Rye City Budget Workshop… Held Last Night
There was a Rye City budget workshop discussing the FY 2011 budget… last night.
MyRye.com tries to tell our readers these things ahead of time but sometimes it is hard… especially when the city send us notice less than eight hours before the meeting.
Maybe it was just an oversight but it was highly coincidental that we were copied on a classic email from former Rye City cop Tim Chittenden to Rye City at 12:06pm. At 12:14pm the budget meeting agenda showed up in the MyRye.com email box.
Here is the email from Chittenden, written in his usual heart-warming style:
"From: Timothy Chittenden
To: "Nodarse, Dawn" <ryeny.gov>
Cc: Scott Pickup <@ryeny.gov>; "French, Douglas H." <@ryeny.gov>; Doug French <@aol.com>; Jay Sears; Theresa Juv>; Chris Falcon>; Joe Sack; john carey; paula gamache; Richard P. Filippi; catherine parker; Peter Jovanovich; opengov/dos.state.ny.us; dmoore/ryeny.gov
Sent: Mon, November 22, 2010 12:06:52 PM
Subject: Re: [BULK] 11/22/2010 Budget Workshop Agenda
Dear Ms. Nodarse:
Thank you for your response. Posting the agenda in the City Hall lobby was probably very efficient from the 17th century through the 20th century. Now that we have this new electronic marvel called electronic mail, posting the agenda in City Hall and the Pony Express have been replaced by e-mail in most communities as the means to communicate with their residents and the press.
Could the contentious content of tonight's agenda be the reason you have not sent out tonight's agenda via the City of Rye e-mail notification system?
Did you make the decision to not send tonight's agenda using the City of Rye e-mail notification system yourself or were you told by someone else not to?
Thank you.
Timothy Chittenden
2 Hammond Road
On Nov 22, 2010, at 11:50 AM, Nodarse, Dawn wrote:
> Mr. Chittenden,
>
> There is a budget workshop this evening. The City Clerk's Office posted the agenda in the lobby at City Hall on Friday and I see that it has been posted on the City website.
>
> From: Timothy Chittenden
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 11:12 AM
> To: Nodarse, Dawn
> Cc: Pickup, Scott D.; French, Douglas H.; Doug French
> Subject: [BULK] 11/22/2010 Budget Workshop Agenda
>
> Dear Ms. Nodarse:
> I heard there is a City Council Budget Workshop tonight. I have not seen or received an agenda via the City of Rye's e-mail notification. Is there an agenda for tonight's Budget Workshop? Why wasn't it transmitted via the City of Rye's e-mail notification system?
> Thank you.
> Timothy Chittenden
> 2 Hammond Road
Not to pile on, but there is a Board of Education meeting tonight and the agenda for that session has just been posted on the District’s web site. The main point tonight is discussion of the district’s enrollment numbers, including future forecasts. This is important stuff if you’re curious about the number of teachers that are expected next year, availability of student parking at the High School [none], the need for additional classrooms, etc.
Just a quick question. It is very interesting Tim Chittenden wants to know about the budget. Was he trying to embezzel further?
Jay, you could have posted it as soon as you heard. Eight hours is better than nothing.
Is there a reason why you did not post it yesterday?
Speaking of emails, why is it that the mayor’s and city council do not have email addresses or contact forms posted on the city website?
Okay, so there’s another city council meeting coming up – Dec 1. On the docket – increasing fines for various infractions.
Why is this being considered now? Well, to raise additional funds. Okay, I get that. Although typically, public officials will say that fines are intended to change behavior… Probably worth asking about, but I’ll be traveling. BUT my real concern is that raising fines will have an effect ONLY SO LONG AS THE LAW IS ENFORCED. Without any kind of stats being published about things like the number of people cited for not clearing their sidewalks, etc., there’s really very little objective basis for the proposed changes.
Heck, if the existing fine is $25 for not clearing sidewalks and the city actually wrote a ticket, that’d probably be a 100% increase in collections. So, to cut to the chase, instead of just increasing the fines in a vacuum, how about letting the public know how many times the various infractions with proposed increases have actually been ticketed in the past year – and fines actually collected. Simple questions that should be easily answered before the law is changed.
Steve:
Doug French ,
Douglas H. French ,
Joe Sack ,
Richard P. Filippi ,
Suzanna Keith ,
catherine parker ,
Peter Jovanovich ,
paula gamache