Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Apparently Councilman Keith ''The Colonial'' Smith had a real spat over a motion to forward only housekeeping changes on to a charter review commission. What Commission? The Colonial got mad and then sat in the audience and was counted absent for the vote. Could someone enlighten us a little on the temperament of the Colonial? Clearly maybe it is time for him to open his own chicken place. I think he needs to check his math. He said that there was 35 years of ''elected'' experience. I count 23 and hopefully for some that will end soon. His only supporter while he sat out the vote was Fix. Are these guys trying to jam a new charter down everyone's throat when they can't even get a majority on council let alone the city voters? Do they think we are all that stupid that we can't decide what is good for the city. Maybe Smith if right in that he and Fix were elected in 2005 and the voters blew that one.

What I heard the Colonel said

Sorry if my spelling of the Colonel is different.

The story I head is that Colonel Smith is threatening to resign from council since he didn't get his way.

I say go ahead and resign you spoiled brat. Take your sulky demeanor and go on home. I didn't vote for you and this is one of the reasons why.

That's the problem with elections. You hire someone to paint you in the best light in your campaign literature where the average Jane can't see you for what you are - a dark, brooding, unhappy tyrant who lives life in the ''My way or the highway'' lane.

Colonel, before this round of election campaigns begin, let me ask you and your best buddy Fix this:

What exactly have you done in the last 4 years you held office? Name me one thing either of you have initiated, seen through and delivered.

Just one.

It's awfully quiet.

Oh, that's right, there is nothing you did.

Ten-hut! Snap a smart salute and walk off into the sunset Colonel Smith.

The answer is yes

From what I have been able to discern, the answer is yes, the Col. and Gen. Fix rewrote the city charter to their liking and now don't have the votes necessary to forward that charter to a review commission to get them to rubberstamp it and send it to the voters.

Their new charter is available as a public record. I got a copy off someone who got a copy. Pretty interesting reading if you can get through it. The points that leaped out at me were that they want to reduce the number of readings on an ordinance from 3 to 2. Big deal? I don't know but I hear not too many people go to meetings anymore so the average voter/resident might not care about such stuff.
They want to be able to elect council officers whenever they want instead of only at the first meeting of the year. Talk about destabilization! So as the first agenda item on any night they call for a new election. Then at some point during the night (Col Smith stomping away from his seat in disgust comes to mind) he calls for another election to get even. The next meeting they elect new officers a couple of more times?!?!? This is nuts. Well, it is coming from essentially unstable people I guess.
Then it appears these guys want to eliminate the mayor?’s position. Well it doesn?’t exactly say that but they strip the position of all responsibility and power. Apparently Col Smith thinks they should elect the mayor from among council?’s ranks. Hold on ?– I voted on an initiative a long time ago that said the mayor was my elected leader of the city and that the manager ran the daily operations. So now these two buffoons want to take away my right to elect my leader, transfer that to themselves and also make it so they can elect new officers as many times a day as it suits them so then I guess they can elect our new mayor anytime it suits them.
They transfer all power to themselves and the manager. Wait, isn?’t that what these very same people say they fought against when Bushman was manager and Gray/Hughes/Postage wer

oops, over the word limit :(

were Mayor? They all say they fought against the oligarchy that caused this city to grow by a factor of 10 and now that same oligarchy suits them???
My gosh, I am getting dizzy trying to follow these guys talking in circles. Plus with all their changes, there is no real continuity through the charter. All the better I guess for them to use it to their advantage.
I must be at my word limit here so I?’ll wrap up. Folks, go ask for a copy of the Smith/Fix charter that they want to hold over our heads. This empowers them too much and takes away the checks and balances of having a mayor that we elect.