I still haven't gotten a response to my open records request I told you about here. Anyone want to place bets on how long it takes to get the information? Realizing that council staff Lisa Veldran is out of the office until the 28th, I emailed Pro Tem Mark Clear and President Tim Bruer to assist me, but no response from them regarding my request to make sure someone was working on this. But, an alder or two, a couple helpful staff people and an interested citizen or two, I was able to put together the following which are as reliable of information as I could get without confirmation from the information requested and denied by staff. But, it makes me wonder. Is it right for an alder that hasn't even been in the city to move reconsideration. Legal? Sure. But is it right?
ALL ALDERS ABSENCES MAY 1 - DECEMBER 20th
Michael Schumacher = 65 days.
Judy Compton = 28
Michael Verveer = 25
Julia Kerr = 24
Mark Clear and Steve King = 22
Lauren Cnare = 19
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz = 16
Thuy Pham-Remmele, Satya Rhodes-Conway and Jed Sanborn = 15
Tim Bruer = 14
Larry Palm and Chris Schmidt= 13
The rest were gone less than 10 days. At least, based on the information I was able to get that should be accurate, and if anything, under counts the days out of the city.
SCHUMACHERS MONTHLY ABSENCES
What was stunning, beyond how much more time Schumacher was out of the city than the top alders, is that Schumacher's absences were mostly (62 of the 65 days) in the last, less than 5 months of the year:
August = 22 days out of town
September = 8 days out of town
October (warm up to budget) = 19 days out of town
November = 2 days out of town
December 1 thru 20 = 11 days out of town
SCHUMACHERS COMMITTEE ABSENCES
In addition, here's what I found on his committee work.
PLAN COMMISSION
There are minutes missing for 6 of the 23 meetings since May, so I could only check 17, of which he missed 5 and there was an additional one he didn't show up to and there was no quorum.
WATER UTILITY
There were 11 meetings, one where there was no quorum and Schumacher was not in attendance, so of the 10 meetings that were held, he was gone for 6 of them.
HOUSING DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
There were 5 meetings, he missed two. There was a 6th meeting where they could not get quorum.
CITY-COUNTY LIAISON COMMITTEE
There was one meeting in October, Schumacher missed it.
HOUSING COMMITTEE
There were 8 meetings, Schumacher missed three.
ALRC
There were 10 meetings and he made all of them but one.
COMPTON'S VACATION
The other thing I don't understand is that in the information I received Judy Compton was out of the city November 23 - December 7th. And then here the rest of the month, except on the 15th. She appears to have been in town for the 14th and 16th, but not the 15th. I've heard she was on vacation that she had planned, but I think that was the previous absence. This is the email the alders got:
Ald. Judy Compton will be absent from the City on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 and unable to attend the Special Common Council meeting at 6:30 p.m.A one day vacation?
Brenda, this is where statistics and context come into conflict. I am on the Board of Directors for League of Wisconsin Municipalities and represent Madison. A number of our meetings are out of town.
ReplyDeleteBtw, when I'm out of town for a few days, come back, and have to leave again, I have it listed as one absence. Technically, since Council rules require notification for absences for more than 5 business days, some alder absences may not get reported. Therefore, while I did travel more this year for professional reasons, your number of days are inaccurate. Besides, I engage in Council work when I'm on travel.
You also fail to neglect that I serve on many committees and will have inherently a higher chance of absences from committeee meetings. I suppose instead of serving on a dozen or so committees and working on numerous extra city projects (for free) amounting to over 30 hours of work a week is irrelevant in your analysis.
In addition, I give out my cell phone and am usually accessible 24 hours.
But I do have to run my own business and earn a living, which may be a novelty to some.
If you had asked, I would have also shared with you that the December Council meeting was listed in legistar for December 1, 2009 and would have been there had that been the case. It was a mistake. By the time this was corrected I already made travel arrangements. The December 15th meeting was completely unexpected.
My decision to ask for reconsiderdation depends very much so on what will be emerging over the next ten days. I've been in contact with other alders, constituents, the Hammes Corporation, and Mansion Hill neighbors to determine whether consideration is reasonable or feasible. I don't take these decisions lightly. But as you say, I have the right to ask for reconsideration and the Council has the right to reject it. Simple democracy at work.
Ok - I'll bite. How many of those 65 days were spend on League of Municipalities meetings? And why don't you have any absences for January - June if you are so busy with the League?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I have likely under-counted absences from the city, this could have been alot easier (even more accureate) if your council staff hadn't denied she had the information and sent me to the clerk's office for the information she has on her computer and forced me to file an open records request, which your Council Leadership refuses to acknowledge. I expect if I get that information, I will find you were out of town even more days.
What's with the cheap shot on running a business being a novelty "to some"? I always thought you were above that. You know better, you know I run a business and the management challenges I face.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteI cannot find two things in legistar (file 16786) that I am interested in reviewing:
1. The handout discussed at the Nov. 10, 2009 TIF "placeholder" meering (made by potentially Gromacki/Hammes) that outlined a payback period for the TIF. (Gromacki referred to it when discussing an issue with Pham-Remmel during the meeting.)
2. Copies of the handout/package Hammes provided at the Dec. 15, 2009 appeal of Landmark's denial of the Cert. of Appropriateness.
Do you know where I can find these?
Also, in general, do the rules require that documents distributed at a Common Council meeting be in the legistar file?
Thanks.
Page 5 is the TIF estimate here
ReplyDeletehttp://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxlZGdld2F0ZXJ0aGVyZXN0b2Z0aGVzdG9yeTJ8Z3g6NGM3ZmQ2ZDczNzhhYTQ2YQ
It's on the rest of the story website - http://sites.google.com/site/edgewatertherestofthestory2/
The other document is here, I think, I never actually saw the document at the meeting.
http://legistar.cityofmadison.com/attachments/7caa8ada-d74f-471e-ad4d-5ea597450433.pdf
Thanks for providing the links, Brenda.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers have been so over-inflated (e.g., that over 1,000 construction jobs will be created) and the drawings so misleading (e.g., grand stairway), that nothing that Hammes or the Mayor says can be taken a face value when it comes to this project.
Thanks again, your site is indispensible.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteI'm not the one that asked for the documents above but very much appreciate the link to the Nov 10, 2009 TIF summary just the same. Thanks.
The November 10 TIF summary seems to indicate that the total cost of the project is now $64.6 million.
But the August 6, 2009 TIF application shows a total project cost of $90.4 million, a number that's very close to the $93 million we have heard so many times.
I'm wondering if there's another $25+ million in project costs that the Nov 10 TIF summary doesn't show or if in fact the the size of the project has been reduced to $65 million.
I'm not a fan of Schumacher but think your criticism is nit-picking. Attack him on the important things, not this.
ReplyDeleteBeing out of town 43% of the days since August 1 and missing about half of of his committee meetings is nitpicking? If I was an elected official doing that, I'd certainly expect to be criticized.
ReplyDeleteThree comments up, someone asks a really good question about the project costs in the TIF summary . . . I don't know the answer to that. I thought I did . . . but now, I'm confused.
ReplyDelete