bad cover-ups. In short, I’d say I was misled and told a few little white lies.
- When I tried to hold someone accountable for their actions, I was told I was being “unprofessional” and that I should find time to come and talk to the person about the problem. (This is a standard tactic that is problematic because it is difficult when I work when staff are available and when I’m available, they’re not working. And of course, I appear to be the unreasonable one.)
I’m sure there are more things, I omitted one of the worst from before the holidays. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the things I’m still disappointed enough about to come quickly to my mind. It sure makes the job of an alderperson difficult. There has to be a better way for a bureaucracy to work and be held accountable. And an alder’s job has to be easier than this. We shouldn’t have to be running around double checking staff work and our work shouldn’t be adversely affected by bureaucratic mis-steps. Sometimes I wonder, if the 46 people running for office knew what it was really like, if they would have thrown their hat in the ring? And I really hope that much of this was a result of the recent holidays.
Ok – glad I got that off my chest. I sure hope things start going smoother, cuz last week was a rough one! Almost made me wish I was one of the 9 people retiring. More importantly, I like and respect alot of the hard-working staff we have in City Hall. It makes it kind of hard to explain their behavior. However, I think what we are seeing is the result of continuous budget cuts and increased workloads that don’t always have clear priorities and staff that are trying to do too much, too fast.
