Tuesday saw a common council session in Whitewater, with topics including recognition of private accomplishments, citizen comments on housing, a municipal budget update, snow removal, council’s approval of the terms for Whitewater’s new City Manager, Cameron Clapper, and discussion of the job posting for a new Director of Public Works.
A few remarks on meeting highlights follow —
Charitable, private accomplishments. Council issued two proclamations, one designating Sunday, October 7th in honor of our local Crop Walk, and a second designating Sunday, November 18th in honor of the Fairhaven Retirement Community’s fiftieth anniversary.
These proclamations came early in the session, and that seems right: among the best work of government is the acknowledgment of private accomplishment. The Crop Walk (beginning at Fairhaven) will raise money to feed hundreds locally and elsewhere. It’s an unalloyed good.
That Fairhaven has endured — and expanded — over fifty years is no small achievement. Our conditions are so very different from 1962, and Fairhaven would not have managed those many years had it not adapted to new conditions, to new expectations.
There’s reason to be proud of the generosity and hard work behind the subjects of each proclamation.
Budget Update. Cameron Clapper (at the time Interim City Manager, by the end of the meeting City Manager) offered updates on the budget process and three topics of interest.
The city administration will offer its budget to the Common Council on 10.9.12, place it online, and then begin presentation of it at the Council session on 10.16.12. Elected representatives and residents will thus be able to think about the budget before the next council session. City Manager Clapper gave notice of three areas of the budget for particular consideration: the city’s public contribution toward the ‘Innovation Express’ (Generac’s bus), municipal funding for Downtown Whitewater, and municipal funding to combat the emerald ash borer (now encroaching upon the city).
There’s time to consider these requests, and the rest of the budget, after it’s publicly available.
There may be more than one budgetary option; it’s encouraging that these options will be balanced.
Citizen Comments on Rental Property in the City. All these years, but still we’ve seen scant progress on controversies over rental houising in the city. We’ve a chance, if only we’d try, for a general resolution of these ceaseless kerfuffles. Is there anyone in the city who wants to keep arguing about this, after so many years have been wasted?
I could battle for my way of thinking for a dozen more years, others could do the same in opposition to that way of thinking, but where will we be? Only where we have been these last several years.
If we could capitalize on changes in personnel, combine it with a more modern outlook, and zoning re-write reform, perhaps we could get past these continuous, contentious debates.
That’s a subject for longer discussion. The motivation for that discussion should be clear enough: we should, and I think can, compromise well enough to put this issue mostly behind us.
Snow Removal. Snow on city sidewalks must now be removed by 8 PM on the evening after it stops falling. Council approved a more reasonable rule — requiring a 24-hour snow removal deadline. The old requirement was a stupid one, contrary to that of other communities’ policies, penalizing late-shift workers, and requiring much more of residents than of the city government.
A New Director of Public Works. One might set the requirements for this job however one wishes, so long as one achieves these two tasks: that projects come in on time, and on (or under) budget. It’s practical accomplishment that matters, from a new leader residing within the city.
A New City Manager. Returning from closed session, Whitewater formally approved a contract with Cameron Clapper as her new city manager. The recruiting process leading to his selection was open, thorough, professional, and smooth. Two attributes matter most: the standards & principles by which one manages, and a temperament that fosters harmony within the municipal administration and inclusion within the city.
It’s not compensation, but guiding principles and equal-treatment of all residents, that’s important. Residents may differ over particular views to no matter: it’s a substantive foundation and fairness toward all that carries the day.
Quite a few have written, asking my opinion of Whitewater’s choice. I’ll answer here as I have privately: I believe it’s a sound choice, and I wish City Manager Clapper the best for his administration.
One may be confident that all the city feels this way.