Who Said We Need an Odd Number of Commissioners? Most Votes Were 4-0.

That's what I get for tuning in to the Commission meeting two minutes after 7:00.  Ginny O'Halpin was inexplicably not there, and Vice Mayor Mac Kennedy started the meeting on time.  Mac ran the meeting for about three minutes, until Art Gonzalez became the new Vice Mayor, and he ran the rest of the meeting. 

Everyone was relieved to have a new/real Village manager.  He's already been in very substantive talks with WastePro, and it sounds like we can expect results.  Everyone was encouraged, except Judi Hamelburg, who told a personal story of what she said was uncollected waste, and her demand for a refund.  Rox Ross, in her public comment, noted that Mario Diaz got the support of five sitting Commissioners, and two Commissioners-elect.

It struck me as an interesting, and frankly somewhat disturbing, curiosity that the Commission seemed to want to make board alternates second class citizens, who can fill in for board members, and participate in discussions (at most), but not vote on board decisions.  These alternates are our neighbors, and they are identical to the board members, except that there is a limited number of seats per board, and there can be more applicants than empty seats.  But we (as Commissioners) don't choose board members because they're the only applicants who are qualified.  We choose them because we only need to fill a few seats.  There's no difference in ability between the people we choose and the people we don't.  (If there was only one open seat on a board, and only one applicant, we would appoint that applicant to the board.)  So, if someone we chose to fill a seat can't do it, because of conflict of interest, or because the member is unable to attend a meeting, then the alternate should be equal to the regular member.  They're equal enough to be alternates, and  they're equal enough to fill in for the absent member, and they're equal enough to participate in discussions.  They should be equal enough to vote.  By their presence, and whatever they contribute to the discussion, they will certainly have influenced the vote.  They should be a part of that vote.  It was a bit of a roller coaster, but it seems the Commission finally found its way to empowering alternates this way.

Mac Kennedy has been crusading for quite a while about lack of safety, or even consideration, at construction sites, and he finally grabbed his chance to propose a relevant Ordinance.  Mac had absolutely the right idea tonight.  The only problem was that Commissioners were trying to make contractors of themselves, and "micromanaging" the specific precautions that should be taken.  They were on much more solid ground when they discussed matters like what time of day, and which days of the week, construction-related noises could occur.  Judi Hamelburg expanded our appreciation of what days work could be done by sharing a personal story of roofing work she had done at her house on a Saturday.  Judi unknowingly offered the Commission an important insight: don't try to make specific rules for everything, foreseen or unforeseen.  The answer was to establish a general theme, and leave the specifics, like what to do in an emergency, or if it's a roof task, and a storm is approaching, to the manager.

During one of the excursions into expertise Commissioners don't have, there was discussion to the extent that lay people should not be writing codes.  Manager Mario Diaz was somewhat assertive about this.  But Judi Hamelburg shared her personal story of having been part of the Code Review Committee, and having participated in writing codes.  Judi pointed out that the Village seems always to have written its own codes.  There was no discussion about the disorganization and inconsistency of a number of our codes, leading several Village cognoscenti to conclude, as Mario Diaz said, that we should have our codes professionally rewritten.

Attorney Ed Dion rethought his reaction last month, and he now says that his firm, which he said last month had no experience in aviation matters, does have adequate experience, and he even quoted us a price to represent us.  So we won't have to hire a separate lawyer, as he told us last month we would.

Commissioner/Vice Mayor/tonight's acting mayor Art Gonzalez introduced an initiative that encouraged Commissioners to respond to their neighbors who make public comments and ask questions.  Art remembers that there used to be an agenda item called something like Commissioner responses to public comments.  This suggestion was such a slam dunk softball that it's hard to imagine that anyone didn't say "well, of course."  And it seems as if possibly everyone eventually did agree.  It was not clear to me if Dan Samaria agreed.  He was very resistant, but he might have caved in, once he was reassured he was under no obligation to respond to his neighbors.

Wasn't it Maynard G Krebs who said, or shrieked, "Work; work?!"  About the same reaction followed Mac Kennedy's suggestion that Commissioners receive written communications electronically, instead of on paper.  Judi Hamelburg shared a personal story about what electronic hardware she uses, and about her secretary's responsibilities, and she just couldn't agree to have to read on a screen, or print what she wanted on paper.  Dan Samaria wholeheartedly agreed.  So that initiative failed, and Judi and Dan can continue to have someone print reams of paper that will quickly be discarded, sometimes with significant parts of it unread.

Establishing goals, for the Commission and for the manager, is another painfully obvious suggestion.  It required little or no discussion, and certainly not the amount it got.  I still say we are under the burden of too many people who like to hear themselves talk.  There was a very early Woody Allen movie which I think was called "Sleeper."  In it, Allen was masquerading as a surgeon, and he kept repeating the word "structure," because he liked the sound of the word, and he liked to listen to himself say it.  It was kind of like that.

The final matter was Judi Hamelburg's wish to discuss Commissioners' use of the Village's attorney's time.  Judi started with a personal story about a business she runs, and how she pays the expenses for her personal business.  The purpose of this story was unclear, but somehow, Judi segued this into a criticism of Mac Kennedy, and an accusation that Mac was using the Village attorney for his own benefit in his campaign.  Judi was very concerned about expenses like this, and she was not one bit mollified when the Village attorney reassured her that no personal campaign matters for Mac's benefit were discussed.  Mac further suggested, more than once, that Judi check with the Village attorney herself before she makes a public indictment of Mac.  But Judi knew where she wanted to go, and no one was going to stop her from going there.

4 1/4 hours.