On Tuesday night, several people made reference to the “Golden email” and I thought I should make it available for those who were interested:
From: Ken Golden [mailto:kengofpluto@yahoo.com]
Sent: Mon 2/23/2009 9:39 PM
To: Veldran, Lisa
Cc: Carl DuRocher
Subject: Overruling the TPCLisa, can you pass this along to the council members and have cpoies at their place fpor the meeting. thanks.
Council members: Sorry I can’t be there to discuss this but I am recovering from a fractured hip. Too much dancing around issues like this weakened my bones.
I suspect that all of your decisions about the bus fare increase were made months ago. I suspect you all considered what you thought was right and voted accordingly. I am not going to argue the merits or lack of merit in the decision you made. What I will do is ask you to consider the action you are taking tonight- to overrule the TPC and have the MADISON City Council set metro fares for the first time in history. Let me give you a few things to ponder.
I think you can maintain your opinion about fare and vote differently about the overrule. They are two different issues. My position is that you should continue to let the TPC be the decision maker over fares and service as they have been since the city purchased the Madson Bus Company.
One argument I hope you investegated is whether you actions would be legal. It would be a waste of time for me to argue with the analysis that supports the legality of an overrule. An appeal to WISDOT will decide that in the long run. Mike May is a good attorney and I am sure he found solid, if arguable reasons to justify overrule. I wonder if he was looking for justifications for both sides of the argument as some of his predicessors did years back or just pleasing the Mayor. Even when I was on the council, other attorneys said the ordinances were ambivilent about who was in charge. Some of my arguments below may give you apuse so watch you backs on relying on that assumption.
For example, if the council is in charge, why did the TPC separately set fares for the UW when the UW system ran a separate system using metro. that system had different fares and the TPC, not the UW set them even though the funidng scame to Metro was under contract from the UW. Further, think about the communities who buy Metro services- Middleton, the Town of Madison, Verona etc. If they wanted different fares for their community, coud they override the TPC or would you make the decisioin for them.? Getting compicated isn’t it! Sure the other communities would have to approve the funding and contract but could they force fares on routes that ran only in their city? Could you change these without the consent of the other ELECTED BODIES? Has anyone asked about this? I’m sure you will be told “yes” but you should think about the arrogance you are displaying to the other communities you have been trying to woo.
You should also think about RTAs. Soon you will have the oportunity to create an RTA with the power to do what you are about to do tonite. It will set fares and service and will also be able to tax. Overturn the TPC but let the RTA do what it wants? Your consistency would not be impressive should you vote that way. If you can’t trust your own transit commission, how can you possibly explain a vote to support an independant RTA that can tax you constituents? Makes no sense.
Finally, please think what you are doing to the processes the TPC and Metro has operated under for decades. You are changing the rules just because this Mayor has seen citizens stand up to his bullyng, shameful for you to support that. But more imporantly, think of the process here. When I was on the council we cared as much about process as we did about the issue before us. Tim B, you know that and need to be the keeper of that value. Tim, tell you collegues about this (but be brief about it).
To overturn the TPC is a violation of anything approaching good process as I could imagine. For 30+ years the council trusted that commssion; they have sat through the hours and hours of hearings needed to make an informed decision; you didn’t, don’t and won’t (you should if you are taking on the role of final decider.) You did not hear from the customers you always give lip service to valuing.
Let’s face it, you made a budget driven decision. Fair enough- that’s your job. I strongly suggest you as the TPC to present a Metro budget to you that is balanced and has the agreement of staff that it is balanced. They might propose you raise the fee of street meters 9they are the parking utility) to gather the funding needed to adequately support the system. If they can, you should consider their ideas. If you don’t like them, tell them to come back with a better plan. If they can’t, they know that they will have to reduce service or raise fares at the end of the year and will blink. If they can’t come up with a plan, I guarantee you they will back down. If they can, you owe good process the chance to at least consider their ideas.
In sum, this is likely to not be your best night. You’ve made commitments to the Mayor and don’t want to be a whimp and back down. However, if you care about how you govern, not just the results, you have a duty to not overturn the TPC. Please think about it! Personally, I could not imagine the council going home after bullying a commission and making it up as they go. I also can’t imagine your discomfort the night of the RTA vote. I ask you to think about this and vote as you will but only because you have a good argument to counter mine. If you don’t….
thank you for your service.- make good soup.
