Monday, April 28, 2008

Council "Task Force" Member Calls on Charlie Tygard to Disband His "Task Force"

At-Large Council Member Megan Barry sent the following letter to the rest of the Metro Council late this afternoon:

-----Original Message-----
From: Barry, Megan (Council Member)
Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 4:08 PM
To: Council Members
Subject: FW: task force

Dear Fellow Councilmembers - Thanks to all of you and your constituents that have taken the time to contact me regarding concerns surrounding the formation of the sign group. While I appreciate Councilman Tygard's willingness to take the lead on this, it has come to my attention that there it a formal process by which the Council appoints an official taskforce. This is most often done by Council resolution and then the appointees are determined by the Vice Mayor. I believe it is in the best interest of the Council to follow this process for the sign group as it will remove any perception that the appointees are stacked one way or the other, and I think, in the end, get to what we all desire - a frank and reasonable
discussion regarding the sign ordinance.

I don't think it will be a good use of time for the group as formed to meet because the recommendations that come from this group will not be taken seriously. My hope is that Councilman Tygard will move this process along by announcing at the meeting tonight that the group assembled will disband and that the process proposed resolution, task force appointed by the Vice-Mayor,) will be undertaken. The citizens want a fair and transparent process and I think we can achieve that by following our standard procedures. Without this, we do a disservice to the taxpayers by requiring government employees to work on something that won't have legitimacy.

Thanks again for letting me know your thoughts.

Kind regards,

Megan Barry
Council At-Large
It is time for Vice Mayor Neighbors to step up and take control of this before it spirals into a much larger controversy. CM Barry has opened the door for her to act if Mr. Tygard refuses to comply with council procedure.

1 comment:

  1. Council members Megan Barry and Anna Page were terrific defenders of our neighborhoods last night at the LED task force meeting.

    Thanks to Berkley, Anna, and the standing room only gathering of neighbors who attended the meeting to make our voices heard.

    How proud I am to be associated with each of you. As we tell our folks in Donelson-Hermitage, "As neighbors, we stand stronger when we stand together."

    Susan Floyd
    President
    Donelson-Hermitage Neighborhood Association

    ReplyDelete