[Vision2020] Moscow City Council's Megaload Discussion

[Saundra Lund]

Sue, I think another point or two or three are perhaps still worthy of
discussion.

For instance, why did we have two (highly paid) City administrative staff --
both attorneys, BTW -- advising Council members & our Mayor drastically
different on procedure?  Did either of those attorney-administrators
consider Idaho's Open Meeting Law, which trumps Robert's Rules, or was it
only Robert's Rules that was cared about?

Additionally, since according to City Supervisor Gary Riedner it's the
policy of the Council that Resolutions are included in the Council packet,
why wasn't Steed's?  IOW, what was the emergency nature Steed's Resolution
such that it didn't see the public light of day and wasn't included in the
packet prior to being sprung at the meeting . . . and why did other Council
members support such a drastic deviation?

Did Steed's stunt comply with Idaho's Open Meeting Law?  I'm not an expert
by any stretch of the imagination, but my reading indicates that that it
*might* not.  Steed's Resolution wasn't on the agenda, so it seems to me the
procedure set forth in IC 67-2343 for amending an agenda was the proper
course.  Needless to say, that procedure wasn't followed.  Does anyone have
any input about whether or not Steed's stunt complied with Idaho's Open
Meeting Law?

Similarly, thinking people wonder about a "hidden" agenda since there was no
emergency such that Steed's Resolution needed to be voted on that particular
night with ***no*** notice to the public and with -- presumably -- no prior
discussion with other Council members (which would be a violation of Open
Meeting Law, even if Steed did in member-by-member-by-member -- those kind
of "serial" discussions ARE a violation of the law, no matter how
"informal").  Yet, with presumably no prior notice, three additional Council
members apparently couldn't *wait* to make such a huge deviation from
Council policy.  Absent exigent circumstances, such regrettable Council
behavior certainly gives the *appearance* that Idaho Public Meeting Law
wasn't followed, which is never a good thing.

IMHO, absent exigent circumstances, it's the *appearance* to the public that
Steed's stunt didn't comply with Idaho's Open Meeting Law that Steed & the
other Council members owe an apology for to Moscow's citizens.  That
deviation from the policy of including Resolutions in the agenda *hurts*
public trust, something that far outweighs whatever coup Steed thought his
"feel good" Resolution would accomplish.

Sue, I also particularly appreciated your insightful comments about the
mega-load public meeting/forum -- I, too, wonder what the purpose of the
public forum was, given that the data gathered hadn't even been "collated
and distributed" (again, according to Riedner) before Steed's cowardly*
Resolution was sprung & passed.  Frankly, why should we expect
representatives of ITD or Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil to consider local concerns
when SOME of our own elected representatives didn't care enough to get the
fuller local picture before bum-rushing the "feel good" resolution through?

*Note:  I think the Steed's Resolution was cowardly because of the way Steed
went about it:  no prior public notice, no prior ability to read the
wording, and no action other than accepting & discussing a report was on the
agenda.  Thus, many concerned community members with real lives didn't
attend that particular Council meeting.  Would have Steed & the rest of the
sheep have had the stones to pull such a stunt in a packed Council chambers?
We'll never know because Steed -- supported by three other Council members
-- took the coward's path rather than an open & honest one that good
government demands.

I had some other questions/comments I've been thinking about (including what
on earth were the Council members thinking in voting in support of a
Resolution that virtually ***begs*** the IDT to change the night transport
requirements, would those reports written by City officials that Steed put
so much weight on be the same if the mega-loads were coming through town at
8 AM, noon, 3 PM, or even 8 PM as Steed's Resolution desires, etc. ), but
since I didn't have a chance to post sooner, I suspect I've missed the
"interest" window.  Ah, well . . . 

Hey -- if anyone reading this knows of any civil disobedience plans for
if/when the mega-loads come through Moscow, ***please*** let me know.  For
obvious reasons (including the Council not giving a rip about full input
from Moscow citizens), I'm not interested in attending public meetings or
writing letters.  However, Steed's stunt -- along with the other lemming
Council members' disinterest in the input of their constituents -- has
annoyed me enough that I'm willing to participate in civil disobedience if
needed, and I've got some friends who would also probably like to
participate   :-)  For a variety of reasons (including the fact that even I
get tired of tilting at windmills, and since our governor & his henchmen had
sold us out *long* before we'd heard a word about the mega-loads defiling
Idaho qualifies as tilting at windmills), I'd made a conscious decision not
to get too involved in the issue.  However, given our Council's blatant
disregard for and disrespect of citizen input on this highly controversial
issue, I'm ticked enough that I'm willing to express with action my absolute
disgust at the Resolution.



Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
~ Edmund Burke


-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Sue Hovey
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 2:43 PM
To: MoscowCares at moscow.com; Moscow Vision 2020
Cc: Jane Kauzlarich; Borg Hendrickson; Friends of the Clearwater; Fritz
Knorr; Jeanne McHale; Marilyn Beckett; Joann Muneta
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Moscow City Council's Megaload Discussion

Somewhere I had a thread in this discussion where I stated Randy Fife had
teamed up with Walter Steed to blindside the mayor.  Walter sent me an email
to tell me Randy had nothing to do with it.  Yesterday I saw Nancy at
Farmers' Market and she agreed.  So the video should not be interpreted with
an inference that Fife was helping Walter create council chaos.  He did it
all by himself, with council members who were willing to support him.

Sue