Dear Mayor Garner,
Okay, I admit I am always slow on proclaiming such things, but the City of New Albany is splintering. Now for those wiping the coffee from their computer screens and exclaiming, "Duh, where have you been?", let me explain.
In all fairness to you, Mayor Garner, let's go back to September 2003 and make every effort to follow the promises you made to the citizens of New Albany.
"A government that is responsible to the citizens of our great city." "As your Mayor I pledge to you. I will lead with hard work, respect, honesty and integrity."
This was your promise as a candidate.
CITY EMPLOYEES:
"I will eliminate the Chief of Staff position and I will be the spokesperson for our city. I will stop the current practice of delegating important decisions to others that impact each of us."
(Mr. Toran was hired as the Chief Operations Officer)
GARBAGE AND RECYCLING:
"I will fix the city garbage and Recycling programs. Due to poor planning we have not given our employees the tools to do their job correctly."
(You have now planned to privatize Sanitation)
SEWERS:
"I am committed to fixing our sewers. This sewer renovation needs to be completed under the guidance of a revised sewer board that restores checks and balances and eliminates undue political influence."
(We still have the same sewer board members, under your guidance. We need to focus on checks and balances and eliminate political influence)
Now we have a question for you, Mr. Mayor. Why did Assistant Fire Chief Gream resign? Does it have anything to do with the missuse of the City credit card? Could this be one of the reasons you do not want an audit? (We will discuss this further in detail in a future posting.)
It is our opinion that after two years you are still not listening to us and our concerns. Your administration uses filtering, and your own spin to provide us with misinformation.
We, the citizens, do not see competence in your administration. Yet you continue to dismiss your critics as misguided and/or pessimistic. Contrary to your remarks, we number far more than six or seven citizens.
We feel your decisions have been based on assumptions and insufficient figures, inaccurate facts, and unrealistic reasoning. We the public and citizens of New Albany no longer have confidence in your decisions and feel that you should resign.
