People will get to vote for a "mayor" - but is there a benefit? Time will tell
Finally, there will be a referendum on the November ballot that allows the citizens of Oshkosh to vote for their mayor. But "thanks" to the effort of Councilman F. Tower and support from Paul Esslinger, Brian Poeschl and Shirley Brabender Mattox, it is a mayor that is no different from what we have now. But at least these four were willing to give the people somewhat of a voice in our government even if it is a weak voice; unlike Mark Harris, Burk Tower and Bill Castle, who apparently don't think we should have a voice at all.
Councilman Paul Esslinger brought forward a resolution for a three-year elected mayor with veto power who would serve on the city's Plan Commission. That is what the majority of people attending a town hall meeting - small as the turnout may have been, according to some - said they wanted to see. And many others in the community have said they want to have a mayor with veto power.
Instead, F. Tower completely watered down the proposal to change it to a two-year term with no veto power and no requirement to serve on the Plan Commission. So in reality, all we get to do come this November is vote on who we want leading parades and cutting ribbons - a greeting committee leader, if you will. But it's a start and perhaps will eventually get us where we need to be. Now we need to focus on getting some decent candidates to run for Common Council next April.
A couple other comments about this evening's Common Council meeting and some of the statements made by citizens, two of them in particular.
First we heard from Mark Schumerth who said he had studied this evening's proposal, just as he had the last one. It appears he didn't read the last one very carefully, nor did he seem to have read this one too well, either. Otherwise, why would he have said the things he did?
Mr. Schumerth also claimed that under a different form of government in years past, the city was stagnant. Perhaps that was so back then, but that is certainly not the case today with cities which have a different form of government than ours. All one has to do is look at other cities throughout the state and more specifically closer to home in Neenah, Menasha and Appleton, where true growth and development happen on a regular basis. These cities all have directly elected mayors and they are mayors with much more power than our mayor here has. And they each have an aldermanic form of government. They also have a much more professionally run organization than we have in the Oshkosh Commercial Development Corporation. They actually have entities that help bring business into their communities. They also raise huge chunks of money from their community members for their park improvement projects BEFORE moving forward with construction - again, unlike here. We keep hearing how Oshkosh is progressive because of our form of government. If that is so, why are these other communities - many much smaller than us - getting all the development and growth, while leaving us in the dust from their construction?
Finally to Mr. Schumerth's suggestion that the petition drive was stopped because we could not get enough signatures. I would respectfully suggest that if Mr. Schumerth opened his ears and eyes a little more he would know precisely why the petition drive was stopped when it was. He would be armed with the facts before opening his mouth in a public forum, rather than spinning unfounded statements and gossip based on nothing more than his feelings. And a word of caution: Simply because the petition drive was stopped for now, does not mean it's dead.
Then we had comments from Mike Hayes who did nothing more than attack Councilman Esslinger - and for seemingly nothing more than his continued case of sour grapes over a road reconstruction project that he and his neighbors were on the losing end of. Mr. Hayes seemed to suggest that Councilman Esslinger was not fit to be the mayor of this city and that obviously his fellow councilors knew it or they would have selected him as such this past April.
First, no one said Mr. Esslinger would necessarily run for the position of mayor if the people were to elect one. But if he does run - now that we will actually get to vote for our own mayor - it will be up to all the citizens to decide whether he's fit or not, not just Mr. Hayes and his neighbors, and certainly not just the rest of the council members.
Then Mr. Hayes said that there is nothing wrong with the form of government we have right now. If that is true and everything is so wonderful with what's going on here, why is it that Mr. Hayes chooses to have his dental practice in Appleton? Or maybe it's actually located in the town of Grand Chute. But, whether it's Appleton or Grand Chute, or even Timbuctoo, the one place it isn't, is Oshkosh.
Finally, Mr. Hayes boldly stated that the effort for a directly elected mayor was only brought up after Mr. Esslinger was not selected mayor or deputy mayor. Again, he knows not of what he speaks. This has been debated and voted on for a number of years and on many different occasions. And Mr. Esslinger's ideas for a directly elected mayor have been bandied about since long before this past April. As a matter of fact, he talked about it on Eye on Oshkosh at least a year ago already.
We certainly think citizens have a right to speak at council meetings and don't mean to discourage them from doing so. However, it seems citizens should be a little more certain of their facts before they choose to speak on issues. Otherwise we end up with people spinning a web of confusion for the public over what is and isn't reality.
Bottom line on the passage of a referendum to elect our mayor: Let's make the most of it, such as it is, and focus on a good slate of candidates for the spring election. But, if things don't change and we continue to have business being conducted as usual, we'll be back with something stronger in the future.
Incidentally, for anyone concerned, the opinions expressed on this web site and on our show are ours and guaranteed to us under the First Amendment. No one has been libeled or slandered in either venue. We've done nothing but give our personal opinions and/or speak the truth about events as they occurred. The truth is ALWAYS the perfect defense against slander, and you can't commit libel on a TV show, no matter how freely the points of view are flowing.
Cheryl Hentz
Councilman Paul Esslinger brought forward a resolution for a three-year elected mayor with veto power who would serve on the city's Plan Commission. That is what the majority of people attending a town hall meeting - small as the turnout may have been, according to some - said they wanted to see. And many others in the community have said they want to have a mayor with veto power.
Instead, F. Tower completely watered down the proposal to change it to a two-year term with no veto power and no requirement to serve on the Plan Commission. So in reality, all we get to do come this November is vote on who we want leading parades and cutting ribbons - a greeting committee leader, if you will. But it's a start and perhaps will eventually get us where we need to be. Now we need to focus on getting some decent candidates to run for Common Council next April.
A couple other comments about this evening's Common Council meeting and some of the statements made by citizens, two of them in particular.
First we heard from Mark Schumerth who said he had studied this evening's proposal, just as he had the last one. It appears he didn't read the last one very carefully, nor did he seem to have read this one too well, either. Otherwise, why would he have said the things he did?
Mr. Schumerth also claimed that under a different form of government in years past, the city was stagnant. Perhaps that was so back then, but that is certainly not the case today with cities which have a different form of government than ours. All one has to do is look at other cities throughout the state and more specifically closer to home in Neenah, Menasha and Appleton, where true growth and development happen on a regular basis. These cities all have directly elected mayors and they are mayors with much more power than our mayor here has. And they each have an aldermanic form of government. They also have a much more professionally run organization than we have in the Oshkosh Commercial Development Corporation. They actually have entities that help bring business into their communities. They also raise huge chunks of money from their community members for their park improvement projects BEFORE moving forward with construction - again, unlike here. We keep hearing how Oshkosh is progressive because of our form of government. If that is so, why are these other communities - many much smaller than us - getting all the development and growth, while leaving us in the dust from their construction?
Finally to Mr. Schumerth's suggestion that the petition drive was stopped because we could not get enough signatures. I would respectfully suggest that if Mr. Schumerth opened his ears and eyes a little more he would know precisely why the petition drive was stopped when it was. He would be armed with the facts before opening his mouth in a public forum, rather than spinning unfounded statements and gossip based on nothing more than his feelings. And a word of caution: Simply because the petition drive was stopped for now, does not mean it's dead.
Then we had comments from Mike Hayes who did nothing more than attack Councilman Esslinger - and for seemingly nothing more than his continued case of sour grapes over a road reconstruction project that he and his neighbors were on the losing end of. Mr. Hayes seemed to suggest that Councilman Esslinger was not fit to be the mayor of this city and that obviously his fellow councilors knew it or they would have selected him as such this past April.
First, no one said Mr. Esslinger would necessarily run for the position of mayor if the people were to elect one. But if he does run - now that we will actually get to vote for our own mayor - it will be up to all the citizens to decide whether he's fit or not, not just Mr. Hayes and his neighbors, and certainly not just the rest of the council members.
Then Mr. Hayes said that there is nothing wrong with the form of government we have right now. If that is true and everything is so wonderful with what's going on here, why is it that Mr. Hayes chooses to have his dental practice in Appleton? Or maybe it's actually located in the town of Grand Chute. But, whether it's Appleton or Grand Chute, or even Timbuctoo, the one place it isn't, is Oshkosh.
Finally, Mr. Hayes boldly stated that the effort for a directly elected mayor was only brought up after Mr. Esslinger was not selected mayor or deputy mayor. Again, he knows not of what he speaks. This has been debated and voted on for a number of years and on many different occasions. And Mr. Esslinger's ideas for a directly elected mayor have been bandied about since long before this past April. As a matter of fact, he talked about it on Eye on Oshkosh at least a year ago already.
We certainly think citizens have a right to speak at council meetings and don't mean to discourage them from doing so. However, it seems citizens should be a little more certain of their facts before they choose to speak on issues. Otherwise we end up with people spinning a web of confusion for the public over what is and isn't reality.
Bottom line on the passage of a referendum to elect our mayor: Let's make the most of it, such as it is, and focus on a good slate of candidates for the spring election. But, if things don't change and we continue to have business being conducted as usual, we'll be back with something stronger in the future.
Incidentally, for anyone concerned, the opinions expressed on this web site and on our show are ours and guaranteed to us under the First Amendment. No one has been libeled or slandered in either venue. We've done nothing but give our personal opinions and/or speak the truth about events as they occurred. The truth is ALWAYS the perfect defense against slander, and you can't commit libel on a TV show, no matter how freely the points of view are flowing.
Cheryl Hentz
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 7:56 PM
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