Councilor Chronicles and other ramblings

The City's Tourism Commission recently voted to fund the private, non-profit St. Helens Foundation's event advertising. The Foundation is not an arm of the City of St. Helens. Is this ethical? Legal? And, oh gosh. Can we even guess which councilor is on that commission and suggested that idea??

Possibly the same councilor who stores Foundation items at City Hall (the big movie screen from Friday night movies, equipment, tables, supplies and road signs...road signs which, by the way, clearly say they belong to the SHPD...maybe when they aren't in use by this councilor?).

It's likely the same councilor who recently helped empty an old building downtown to get it ready to host St. Helens Foundation Halloween events. Sadly, the carpet remnants and such he removed from the building ended up in City Hall storage. Free, I'm sure.

Now the ramblings...

We're in the throes of cutting back at City Hall, looking for ways to save money. (Remember when Barlow and Morten assured us we had no budgetary concerns?) Each department has been asked to suggest ways to cut 10% from their existing budget and define how those cuts might affect them and the services they offer.

Among my suggestions, which I can assume will not be very well accepted:

1. Cut councilors salaries (and this one had better happen before any staff is cut)
2. Charge the St. Helens Foundation rental fees
3. Cut out councilor snacks at work session meetings
4. Cut the Gazette ego-letter down to four pages
5. Put the Parks Department back together with Public Works to cut the cost of running the extra building, and maintenance, and communication/internet fees

Careful, I'm on a roll. Why don't we ask the councilors to give up the office which they rarely use, moving them to a space upstairs so that their office (downstairs) could be used for the cramped admin, building, planning staff in the front office. Customer service suffers because there's not enough counter space.

And, lastly, the City has, at the suggestion of its attorney, decided to revise wording on the Certificates of Insurance required with park use applications for groups of 50 or more persons. It is now required that the certificate clearly state that the City of St. Helens is an "additional insured" and that it name the date and place of the event for which the coverage is provided. I'm looking forward to seeing compliance from the St. Helens Foundation and its leaders.

But, as with all this stuff, I'm not holding my breath!