But let's address something that has bugged me for quite some time, the over use of the "Emergency" concept by both the Mayor and by Toledo City Council.
Most of us when we hear the word "Emergency" think of:
A serious situation or occurrence that happens unexpectedly and demands immediate action. Or, a condition of urgent need for action or assistance: a state of emergency.
If you stop by and read just a few of the City Journal's you'll see how often our City is experiencing an "Emergency". I am happy to report it does not appear there were any "Emergencies" at the Council Meeting of July 1st. Yet on June 24th here are just a few taken directly from the City Journal (They are in caps because that is the way they appear on the PDF not because I am yelling):
AN ORDINANCE NO. 420-06 REPEALING RULE 19 OF THE RULES OF COUNCIL AND ENACTING A NEW RULE 19 REGARDING COUNCIL COMMITTEES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
AN ORDINANCE NO. 416-06 AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF SEVENTY-ONE THOUSAND AND 00/100 DOLLARS ($71,000.00) FROM DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTHER AGENCIES, FOR PAYMENT TO TOLEDO SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL (TSCI); AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
AN ORDINANCE NO. 243-06 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT WITH RIVER EAST ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION CORPORATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING MANAGEMENT OF THE MARINA DISTRICT PROJECT; AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION AND EXPENDITURE OF $64,000 FOR THESE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
AN ORDINANCE NO. 362-06 LEVYING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR SPRINKLING, SWEEPING, CLEANING AND SNOW REMOVAL SERVICES FOR THE MUNICIPAL STREETS, ALLEYS AND PUBLIC WAYS IN THE CITY DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 2005; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
AN ORDINANCE NO. 363-06 LEVYING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF CERTAIN STREETS, ALLEYS AND PUBLIC WAYS OUTSIDE OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA OF THE CITY BY PROVIDING STREET LIGHTING DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 2005; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
AN ORDINANCE NO. 364-06 LEVYING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF CERTAIN STREETS AND PUBLIC WAYS IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA OF THE CITY BY PROVIDING STREET LIGHTING DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 2005; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
I could continue as there were many more "Emergencies" on June 24th, and remember this is just one recent City Journal. Declaring of an Emergency happens on a very regular basis. Why and how do they do this? For that we have to turn to the Toledo City Charter:
Section 43. Emergency measures - passage.
No ordinance or resolution shall be passed as an emergency measure unless a statement of the fact and nature requiring such ordinance or resolution to go into immediate effect shall be set forth in a separate section of the ordinance or resolution. The determination of the Council that the fact and nature set forth in such section requires the ordinance or resolution to go into immediate effect shall be conclusive. In the event that the inclusion of an emergency section in an ordinance or resolution receives the two-thirds affirmative vote required by Section 40, then such ordinance or resolution shall be an emergency measure and take effect immediately even though it receives on the vote on passage of such ordinance or resolution only an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of Council. No measure making a grant, renewal, or extension of a franchise, or of a special privilege, or regulating rates to be charged for service by any public utility, shall ever be declared an emergency measure.
Now to be fair, I realize that some of these "Emergency" ordinances are sent to Council by the Mayor's office. Yet as we can clearly read above, two-thirds of City Council has to vote yes to agree that this is an "Emergency", and while not all "Emergencies" pass, quite a few of them do. Nor is this something new, I picked a City Journal at random under the Ford Administration and found this:
AN ORDINANCE NO. 816-05 DECLARING IT NECESSARY TO IMPROVE CERTAIN STREETS AND PUBLIC WAYS IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA OFTHE CITY BY PROVIDING STREET LIGHTING;PROVIDING FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF COSTS OF THAT LIGHTING; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. (There were several more "Emergencies" that day including one related to Westgate. I selected this one to demonstrate how many "lighting" emergencies the City faces.)
The problem is we don't pay enough attention to what is going on and even the media doesn't give us a clear picture as to how these "Emergencies" happen so often that they really are not even emergencies anymore, they are a way to pass legislation thru faster and it would be very hard to argue that the majority of these are truly emergencies.
It reminds me of the expression; "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."
:-)
10 comments:
Kate as part of all of the Emergency Ordinances they list a reason for it being an "Emergency" but that's not reflected in the titles. The titles is what I posted to demonstrate how often an ordinance is "declared" an emergency. Most times it's stated as something pertaining to safety issue that supposedly makes it an Emergency. Since they read by "title only" most of the time it adds an additional challenge to reading the full Ordiance.
Red lights do match the fire hydrants....
:-)
I believe that emergency legislation is used all too often simply because of poor planning or simple lack of planning by administrators and/or staffers to the legislating body, whether that legislative body be a city council, a board of county commissioners, a board of education, a state legislature or whatever.
At one time or another during my career, though not for the same entity, I have been in the roles of both the administrator and the board of education member.
Poor planning or egregious politics? Take your pick. Either way we citizens lose.
Lisa - as posted also on TT, council's definition of emergency only means that it goes into effect right away - it doesn't wait the required number of days to be able to be implemented. That's why so many of council's ordinances are passed by "emergency" - so the staff or administration can act as soon as possible.
It still doesn't negate your position but it might help to explain why there are so many 'emergencies'...and I love your position that a lack of planning by someone else doesn't constitute an emergency for me.
Maggie, thank you; I saw your comments over at TT and I responded, I agree they are somewhat separate issues as far as what the Mayor did with the Emergency Contract. Yet having seen so many "Emergencies" lately took the opportunity to go into something that has bothered me as far as both the Mayor's office sending Emergency Ordinances to Council and Council having their own emergency ordinances.
There are always going to be situations where there is a real emergency that has to be dealt with, however most of these situations appear at first glance to not be anything urgent.
There is a process that the Charter states is supposed to be followed, so if there really is a problem perhaps the solution would be to take a look at the process rather than just finding creative ways to declare something an emergency to bypass that.
:-)
Maybe there could be 'degrees of emergency.'
First Class Emergency
Second Class Emergency
or
Emergency
Real Emergency
Real, real Emergency
Now there's an idea LD, maybe we could create a color chart.
:-)
LD said: "Poor planning or egregious politics? Take your pick. Either way we citizens lose."
My gut response: Bottom line - It is the citizens who set the course on election day.
Holy Smokes, I was really late on this one!
"Emergency," in "Council-Speak" is a technique that is used to slip things in under our radar, avoiding the need to have good reasons for doing something, or working in someone's pet project, and it avoids the chances of things being scrutinized before final passage, or from the public from mounting any serious opposition.
I believe that any form of Councilmatic conscience left when Andy Douglas did.
Cool guestbook, interesting information... Keep it UP
Imitrex side effecrs Imitrex glaxo smith kline Product to remove hair color from skin 5htp and imitrex similar used minivan free web mail software
Post a Comment