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Two controversial topics of strategic importance are being decided today at a 4 p.m. special Council meeting. The time-sensitive decisions are regarding whether to include measures on the November ballot to:
1) Increase (basically double) Council salaries.
2) Move the May election date to June, as being proposed by Mayor Ireland.
The salary measures were added to the agenda late last week, and as a result, have gotten little attention,---which may have been the intent. (In fact, last night, it was clear that some of the measures have been quietly under consideration for some months.) The election timing question was suddenly added last night during the meeting. Decisions will be made this afternoon---hopefully with input from the public. Please consider attending.
Framing Today's Debate --Click Below to Learn about the New Debate
Ireland, Johnson and J.E. take the position that the role of Council has become and should continue to be an almost full time job. Mick says, "that has been decided", and that Council as a "full time job is what people [citizens] want." Although the Mayor did not seem ready to ask the voters for pay increase, the pay issue seems to be about how many hours Council is working. We think the question is premature.
The Aspen Times reports Skadron and Romero's positions: "Serving the public is a privilege and I don't believe the salary increase should serve as an incentive," Skadron said.
Romero said he thinks asking for a pay raise is premature without having a discussion with the community about whether serving on City Council should become a full-time job.
"It's completely an inappropriate step without discussions on how we got here," he said. "It's the sacrifice you are making to serve the citizenry."
We expect there to be a spirited discussion on the matter. We think this deserves considerable public dialogue as to the form of governance we want. We should not blindly accept the result of the "job creep" of Council work in recent years as the best governance model for the 21st Century.
The Stealth Ballot Issue
Mayor Ireland surprised almost everyone by adding an agenda item to propose a ballot measure changing the spring election to June. This politically strategic question will be decided today. We urge you to note this important matter and weigh in. We didn't find this reported in the papers today!
Andrew Kole, who has a keen political sense, is definitely planning to weigh in on this issue. He says, "I have always believed that the timing of the election should provide the best opportunity for the voters to go to the polls, having heard the candidates make their cases in the most efficient process. I have also always believed that the election should be the second Tuesday in April affording the candidates the months of February and March to campaign to make their cases."
Andrew points out the importance of election timing on the access to voters. Timing may be EVERYTHING--fact not lost on experienced politicians! Come participate in the dialogue at 4 p.m. today.
For Later
We are troubled about transparency---again-in the way these issues were held until the last minute for putting on the November ballot, with virtually no real notice to the public or chance for public input. The items were placed at the end of an already crowded agenda, where discussion did not begin until after 11:15 p.m.! We will speak to that governance matter in a future issue.
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August 26 
Reader Comments (1)
re: Burlingame 100% required vote of the homeowners
What a waste of the Experts Group time!
The City indeed needs to remove themselves from the development business!!
...sounds like could turn into another "entrance to highway 82" vote to me - ha!; if the public doesn't like the outcome of the first (or second, or tenth, or 20th) vote, have them vote again!