Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 29
that job, | said “That is one I’d be interested in, I’d only have a few meetings a year, probably 2 or 3, it is an
entry level position that would give me a voice and | already go to the meetings”.
So | typed an e-mail to the Mayor and | said, “This seat is open, no one is on it, |’d be interested in it’. |
ended up reaching out to Patricia, | was traveling she called me back on a Monday and she said, “Oh just
to let you know, the person who had it prior wants to do it again, the seat is not available, she’s going to
receive the seat”. | said, “Ok that’s the way it is’. And then | decided to go meet the individual who was
supposed to have the seat and talk to her and | asked her if she knew what was going on in the Assessing
Office and the answer was no, had she kept up, does she receive the packets, no, did she ever receive the
packets, no. And she said to me, you know, “I made it clear that if the Mayor could find somebody else to
do this job, | really am very busy with my downtown work and | really don’t want to do it, | will only do it if he
can’t find somebody else”. Well that was a little different from what | had heard.
So | typed an e-mail and | went back to the Mayor and | said “Hey, | really would be interested in the seat,
and just to let you know, to my disappointment, | am not upset that | didn’t get the seat, it’s obviously not
the place for me, that’s fine, this is not my hill to die on, maybe my best work is done on the outside”. It
was just an entry level you know foot in the door, maybe go to three meetings, I’m there anyways, maybe
have a voice on some things, but he gets to pick it, it’s his to pick.
| am disappointed that he did not have the courtesy to respond to my e-mail at all, nothing. It just went into
vapor space. And | am disappointed that he doesn’t take these seats seriously, these seats that he has to
fill. We have a little bit of a crisis in that department and we have some weaknesses in that Board and we
could really use a Mayor who is using his expertise and reaching out to try and fill these seats with the best
people possible and that may not be me. He may have a better person in mind, that’s fine, but at least
show me you are working at it, you know? Not that it’s just let’s hurry up and quickly get someone in there
and make this person take it if they really didn’t want it because they are the best person. So that’s a little
disappointing, it just shows me how far we have to go to really you know fix things over there. And | would
love to see some public positions available, maybe it doesn’t have to be anything permanent, but some
short term openings where the public could participate maybe in policy creation, a one year seat or panel,
discussion group, work with consultants, try and look at better ways of doing what we do down there. |
think there’s an opportunity for that, that’s not a long term position, it would just be a short term thing and
that might be helpful, but not my hill to die on, it’s ok that | didn’t get it. Thank you.
REMARKS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
Alderman Klee
Yes I’d like to make a couple comments, first I’d just like to make a comment about the Board of Assessors
and | know, | just recently found out that Ms. Blaisdell turned it down. She thought she had sent out an e-
mail so she sent me an e-mail and | know she sent it to the Mayor’s Office too that she wasn’t interested in
the position, | think it was just two days ago that | received that e-mail. So just to get that straight. And the
other comment | wanted to make is that | did not sponsor the Administrative Position and not because |
don’t support it, | do support that and | spoke to Ms. Kleiner earlier today and | have been speaking with her
on a regular basis and | said that | am glad that we finished Part 1; but that | wanted Part 2, 3 and 4 and so
on and the process and the policy to be completed, timely and so on and | have been assured that they are
working on that.
| don’t Know how that process is going to happen | don’t get into the weeds as far as people doing the jobs.
But | did want to personally thank Mrs. Ortolano for the work she’s done. As she has explained to us and |
know she has spent hours of time looking at property cards, educating herself on the process, while | won’t
speak for anyone else | can say that during this process she did educate me on many of the elements of
the cards and | brought this to different people’s attention and how it was used to calculate property
assessments. And while | truly wish things had been a whole lot less contentious the bottom line is that |
really do think we are on the road to resolving the past issues and hopefully, you know, ultimately a better
