[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08

[Jim McGrath]

Fair enough. Strategic planning is very useful in helping guide the
administration.

 

________________________________

From: Bob Jaffe [mailto:BJaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us] 
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 12:48 PM
To: Jim McGrath; missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: RE: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08

 

What the mayor has requested is that the council make requests like "we
want a conservation staff person" sometime before February so those
things can be incorporated into the executive budget. I think this year
will go a lot better than last since we will be doing strategic
planning. First quarter of this year it was hard to think past the next
subdivision.

 

bob

 

 

________________________________

From: Jim McGrath [mailto:jmcgrath at missoulahousing.org]
Sent: Thu 9/4/2008 9:02 AM
To: Bob Jaffe; missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: RE: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08

"What choice do I have?" you ask twice. And you express frustration with
the budget process.

Bob, in general I agree that you should have staff in place that you
trust and allow them to make recommendations that you have some
confidence in following. But you always have a choice. If you are
pinching pennies, the staff's recommendation that new cars are needed
might be balanced out with the need to stretch funding - perhaps cycle
the replacements over more years. 

Whatever. 

I also usually prefer the council to advise the administration on its
direction (we should have a conservation staff person) and have them
come back with the recommended approach (permanent or contract etc.) but
to say that the mayor's direction to you makes it out of your control is
not something I agree with - but it does explain why you might be
frustrated during budget discussions. 

 

________________________________

From: Bob Jaffe [mailto:BJaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us] 
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 8:25 AM
To: Jim McGrath; missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: RE: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08

 

A majority on council are very receptive to the recommendations of this
committee at this time.  The council was more or less talked out of the
idea for the conservation coordinator by the Mayor. My understanding is
that he is supportive of this idea but wants it to be planned out a
little better. Is this going to be a long term position, full time or
part time, what will they do? Would it be more effective to just
contract this job?  If this is pushed as a priority while he is putting
together the executive budget this year I would hope that it will be
included. 

Of course these things could have been figured out and implemented this
year but I thought he made it clear this wasn't the way he wanted to do
it and we don't really have any control over that sort of thing.

 

Regarding police cars and the like; if the administration and department
heads and maintenance department tell us the cars are worn out and need
to be replaced to maintain basic public safety, efficiency, and employee
safety what choice do we have?  I'm not a mechanic. To a large extent we
have to trust our staff on most decisions. We also have to hope the
administration is doing its best to ensure we have the best staff
possible working for the city so they make the right recommendations. In
general this is an area I feel pretty good about.

 

bob 

 

________________________________

From: Jim McGrath [mailto:jmcgrath at missoulahousing.org]
Sent: Wed 9/3/2008 10:37 PM
To: Bob Jaffe; missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: RE: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08

Bob and all, 

Nancy is a great choice. And the committee is an important one-- perhaps
the most important one nowadays, if it's advice is followed by the city.
Having served on this committee and others, as well as your body, and
having seen citizens burn their candles in vain serving on volunteer
committees, can you perhaps speak to your sense of how the advice or
recommendations of this body is currently likely to received and what
folks can do to change (improve) that if they so wish? For example the
city was able in a budget crunch to buy several hundred thousand dollars
worth of police cars but couldn't "afford" a self-supporting staffer to
save on energy costs. 

 

-----Original Message----- 
From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com on behalf of Bob Jaffe 
Sent: Wed 9/3/2008 10:14 PM 
To: missoulagov at cmslists.com 
Subject: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 8-3-08 
  
Greetings, 

We had a short committee day today. Just conservation and A&F. 

In conservation we voted to put Nancy Wilson on the Greenhouse Gas and 
Energy Conservation Team as the representative from the transportation 
community. I don't remember what her title is but she works for 
transportation issues for ASUM. She helped in setting up the various
park 
and rides and the current bus programs at the U.  She spoke of how there
is 
much low hanging fruit for conservation efforts to be found in 
transportation. She also talked about how a lot of people don't connect
with 
global warming, the environment, and saving the planet for future 
generations. But they do understand that it is costing a fortune to keep

filling their tank. The economics of conservation are ultimately where
we 
can make the most progress. As an outspoken member of the conspiracy I
had 
some doubts about how the vote would go but her application was approved
by 
everyone but Dick. Lynn, John H. and Stacy were absent. 

In A&F we approved the taxing for the downtown business improvement 
district. We also approved a three year contract for union Park's
employees. 
As with most things that deal was already done before we heard about it.
For 
a number of reasons it's probably best we stay out of such things but it

pushes my relevancy button when it comes before us for a rubber stamp. 

That was about it for committees. More next week. 

Thanks for your interest, 

Bob Jaffe 

Missoula City Council, Ward 3 

 <mailto:bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us> bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us 

406-728-1052 

 

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