Pat Dell
It was fitting and interesting that City Manager Anil Comello wrote an op-ed in the newspaper last week on the topic of financial transparency in city government. I have observed many public complaints on this very topic. Now, I would like to respond to Mr. Comello's explanation.
He calls the groups stakeholders. I'm curious what this means in this context. Apparently he felt he needed to justify spending $40,000 on Fourth of July fireworks. Citing cost and fire risk, the city of Napa realized it would not provide fireworks this year. This is a wise decision. Previously, the cost of the fireworks was donated by St. Helena businesses. Until St. Helena repairs its roads and downtown sidewalks, no money should be spent on entertainment.
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Comello cited three reasons why cities often spend large amounts of money on consultants. This spending has been a practice since he became city manager. When hiring a consultant, he must explain which of the three reasons he has to justify the expense. Meade and Hunt to inspect flood project components, provided the Department of Public Works had used the inspection tools developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as intended and implemented them to remediate problem areas. hiring could have easily been avoided. The city was not up to par.
I know that the main concern of this City Council, the city manager, and other department leaders is downtown businesses. Parking should definitely be a priority. This is much more important than other consultants.
I have a suggestion or two to improve the transparency that we all want.
1. If the item has a budget, don't put it in the consent calendar. The public has an opportunity to consider budget items when the budget is developed and Congress votes to approve the items.
2. The Consent Calendar of City Council Agenda does not need to be discussed “unless chosen” by a City Councilor or member of the public attending the meeting. This allows large expenditures to be made without explanation, with only staff and the City Council understanding the reason for the expenditure. Yes, there is a staff report, but many people don't understand where it is and it can be difficult to understand.
3. Set a minimum amount for which spending must be on the agenda instead of the consent calendar. About two weeks ago, some items were removed from the consent calendar and staff explained the reasons for the expenditures. They gave great explanations. I enjoyed watching the conference and felt better about the city after listening to the explanation. It was also fun to hear questions from city council members. Most of the time they don't question anything and it feels like unelected officials are running the city.
4. If the City Council agenda is prepared by the Mayor, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and City Staff, please consider that this is the primary method of communication with the public.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that the city should fix its streets and business district sidewalks before spending more money on non-essential projects and consultants. It's about as transparent as you can get.
