Why Doesn't the Apel Administration Want Town Council Members Talking to Department Heads?

John Dolle November 26, 2012 at 11:03 pm

Does this apply to residents also?
If I have a question about a town department and a service provided, will I be left waiting.

Edie Chernack November 27, 2012 at 12:38 pm

If our elected Town Council members are not allowed to act on behalf of the people who elected them, why do we both to have them in the first place? Why does the administration continue to monitor and sensor our elected officials and town employees? What information are they afraid will be shared? Things that make you go Hmmmmmmm......

Michael November 27, 2012 at 01:38 pm

Sounds to me, he is trying to stream-line processes and making sure that the department heads are not running in various directions trying to support each council member.
Michael if you spent more time doing your job and less time playing politics with everything that goes on in the town, we would be much better off. Do you ever post anything which is not counter productive

Bert November 27, 2012 at 03:28 pm

Here we go! We have just reached the one-year mark to the next election so we will be seeing lots of questions that have been answered many times before and people making vague accusations .... "hmmmmm," By following the protocol set up by the "elected" CEO, a council person can receive all the information they want and the Mayor is able to monitor the work load of his department heads. This is good management.

meowkats4 November 27, 2012 at 03:39 pm

What is going on in this TOWN? I believe that tax payers should be well aware and told what is going on in our very own Community!! Michael Winkler is on the Town Council a voted position representing the people. In the past a Council member tried to contact a Principal in one of the schools, but was told to make an appointment and to advise Mrs. Connway "HEAD" of the Board of Education first. I agreed with this procedure at the time. However, if Council members are being told they can't not talk with Department Heads is down right wrong! How is a Council member going to do their jobs they are paid for to do and represent the people of this town? Far too much government information is NOT disclosed to the American people at the Federal Level. I will be dammed, if we start to run our very LOCAL GOVERNMENT THE SAME WAY! This town and media needs to start telling the people what is going on. We may disagree with Michael Winkler on some of his postings or issues, but I will not condemn him for posting for help/or awareness!
I'm sure there is more to this story and maybe there is a problem with communication among our town officials. I don't see any other Town Council Members coming forward to speak out. We need transparency in this TOWN! @Edie I agree with you! We can't allow sensor-ship among our Town Council Members.

Michael November 27, 2012 at 05:45 pm

It's not a question of sensor-ship, it's that we want to send 1 and consistent message to the citizens of the town. I guarantee if 3 different council members spoke to a department head at different times, they would come away with 3 different reads on the conversation.

Edie Chernack November 27, 2012 at 06:37 pm

Meowkats4, all our elected officials are volunteers. Only the Mayor gets paid.
From my personal experience, I've gotten more of a straight answer from our Town Council members than the Town Administrator or Mayor. As for a "consistent message to the citizens of the town", the only message I have heard for the last 5 years is that our Mayor and town admiinistrator are still micro-managing our town departments and not allowing our elected town officials to do the job for which their constituents elected them.

Michael November 27, 2012 at 07:25 pm

Wow last 5 years, nice way to say republicans, Edie you wont be happy until the entire town council is democrat. Go back to the rock from which you crawled out from under.

Bert November 27, 2012 at 07:29 pm

Of course council members can speak to department heads! They just need to set up a meeting through the mayor's office. The department heads report to the mayor. They work together. The mayor is responsible for making sure that correct information is deseminated. He is also there to protect them from political pressure. (And I mean "political" with a small "p") Going through the head office is standard procedure in every business. An organization as large as town government, needs organizational procedures . Nobody is talking about censorship! Mr. Winkler will get the information he wants. He will share it with whomever he choses. Just because he does not like the procedure and wants to do things his own way, does not mean that anything sinister is going on. Same goes for whomever wants to speak with a principal. Call Dr. Conway's office and set up an appointment to get the information you want. Don't be sucked into the "conspiracy" idea. Just what do you think other council members should be "speaking out" about? Watch the televised meetings and listen to the discussion. If you want further details, call the mayor's office or a councilperson. They will give you what you want. There have been people in this town over the years who loved to gossip and surmise, but they rarely turned out to be right. Mr. Winkler wants you to think he is the only "Watch Dog." Please know, the other eleven council members are equally conscientious in doing their job.

Edie Chernack November 27, 2012 at 08:54 pm

Michael, my comments are based on facts. You're are lacking in that department.

Bert November 27, 2012 at 09:50 pm

By Charter, it is the job of the Mayor to manage/micro manage or otherwise supervise the town departments. It is in no way the job of the council. As in state government, the Town Council is the Legislative Branch and the Mayor is the Administrative Branch. The town council makes the laws, institutes the policies and the mayor is charged with administering them, something that is confusing to some elected officials.

Chris Dehnel (Editor) November 28, 2012 at 01:29 am

I have to say I have always been treated fairly by the department heads. Two of them called me back in minutes for the Center Road School water leak story.

Vernon Taxpayer November 28, 2012 at 02:59 am

Michael, What a mean spirited comment. I believe there is a real concern here. To put our Town at risk of more FOI complaints and the expense of having our Town Attorneys spending our tax dollars to sort it out seems foolish. The Town of Vernon is a Municipality not a private business. I believe most requests can be easily responded to with an e-mail or forwarding of the information. If it becomes burdensome to the Department Head and they explain that they don’t have the time, most people will understand. What worries me are some of the comments that have been made. Such as that the correct information is given out? Would the department head not know their job or the information in their department? Please, let us learn by our past mistakes.

The Truth November 28, 2012 at 01:47 pm

Are you suggesting we stop questioning authority?

Bert November 28, 2012 at 03:43 pm

By "correct information", I mean "accurate information." And, no town employee or Department Head should ever be put in the postition of telling a council person that they "don't have time" to respond. That's why requests go through the mayor's office. It's his responsibility to manage and moniter the departments and their work loads and assure that accurate information is provided in a timely fashion. He probably logs in requests for information and follows up on them. If the real reason for Mr. Winkler's post is to insinuate that these policies are in place to evade transparency and provide cover-ups, its his own personal trust issue, not fact. He may disagree but it is grossly unfair to publicly plant unfounded seeds of suspicion. As the town's foremost expert on requesting infomation under the Freedom of Information statutes, he knows that he receives everything he is legally entitled to receive and if he doesn't, he puts in a complaint with the state and that makes headlines. The fact that he does not like the procedure is his own problem. But again, we are now in an election year. I assume many "seeds" will be planted.

meowkats4 November 28, 2012 at 05:40 pm

Hey, Bert no one likes to be "MICRO MANAGED" (your words), since you brought that up! Others at the Town are being MICRO- managed and they don't like it EITHER! Come on Bert did the Mayor or John Ward, check what you are commenting on in this post first before you can hit the submit button?
Don't worry I'm sure if any cover-ups are to be exposed, someone will get to the Patch Editor not to print that!!