City Council meeting 12-2-2014

In a shocking display of partisan politics at last nights meeting of the Oak Harbor City Council the council replaced Mayor Scott Dudley as the representative from Oak Harbor on the Board of Directors at Island Transit.

This was done without any public notification what so ever. The item was added to the agenda by Councilman Severns at the last minute. There was no publication of the agenda that including the agenda item so many of those who are affected by the problems at Island Transit never knew it was going to occur. The normal date for the council to make appointments such as this is the last meeting of the year which will occur on the 16th of December, the next council meeting. It is very obvious that this change in appointment and change in the date of the agenda item was done to stop the public from being notified about an item coming before the council that is of great concern to all residents of the county. Those the most effected by this change were not given the opportunity to speak to the council or give input before this decision was made.
Even though the members of the council recognize there are financial problems at Island Transit they replaced Mayor Dudley a knowledgable financial expert with a council member who has no or very little financial background and who will undoubtedly be way over his head in dealing with an agency and chair of that agency that specializes in not being truthful even to their own board members. Good luck Rick Almberg, you will need it.

Some of the comments made by the council were completely out of line and show just how detached from reality many on the city council truely are. Tara Hizon took faux offense with one of the people who came and commented about Joel Servatius for his unprofessional actions at the last Island Transit Board meeting. She also took faux offense with the Mayor himself for somehow not representing the city council in a manner that she deemed appropriate. Ms. Hizon has apparently lost the concept that the Mayor and herself as a council member do not work for the council itself she works for the citizens of the community she represents. She felt that the mayor in his position on the board at Island Transit should be serving the city council and it’s needs not the citizens who are effected by the agency. Hwer comment was one of the most incredibly ignorant statements I have ever heard coming from a city council member.

Joel Servatius objected to comments made by Jim Campbell who thought that both Bob Severns and Rick Almberg were making a political campaign out of their comments, which they obviously were. They both talked more about their abilities as saviours of the universe than the issue at hand which is who would be the best representative from Oak Harbor to serve on the Island Transit board. The comments they both made were all about them not what is right for the citizens of the community they serve and the county at large. Jim Campbell was effectively shut out of the discussion and was very obviously incensed at Joel’s idiotic objection that was only designed to shut him up and restrict him from commenting. This is what we have as a council for our city.

The decision this council made was all about politics and not about who is best to help right a ship that is floundering. Mayor Dudley continually asked the hard questions at Island Transit that are necessary when an ingrained beuracracy has failed. Yes sometimes those questions are not liked by the current board members of that failed the agency but they are the only questions that matter where you have a situation where a board of directors has failed the citizens as badly as Island Transit has done and that have not stepped down or replaced by their respective councils.

The Oak Harbor City Council should be ashamed of their actions at last nights meeting. And good luck Island Transit. Now with no one on the board that is interested in righting a failing ship and board members that are unequipped to deal with and understand the financial issues at the agency the chances that this agency will continue to be a financial failure just increased dramatically. Sorry riders of Island Transit, the city of Oak Harbor has let you down.

Видео City Council meeting 12-2-2014 канала Cliff Howard