Commentary on Jan. 13 Meeting

As Dr. Yood has noted, the agenda for Monday night is rather sparse and may not require any research at the Plainfield Public Library tomorrow. Dr. Yood was surprised not to see any nominations for Public Safety or Police directorships; the appointment I am hoping to see soon is for a chief financial officer. It will soon be two years since the city began relying on five to seven hours per week from a very busy administrator and CFO in another town. Plainfield had a full-time CFO for decades until the past administration began relying on make-do remedies for the lack of one. We need one ASAP! Do I make myself clear??

Among other items, there are three proposed appointments to the Planning Board. One is for Horace Baldwin to succeed himself for another four years, to Dec. 31, 2017. There are two other appointments that come with the changing of the guard at City Hall. One is for the "mayor's designee," formerly confidential aide Barbara James under Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. It is listed as the "Class I" appointment and the nominee is John Stewart, Mayor Adrian O. Mapp's new chief of staff.

"Class II" is listed on the city web site as "municipal officer," which the last mayor apparently took literally, as she kept appointing cops. A municipal officer can be any person of authority. Years ago, the city engineer held the post. So Mapp has proposed Carlos Sanchez, the newly appointed deputy city administrator in charge of economic development. I know being sick for the past three weeks has made me crankier than usual, and I had a grumpy reaction to this nomination. Here's why: If this person will be the one to greet developers, maybe help them find suitable properties and assist in identifying funding sources, would there be an implied "yes" vote from him as the municipal officer when the developer came before the board for approvals? Maybe by then they would have cleared all hurdles anyway, but it just made me wonder how the economic development point person can serve at both ends of the process.

The Planning Board will be reorganizing on Thursday, but these appointments will not be voted on until Jan. 21. For your entertainment, below is a 2008 account of a Planning Board reorganization that shows what goes into it - the reappointments, the naming of an attorney, etc.

Here is a post on the 2008 Planning Board reorganization.

I have a feeling that there might be some add-ons to this agenda. If the council is to continue its committee and liaison assignments, they should be made soon. There are a number of other vacancies to be filled on boards and commissions, including the Plainfield Cable Television Advisory Board, Plainfield Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Human Relations Commission, Cultural and Heritage Commission and more.

The PCTVAB is supposed to have an oversight function to the operations of local cable operations. Now that the former chairman is working for the city in a hands-on capacity and all memberships on the board have expired, the checks and balances are lacking. The Transition Report had some specific concerns about the PCTV operations that must be addressed. There is also a franchise renewal process to be undertaken.

OK, rant over. Time to fire up the Kindle and resume reading that depressing book I downloaded. This year is starting to feel long already.

--Bernice

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