YOUNGSTOWN — City council refused to approve two consulting contracts today citing a lack of communication about the requests from department heads — a complaint council members have made over the past few months.
Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th, warned that if department heads don’t do a better job of informing council members about legislation before it’s on council’s agenda for a vote, “we’ll go into another mode.”
That “mode” would be to refuse to approve certain legislation, she said.
“We don’t want to go to that,” she said.
Mayor Jay Williams expressed concerns about that remark and others by some council members about department heads.
“The other mode Councilwoman Tarpley is referring to won’t be productive,” Williams said.
The mayor added: “The mode we should shift to is productivity. By shifting into a mode of not working together we’ll all find ourselves out on the street corner.”
Council’s community development agency committee will meet Monday to further discuss the two consulting contracts as well as one tabled by council Nov. 18 to hire another consultant for the city’s CDA.
For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com
Comments
Good to see that city council is as backward as ever.
Sounds like we have a "public official" rather than a "public servant" there. Good thing she's not queen of my precinct.
Convenient that the article leaves out the fact that these "consulting" contracts are part of the administration of major federal grant programs (money that was already previously appropriated by council), and are not being paid out of the general fund.
Funny how it also fails to mention that these very contracts were already approved by the board of control.
Leave it to council to screw with the few grants that this city receives. Maybe it's time council reviews the Ohio Revised Code for a reality check on their "power" in this situation.