Left In Lowell

From the beginning of this term, CC Alan Kazanjian asserted himself. I do not know if he intended to become leader of a coalition but that is where he finds himself today. As we review the motions, actions and public comments of the six, we see that the freshman Councilor was able to shape the image, message and agenda with a group of 4-5 Councilors deferring to him or supporting him on all matters of significance.

The discussion that took placeTuesday night between him and the City Manager is a perfect example. He questioned the City Manager on two positions in the Department of Planning and Development which are not yet filled but budgeted. The operative word here is : “budgeted.”

That is the job of the City Council to approve the budget. So essentially, CC Kazanjian was questioning the City Manager on an item that they, the City Council approved, a couple of months ago. Why wasn’t it questioned back then?

The Mayor made an attempted to reaffirm the City Manager’s explanation for the need of these DPD positions, one has regulatory responsibilities and the other has to do with economic development. The Mayor’s explanation was dismissed and none of CC Kazanjian’s other political allies spoke up. So now, City Manager Bernie Lynch, short-staffed, has to come up with a written explanation why he needs those two positions.

The City Manager and the residents of the City thought we had a budget; in effect a plan. And now, every other Tuesday (come Oct., every Tuesday), at the political whims of City Councilors, that budget which is the planning tool for the upcoming year will be up for review, criticism and revision. This is not the way to run a City.

I would expect the rest of the City Councilors to temper their colleague but given what has happened in the past two years, I am afraid we will have more of the same.

The City Council will soon (August 11th) reverse the decision they took last year by a vote 6-3 (R. Mercier; K. Broderick; and R. Elliott voting against) to change their meeting schedule from weekly to bi-weekly(forthnightly definition; not the twice a week one) . At the time the vote was taken, they had decided to revisit it down the road. Well, I guess we have reached the end of the road.

CC Rita Mercier did present a motion, a few months back, to have a discussion on the impact of the rule change. However, they had agreed to give the new schedule additional time to play itself out so that they would have a better sense of how it is working (not).

When the CC originally decided to change their meeting schedule to the 2nd and 4th week of the month, the primary reason given was to allow Sub-Committees to meet on Tuesday without being “rushed.” And they thought they would have more Sub-Committee meetings. Well, it didn’t work.

Jen Myers’ article in yestertoday’s Sun said it best “Council Chamber often remain dark on alternate Tuesdays, with many subcommittee meetings still being held before regular council meetings.”

I think when CC R. Mercier filed her motion for review, the majority of them knew it was not working. All they had to do was assess how many Sub-Committee meetings were taking place every other Tuesday, between the hours of 6:30 – 11:00 to determine if what they intended to do was really occurring and which CC members were showing up.

As it was mentioned by a number of City Councilors during the Sub-Committee meeting yesterday, the decision created confusion among the residents of Lowell; you really need to pay attention if you did not want to lose track of what was going on.

The weekly meeting schedule goes back into effect in October since the Summer schedule (bi-weekly meeting) runs through September.

In addition to the three members of the Rules Sub-Committee (J. Millinazzo, R. Mercier and A. Mercier), CCs K. Broderick, R. Elliott and A. Kazanjian were in attendance and participated during the Sub-Committee. The author of the original motion, CC M. Lenzi, was not present at the Sub-Committee meeting to defend his position.