With as many people who are vocal in their dissatisfaction with city government and champing at the bit to file for a seat on city council, I would have thought the overview of Municipal Government 101 would be packed to the rafters of the Foley Building.
Instead, there were 12 people in the room, including the city manager, a council member and the city attorney, as well as the presenters of the information from the Oklahoma Municipal League.
There was a lot of good information handed out. It was information every city council should have and learn. It is embarrassing that so few of the prospective council members showed up.
I’m sure there will be arguments that the Municipal League is on the city manager’s ‘side.’ Or that the organization supports manager-council government over the other forms.
If you count outlining what the job of a city manager is, then yes, the OML is on that ‘side.’ But there was also information on what the job of a strong mayor is and what the jobs of an aldermanic council are. There is no bias, because different forms of government work well for different towns. Sometimes the form changes because the old form no longer works.
There were a few big takeaways, in my opinion. One was if a candidate runs on a single issue, say, dumping the trash vendor we have and returning to doing it ourselves, that candidate probably isn’t going to have a successful tenure on the council, because they spend all their time fighting for one thing. Once that is accomplished – or shot down – then what? The seat is ripe to devolve into discord and backbiting. Watonga needs more of that like it needs a hole in the head.
The other is to read the budget. That applies to city residents, too. How can someone plan for the future of the city if they have no idea what the present holds?
For example, plans to repave a street are no good if there is no money to do the work. How do you know if there is any money available? Read the budget. It is on the city website and there is a link to the state audit of the last budget as well, so the citizens can see how we did dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s.
The budget, while boring as stink, is the roadmap to the town’s future. It is up to the city council to guide the behemoth along that roadmap.
You would think that anyone who is considering taking on that task would want to educate themselves as much as possible. Sadly, that isn’t the case.
But when the list of candidates comes out next week, this reporter is going to ask why each one of them was not there. And give kudos to those who took the time to attend.