This week a local group has called out the councilors who voted to oppose spending $5k on a study of water rates under the LO Tigard Water Partnership. In an email to its members it stated the following:
"However, a motion to move forward with this
cost-benefit analysis failed in a 4 to 3 vote. Councilors Gudman,
Gustafson, Jordan and O'Neill voted AGAINST pursuing the cost-benefit analysis.
Mayor Studebaker, Councilors Bowerman and Kehoe voted FOR the analysis.
Why Did Councilors Gudman, Gustafson, Jordan and O'Neill Vote
"No"? Being unwilling to spend just $5,000 to analyze and confirm the
financial impact to you via your water bill is not fiscally responsible, open
and transparent, or respectful of citizens. Some Councilors indicated
they wanted more consultant bids or felt $5,000 was too little to spend on a
review of a project of this size. If that's the case, then the project
should be put on hold until a more thorough analysis by an unbiased third party
can occur. But to continue to move forward, spending millions of dollars
without fully understanding costs and the impact on ratepayers, would be
negligent and not in keeping with LOCAL's values of fiscal responsibility and
respect for citizens. We expect more of our City Council.
City government should be accountable first and foremost to
citizens--not staff, construction companies, or other government entities."
However citizens have decided to fund the 25 hour study of water rates and their impacts and its anticipated that the results will be available at the next city council meeting on 3/5/13.
It will be interesting to see what impact the details have on the councils vote for or against approving construction contracts for the project.
Please notify all members, contacts, and friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment