I have placed ultimate blame upon the outrageous 2 hour wait that we the people were forced to endure upon the Administration. That is a truth, but Council President McWilliams’ Council is equally culpable.
The insistence of having only one agenda setting meeting and one business meeting a month has not only resulted in meetings of such extraordinary length that is not conducive to rational discourse in the meetings later stages Moreover only the foolish diehards have the stamina and perhaps stupidity to stay to express an opinion at the public commentary. By that time there is no one except fatigued Councilors to hear them. That raises a question if those Councilors are in mental condition to listen.
Why the Council has resisted all suggestions to return to the workable semi-monthly schedule is incomprehensible. Not only would the meetings be workably shorter, but the Council could not be rationally sandbagged with “it must be done now because next month will be past the deadline”.
With the two monthly meetings, Ordinances would only take 30 days of action instead of 60, before becoming fact. With more frequent meetings subjects like the appeal to the State for a temporary CFO would not fall through the cracks. One could suspect that Council resolutions of this nature are only for show and no desire for implantation.
The fact remains that no one has forced any of the Councilors to assume that office. They are not indispensible. There is an understandable element of egotism involved in holding the office. However, there are other equally capable citizens who would willingly assume the burden if asked to run. Thus if anyone finds a public friendly time commitment to be onerous they should resign.
Plainfield has a deliberate unorganized administration. If we combine that with a dysfunctional Council faced with emergent actions our city is doomed.
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