Coup d'etat in Lakewood?

[Mike Deneen]

Great point, Jeff.

That thought occurred to me, too.

[Joe Ott]

While I'm certainly not a fan of Councilman Seelie nor will I be voting for him this fall<snip>

Ditto!

Me either. Never have. I don't understand how he gets re-elected (except that nobody else really runs for it?). I can't find anybody who can tell me what good he has done or accomplished. Once in 10 years I tried to get a hold of him. Guess if he ever called me back. You get one guess...

What a mess. Embarrassing.

City Council seems to be pretty good at un-doing the work people like Jim O. and folks like him do. Nice.

Joe
(wants more and more to move to southern Lorain county...)

[Justine Cooper]

In another thread someone asked if there was a list of things elected officials voted for or against, and if their track record of accomplishments were available. I am wondering the same for the city. Is there any information on everything each council person has done for the city, and for their district, and what they have voted for or against? Including accomplishments of the mayor?

I applaud all the people whom attend council meetings regularly and have heard from several of them that they were treated horribly, that backs were turned on them and they were ignored. The picture hasn't been nice overall, with no blame on one. But I think it would be very informative for all to know what each is doing for the city.

I won't vote party when it comes to Lakewood, but for someone who has actually done good already and has the best plan for the future. So far, I haven't a clue who those people are! If I find out I will be the first to start knocking on doors for them!

[Lynn Farris]

Jim,you state:

Having failed in the Coup, they then scrambled to try and strip Council President of something, anything, lashing out. One was to remove him from head of Committee of the Whole. Now as a person on the Charter Committee, I know that you realize it is against the City Charter. You would have thought Council would know that! Then desperately they began to try to strip him of others seats. It was like they had already figured out who would sit where. "

Actually the charter makes no provisions for removing the President or Vice President of Council - something that should be fixed. Additionally I just searched it several times and invite you to as well, but I find no mention that the President of Council is the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole.
http://www.ci.lakewood.oh.us/citygovern ... arter.html

If in fact, the Council feels that he is misrepresenting him in the notes from the Committee of the Whole, this seems like a resaonsble compromise - let someone else take the notes.

I do not believe it is against any charter provision to replace the Chair of the Committee of the Whole. And while it is not against the charter, to replace the Preisdent, there is no procedure for doing so. When that happens, the Ohio Charter takes over and it is a difficult procedure to understand, because it often references offices and personnel that we do not have in Lakewood, as Mark Timinski learned in trying to do the referendum.

I can't believe this is a great political move, two of the council people running for Mayor look bad in so doing. I certainly think it could have been handled with more finese from what I have heard and read. I do think that this is an internal public matter, but if citizens were there who wanted to address the situation, they should have been given the opportunity to express themselves. The Mayor, the Preisdent of Council and the Council should remember that they work for the citizens and we are the ultimate bosses.

[Bryan Schwegler]

Me either. Never have. I don't understand how he gets re-elected (except that nobody else really runs for it?).

I don't think he has done anything and he's certainly anything but responsive to his constituents. I know an entire slew of people in ward 3 who have tried to get his help only to be ignored. He's a joke.

Unfortunately, you hit the nail right on the head, there is never anyone running against him. That's his only salvation, but hopefully that will change.

[Lynn Farris]

That just isn't true. Last election Jeremy Elliott ran against Seelie. He was an incredible candidate. He was completing his Masters at CWRU in Public Administration and was there as an honor's recipient. He had incredible, positive ideas for Lakewood. He also worked his butt off trying to meet everyone in this ward. But it is very difficult to overcome incumbency and in the end he didn't succeed.

[Joe Ott]

and in the end he didn't succeed.

And, that's a sad thing as Martha would say... I think she says something like that.

On top of all this city hall ugliness, it's snowing! What next?

Joe

[Charyn Compeau]

To participating council members and/ or administration:

Before I draw a conclusion on the recent events I would like to know at what point did the members of council become aware of the fact that Mr. Seelie would be out of town and would be unable to attend the emergency session of council held Friday April 13, 2007.

Thank you,
Charyn Compeau
Concerned voter

[Danielle Masters]

1) None of the four of us knew that Bob was not going to be in town until today. Because as usual, Bob never gives us notice of anything important and cancels meetings without notice or reason. There are email trails that show Nickie Antonio's objections to this practice.

Charyn, this is what Ryan said on Friday. It certainly sounds like Mr. Seelie is the only one responsible for the fact the meeting was held without him. A little notice to his fellow council people could have perhaps led to a delay in the meeting.

[Grace O'Malley]

According to the PD article, the notice of the meeting was sent out Thursday afternoon, hours after Seelie had left town. The article continues on with the info that the Mayor and clerk tried to contact Seelie.

So how can Demro say on Friday that no one knew Seelie was out of town? It appears everyone else knew he was gone, why didn't council?

[DougHuntingdon]

Well at least Councilman Seelie is not leaving the district every week to go to Massachusetts like a former councilman.

Doug

[Kenneth Warren]

Chris:

In answer to your question, I supply my general sense of the current situation.

I believe Councilman Demro captures a sense of the current situation when he says “now we are at the end of the line.â€Â￾

We are witnessing the extension and frustration of personality and political will along a line of Council hot seats. This line of hot seats could certainly be conceived when the Council balked at the Mayor’s request to raise the income tax, seeking a planning process that linked planning and budgeting.

The status quo portfolio of government services and infrastructure runs on cash. By not funding the Mayor’s tax request to fund portfolio of government services and infrastructure - for whatever reasons (good, bad, indifferent) - a ticking time bomb of disorder and discord could be anticipated.

The ticking time bomb has been tossed under the hot seat of the City Council President. The City Council President is the point of connectivity between the Mayor and the Council. Thus this seat is, I believe, the hottest seat of all.

As the ticking time bomb of budget crisis grows louder in the campaign season, things become hotter and hotter in the Council President’s seat, even without the friction of personalities and the matter of personal styles which can rub people one way or another.

So, yes, “now we are at the end of the line,â€Â￾ as Councilman Demro suggests.

In summary, shrinking financial resources, lack of political determination and satisfaction to fund the status quo local gov machine, and expanding will to power are all generating the friction and heat we are witnessing.

Kenneth Warren

[dl meckes]

Well at least Councilman Seelie is not leaving the district every week to go to Massachusetts like a former councilman.

Doug

Yes, we wouldn't want anyone to pursue an educational opportunity at Harvard, because that would be inconvenient.

I bet they cover the same stuff at CCC.

[Danielle Masters]

I bet they cover the same stuff at CCC.

Wow, that's rather rude. There are a lot of people that work all day and then try to better themselves by attending classes at Tri-C. Not everyone can afford to go off to Harvard and still be able to cash a check back home.

[Jim O'Bryan]

PS- Jim, coups involve the military, this was just democracy in action. Wait until Monday and you'll see who is outnumbered.

Ryan

I have been thinking this since you posted it.

Demro - For
Fitzgerald - For
Butler - For

Dever - another chance
Madigan - Against
Antonio - Against

Do you think you can convenience Council President Seelie to join your side?

Curious, as to Monday.

Photo Op?


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