Violation of the City of Great Falls Ethics Code?
At last night’s (Oct. 2, 2007) City Commission meeting, a few citizens remarked about Mayor Stebbins not forwarding questions from the public to the appropriate city staff member at commission meetings. She more than once said she was not going to allow "grilling" of the staff. How requesting information or asking a question of a department head is considered "grilling" them, is beyond me. Maybe she’s afraid the staff cannot anwer questions they have not planned for or perhaps she just enjoys playing mother hen and protecting her brood from the "big, bad citizens" of Great Falls. Whatever the reason, it very much appears she may be in violation of the City of Great Falls Ethics code. (The Official City Code of the City of Great Falls Montana can be found here).
During the public comment time, Ed McKnight, mayoral candidate, quoted from the "Official City Code of the City of Great Falls Montana - Title 2, Chapter 52, Code of Ethics":
O. All officers or employees shall be sensitive and responsive to the concerns and questions of the public.
I. No elected officer shall be prohibited from making an inquiry for information on behalf of a constituent if in return, no fee, reward or other thing of value is directly or indirectly promised to or accepted by the officer or a member of his or her immediate family.
(Emphasis mine)
When she was questioned by Mr. McKnight, Mayor Stebbins stated that even if a question is legitimate (and who do you suppose decides that?), the commission meeting may not be the appropriate place to ask it. Huh?
A question for you Mayor Stebbins: Why are you so against public involvement in city government?
13 comments:
So, now we must add "grilling" to the list of things donna doesn't like?!!!! What a joke she's become. Donna has NO concept of democracy. Time for her to just go.
LK
Mayor Stebbins has been a major disappointment. I voted for her the last time. I'm not voting for her in November.
Don't Ask Don't Tell" So says overlord stebbins.
Disappointment? Hardly, an uneducated sell serving Thespian playing the role of mayor. What did you expect?
With all due respect, I believe you misinterpret "I"
I think that it simply means that a City Official can perform constituent service, as long as no remuneration is received. I do not think that the opposite is true, i.e., that it is unethical not to perform the service if asked.
This Mayor and her head nodding Commission are the laughing stock of this community. They are embarrassing themselves and our city. It is way past time to bid them goodbye and good riddance....JT
Go back in the archives and see candidate Stebbins comments about
'public participation' and city financial discrepancies she made...and now?
Lawton gave stubbins a new script to read. Actors read scripts and repeat the lines, all make believe. No thinking required.
I am thinking of commissioning a set of bobbleheads of the big giant head and her nodding quartet. Just in time for the holidays.
Depending on the outcome of the election, I may expand into toilet paper with their famous quotes and face shots. Lord knows they have given enough material to have something on each sheet.
Think of the satisfaction with each flush, they put their best face forward to serve you.
How ethical was it to strip voters right to vote on the coal plant in the beginning?
Seems her ethical standard is set and established. A bit late to expect her practice open government policy now.
Sociopath
- gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations
- callous unconcern for others feelings
- incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, though having no difficulty in establishing them
- very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence
- incapacity to experience guilt or to profit from experience
- marked proneness to blame others, or to offer plausible rationalizations, for the behavior that has brought the subject into conflict with society
yup, a good fit
With all due respect, overstatement like that allows you to marginalize yourself. You're making it easy for them.
The only thing marginalized is democracy by the marginal city commission.
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