This document is subject to frequent changes…

Boy, is it ever. 😀

I wrote in my Weekly Update that the Futures Report was useless and I demonstrated this by posting a page from yesterday (11/06/2022.)

And below are pages from the version updated ¹today. And what I learned, today, is this:

• The Ferry Update that was scheduled for November 17 has been pushed back to December 1st.
• That November 17 meeting now includes
  • Our Legislative Agenda–where the Council proposes ideas we want to push to our lobbyist and State, Federal electeds, is also on the 17th. First we’ve heard of that.
  • Apparently, the 2nd Budget Reading is still on the 17th, but unlike past years, there is no mention of amendments. In every year since I’ve been watching, the City and Mayor would block out time for CMs to research possible amendments and discuss.
  • We’re also having a public hearing on the 2022 budget–which never seems to have been locked down earlier in the year.
  • A vote on our Human Services Funding. For the third year in a row this is the only time the Human Services Advisory Committee has presented any information to the Council–at the meeting where we approve the budget, of course.
• December 1st is, again, the Ferry Update and then renewals of three related consultants:
  • The Ferry consultant
  • The Marina consultant
  • The ex-City engineer who shepherded the Port’s acquisition of SR-509 surplus over to the Port for Des Moines Creek Business Park West. (Why we’ve been paying someone to do this for the past six years is beyond me.)
• And on December 8, which is our last meeting of the year is…
  • Farmers Market Report. Again, this is the first report we’ve received.
  • The City Manager Performance Review (which is actually supposed to be twice a year, but never mind that for now 😀 )

Look, I’m not disparaging any of the items on these Agenda. But the fact that these things show up out of the blue does make the whole thing take on a level of theatre.

And then there is this: Although we will have had about the same number of full meetings as in past years, we’re continuing a trend which goes like this:

Jam a ton of stuff into the beginning of the year. Which makes those meetings performative.

Keep long stretches of the calendar empty. Which makes those meetings performative.

Then round out the year by cramming a ton of stuff at the very end. Which makes those… (you get the idea.)

Also there’s this: We’ve had fewer committee meetings this year than any time since I can remember. COVID, schmovid, most of these meetings have become rote. The notable exception has been public safety. However that has been mostly in response to events: upticks in crime, and the increased community activism in Redondo (way to go community. 🙂 )

One of the many things that makes this state of affairs troubling is something CM Steinmetz has gone on about more than once: education. Most CMs are not subject matter experts. And frankly, most of us do not take outside education classes. So, every committee meeting is one of your few chances to learn the material. And if you don’t know the material, you can’t meaningfully question what is being presented to you. The best you can do is, “use your common sense”… and then vote ‘yes’ on whatever is put before you. That’s not how this is supposed to work. One has to have opportunities to develop a baseline of expertise.

Our current system gives the staff the authority to cancel meetings when they have nothing to present. That’s just the tail wagging the dog. After all, they are supposed to be Council-led committees.

¹Yeah, the document header says it was updated November 4th. But it was not there on 11/06/2022. I just happened to click on it today in response to a reader question. So it could not have been uploaded before (11/07/2022.)