OK, I Surrender. Thank "God."

"The Tracy Truppman Show, Starring Tracy...Truppman" is better than "The Noah Jacobs Show, Starring Noah...Jacobs."  It's less crazy, less raging (although still with moments of the hostess' bitterness), and more goal-directed.  It lasts just as long, or perhaps longer (because it had to be adjourned, to be continued some other day), and somehow manages not to get quite enough done.  And it has that same focus on the central character.  At one point, Tracy apologized for "monopolizing."  So she perceived it.  She just couldn't stop herself.

Admittedly, it was an ambitious agenda, and part of it took a deservedly long time.  There was a complicated variance issue that involved various and ranging and contradictory testimony which resulted in more questions than answers.  The end result, although fair, was unsatisfying, because it left the petitioner very unhappy.  But within this matter we could see how parts of this new Commission might coalesce.  And it was interesting to observe.

No one would say the matter wasn't complicated.  It very much was.  And it involved neighbors who were accusing each other of various forms of misbehavior.  The question came down to whom to believe: never a happy place to be.  But there was a convenient way out for the Commission.  It could decide, as it did, that the petitioner had an argument that could not be supported, because the old records were gone, so he could not prove his case.  The decision therefore went against him.  This was a bit of a technicality, or a cop-out, but it allowed the matter to be settled.  But it was a very difficult conclusion at which to arrive.

When it came time to make a motion-- to support the petition for the variance, or to deny it-- none of the Commissioners said anything for what seemed like many seconds.  My own thought was that this required finesse and intelligence, and that if either Roxy Ross or David Coviello made any motion at all, the other three would agree to it, since they didn't know what they were doing.  But Roxy and David reserved input, letting the others figure out what to do.  It was finally Jenny Johnson-Sardella who made the motion, and she relied entirely on comments Roxy had made, and avenues of inquiry Roxy had pursued in her exploration of the matter.  Jenny's motion was seconded, and it was passed 4-1.  The outlier was Will Tudor, who throughout the meeting made repeatedly clear that he had no idea what was going on, or what his tenure was about.  On this occasion, he said he could not vote in favor of the motion (although it had to be explained to him what a no vote or a yes vote on this motion to deny implied), because the matter was too unclear.  Yes, that's exactly right, Will.  That's the job for which you applied.  I know you're only there to stop someone from making you have a driveway on your property, but in the meantime, there are lots and lots of other tasks.  And they're all yours.

Then, there was the matter of the police.   We're in a bit of trouble.  The Chief is gone, and our detective has resigned.  We're down manpower.  And we have no Chief.  Sharon Ragoonan said she was refused by two people before Nick Wollschlager grudgingly agreed to be the acting Chief.  Sharon was very happy, and relieved, that Nick agreed, and the matter at hand last night was how to compensate Nick.  He's still doing his old Corporal's job, the new Chief's job, he's totally enthusiastic and effective (and very well-liked among the rest of our force), and he's somehow available for consultation 24/7.  He represents what Sharon described as substantial "intangibles" to the neighborhood.  So Sharon calculated that we should continue to give him his regular salary, and supplement it by $5000 per month.

Tracy agreed that Nick does a wonderful job and is a wonderful asset to the Village.  And she felt a raise was more than appropriate.  She did not, however, think an extra $5000 per month was reasonable.  She was concerned about the budget, and she just felt an extra $5000 per month was, well, just too much more than Nick was already making.  She thought maybe like $2500 more, or $2000 more, would be the right amount.  She described Sharon's suggestion of $5000 more per month as "irrational."

Sharon's calculation that Nick would be doing two jobs, and was available for X number of hours per week, was reality-based, and therefore rational.  Her introduction of "intangibles" would be considered at least semi-rational, coming from someone who understands about the influence of good workers and good leaders in a work environment.  What was completely irrational was Tracy's personal, idiosyncratic sense that $5000 per month seemed to her like a lot of money, and that some other arbitrary figure, like $2500, or $2000, seemed somehow better.

So the argument continued, until everyone who wanted to speak had spoken, and a vote had to be taken.  The vote was unanimous to give Nick the $5000 per month raise.  Amazingly, inexplicably, and very irrationally, Tracy voted against every argument she herself made in opposition to the amount of the raise.

Somewhere, in one of the discussions, Tracy relinquished the floor to allow Roxy to speak.  Roxy said something, and Tracy cut her off, accusing her of being out of line.  Roxy pointed out to Tracy that she was only speaking, because Tracy had recognized her and allowed her to speak.  Before the meeting began, while we were all waiting outside, I got to talking to someone who had had a conversation with Bryan Cooper, about Cooper's Commission tenure.  The person asked Cooper why he didn't resign, as he seemed to have no role on the Commission, and didn't seem to want to be there.  Cooper told him that his mission on the Commission was to give Roxy Ross the hardest time he (and Steve Bernard, and later Noah Jacobs) possibly could.  In the last meeting of our new Commission, Roxy suggested a standard civility Resolution.  Tracy, Jenny, and Will joined together to defeat this completely normal and friendly Resolution.  It seems they've been handed a baton.

A lot didn't get done last night.  Tracy had had enough by before 10:30.  Roxy and Sharon persuaded her to take up just two more important and timely matters.  One of them was producing a list of priorities for our lobbyist, who needs to know what funding to try to get from the State legislature.  The Commission worked up a list of maybe eight wish list items, and Sharon suggested the lobbyist would do better with a list of maybe two items.  Tracy decided to ask those of her neighbors who remained at that hour, instead of having the Commissioners decide.  Tracy pointed out more than once that she's new at this.  And how.

An important matter that didn't get discussed, and that stimulated several or many public comments early in the meeting, was Tracy's suggestion that Commissioners, including the new ones, should have ultimate authority to hire new department heads.  This is the responsibility of the Manager, as established by a Charter Review Committee in 2005, confirmed by the Commission that year, reconfirmed by the Village residents at large through referendum, reconfirmed again by a Charter Review Committee in 2015, and reconfirmed by the then Commission that year.  Tracy, who has had no meaningful involvement with Village functioning, no meaningful involvement with the Village Administration, and is newly on the Commission, decided that the Manager should not have the sole authority to hire new department heads, but that the Charter should be changed to position Commissioners to have overarching powers here.  And Tracy would like to start now, just as we are hiring a new police Chief, and a new Recreation Director.  Tracy sees this is so urgent that she is not interested in the scrutiny and contemplation of yet another Charter Review Committee, and she doesn't want to wait for a proper electorate.  She wants it sneaked in at the special election to replace David Coviello, who is resigning his Commission seat at the end of March.  Tracy wants to rely on the smallest possible voter turnout, ASAP, and she's not interested in workshops.  More of us spoke against this kind of what Mac Kennedy properly called a "power grab" than those who favored it.  The matter was a casualty of the long variance discussion and poor clock management, and it will be considered at the make-up meeting, to complete last night's agenda, on January 19.  7:00.  Log Cabin.

Thinking back on this meeting, it seems to have been the new Commission's salvation that Roxy Ross and David Coviello are still on it, and that Sharon Ragoonan has assertiveness and a very level head.  "Thank 'God'" they were there.  And Jenny Johnson-Sardella showed some promise as well.