Monday, November 8, 2010

Meeting Date Set for Powell Citizens' Budget Advisory Group

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Sara Marie Brenner" <Sara@saramariebrenner.com>
Date: Nov 8, 2010 10:59 AM
Subject: Meeting Date Set
To: <friendsofpowell@googlegroups.com>
Cc: <aschultz@columbus.rr.com>, "Richard Cline" <RCline@attorneycline.com>, "Don Grubbs" <grubbs@buckleyking.com>, "Tom Counts, home" <tcounts@columbus.rr.com>, "Jim Hrivnak home" <jmhrivnak@aol.com>, <blorenz79@yahoo.com>, "Steve Lutz" <slutz@cityofpowell.us>, "Jeff Robinson" <JRobinson@cityofpowell.us>, "Debra Miller" <DMiller@cityofpowell.us>

MEMORANDUM

TO: Friends of Powell email list
CC: Council Members; City employees Steve Lutz, Debra Miller and Jeff Robinson

RE: Powell Citizens' Advisory Group - Meeting Date Set for November 30, 2010



We have a meeting date set for the first Powell Citizens' Budget Advisory Group. It will be Tuesday, November 30 from 7-9pm at the Municipal Building at 47 Hall Street in Powell. These meetings will be open to the entire public in Powell. I hope that individuals and Powell based businesses will participate. This is the opportunity to discuss all of the options, and find the ones that have broad-based community support. I want to thank the Mayor, Art Schultz, for his help in establishing this Group.

There will be at least 4-5 meetings over the next few months, which I will Chair. Now is the time to not just say "no," but to find the appropriate solutions. Saying "no" was the easy part - finding the right solutions will take more work, but it is work that we must do as a community if we do not want our income tax doubled. So, I encourage you ALL to please come. Don't think you cannot contribute or that your thoughts won't matter. Believe me, they will. This Group is not a façade, it is not being established to convince you of something, and it is not pre-ordained what we will be doing. This is a Group for open discussion directed toward creating solutions, where everyone is encouraged to attend. If you have any skepticism, please give it a chance first. My initial thought is as follows:
  • Meeting 1: Brainstorm various ideas/thoughts for what to cut, eliminate, privatize, consolidate, or otherwise alter in the budget. Discuss which ones have the most support and plan to research, study and further discuss them in meetings 2-4.
  • Meetings 2-4: Invite the appropriate people, firms, City employees, etc. to come in and give us details based on our meeting 1 discussions.
  • Meeting 5: Find consensus on the various topics that were discussed, and "elect" 3-4 residents from the Group to work with me, Art and any other Council members interested in helping to put together a proposal to send to Council with all of our ideas fleshed out and showing cost savings, how it would work, etc.
Before the first meeting, I encourage everyone to review the budget. It may be found on the City's web site, or you may pay 5 cents per page at the City offices to have the full book printed off for you. Debra Miller is the Finance Director should you have questions.

Please invite your neighbors and friends to participate, regardless of whether they voted for or against the tax, and regardless of whether they were involved in one campaign or the other, or none. We need to have broad support for whatever comes out of this Group so that the proposals given to Council can be enacted in good faith that the community as a whole supports the changes.

The approximate time line will be to have 1 meeting in December before Christmas, 2 meetings in January, and 1 meeting in February. Then, the smaller group will meet to write the official proposals to give to Council hopefully in March so that Council may discuss in March and vote on any potential ordinances in April. My hope would be that before the information is actually sent to Council, that it be emailed to all of the Group members for one final look to be sure that we accurately portrayed everything from the discussions. This is a flexible time line that may be extended if we need to further study any of these issues. It is more important that this be done right rather than quickly.

Please feel free to forward this email to everyone you know in the City of Powell. The City will be sending a press release so that the newspapers announce this, as well. If you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to seeing you on the 30th!

Thank you in advance,
Sara Marie Brenner

Powell City Councilman
Tel | 740.917.0009
Fax | 614.448.4486
Web Site | www.SaraMarieBrenner.com

Need to schedule a meeting with me? Visit http://tungle.me/saramariebrenner and schedule it online!

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Paid for by Friends of Sara Marie Brenner, Andrew Brenner, Treasurer
8824 Clearview Lake Court, Powell, Ohio 43065

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