2010-08-09 Regular City Council Agenda

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open arms. He regrets the process has been what it is because it has not been a process at all. He said to the new City Manager that he is joining an excellent staff of employees. Mr. Price asked when the election was - for him the civil war ended on April 6 and he doesn’t have the time to go through what he calls the silly season and the silly season is starting now. He said he has some serious stuff he is working on and the rest can move to the other side of the room and have their silly season. Mr. Price asked the Interim City Manager what the chief strategy is with the Superintendent concerning the opening of U City High School and he wanted a strategy for the next two months of what they plan to do so we won’t have occur this year what took place last year. Mr. Price asked that he not be given what was handed to him last year as it did not work. He said they have had repeated fights at the high school, some escalated shootings on some streets and usually when you have that they take that straight into the high school. Mr. Price asked about the U Help U program and its progress. He also asked to have someone check on the growing number of easement right-of-ways where the weeds are five feet high. Mr. Price said to the Council that he is tired of this and wants Council to come back with a plan for North & South and Olive.He said what he calls transparent is a building being built on North & South and Olive. Lastly he wanted to remind everyone of National Night Out on Tuesday August 3 in Heman Park sponsored by the Police Focus group. Lastly he said with the frequent rains no one is addressing the people on Wilson and other flood areas. He asked for the status report on approval of grant money. Ms. Watson stated the Mayor received a report on Friday and the first step is that the funding has to be in place and the second step is that FEMA has to approve the project. She said the funding was in a Bill approved by the House and approved by the Senate with some changes, so presently needs to go back to the House for approval again. Then with a pot of money, FEMA would approve the projects submitted. Mr. Price asked what Council could do to keep this moving in the affirmative. Ms. Watson said that City has been in contact with State Representatives. Mr. Kraft thanked Ms. Watson for pinch hitting as City Manager plus working her own department. He said his responsibility as an elective representative was to make good decisions and recently the Council made a very important decision, the Council voted six to one to hire Mr. Walker as our City Manager. He said he believed we made an excellent decision and he sticks by it. There has been some discussion of the process by which Mr. Walker was chosen. He feels confident that the process was legal and he noted that it was hard to have public involved in the interview processes, as some applicant’s current position could be jeopardized. Mr. Kraft said that some say something is devious, as Mr. Walker signed a contract July 8 and Council approved it four days later. There is nothing to hide as the document is public. Ms. Feier, the previous City Manager, signed her contract 3/22/06 and the Council voted two days later, 3/24/06 to finalize it. Contracts are negotiated and they are not valid until they are signed by both parties. When parties are in different states it is normal for signing to take place on different days. Two or four years from now we will not be discussing the process that brought Mr. Walker to his job, but will be discussing the job Mr. Walker and City Council has done and are doing. I expect we will be happy with a City Manager who is successful in eliminating a 1.5 million dollar budget deficit. The election was April 6 and it is time to move on. The City Manager selection process ended on July 12; the vote of your elected representatives was a landslide, six to one. It is time to move on. Mr. Kraft said that we have a budget deficit and a long list of other challenges. He said we need everyone’s help 7