Council's Vote Had Too Much Haste and Not Enough Input

Council's Vote Had Too Much Haste and Not Enough Input

From The HNN Editorial Board

Many of us can remember watching the old Blondie and Dagwood movies where Dagwood Bumstead would be late for work and in his rush to do a good thing by getting to work on time he would do a bad thing by running over the mailman on his way out the door. After watching the Huntington City Council's vote on a resolution to move ahead with a pension bailout plan, we now know how the mailman felt.

The City Council, in its desperation to solve what has been a problem in the making for years, passed a resolution authorizing officials at Banc One to begin a process of trying to sell tax exempt bonds to bail out the Fireman and Policeman Pension Funds. No prior notice of the upcoming vote on this resolution was mentioned in the press, be it HNN or the Huntington Herald Dispatch. No notice was given on even the printed agenda for the Council meeting.

Yet, the members of Council had all the details related to the plan prior to the meeting. This had been discussed in their work session. It is too bad the public didn't have the same kind of information prior to the Council meeting.

The dye is cast and the Council has now passed the resolution moving this plan forward, but in doing so it has ran roughshod over the public by giving them no prior notice of the impending vote and by not putting out any details of the plan for public discussion. This process will take a very long time, but in the future where this plan is concerned (or any proposal, for that matter) we call on the city to put out all details for public discourse before any votes are taken. Besides, if this plan is such a good idea as some say it is, why not let the public look at it and decide for themselves?

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