Board of Aldermen 03-12-2019 Page 30
and more transparent system. And | do want to thank you Lori for the work that you’ve done. | also want to
thank Kim Kleiner and so on for taking this above and beyond her duties of doing this. | think we are on the
road and | think hearing from the public of what they want us to do, and how they want us to move forward
is important, but ultimately | think as long as we keep an open mind and continue on this road that we will
work things out and you know | feel bad that things aren’t, haven’t always been perfect but | do think we are
heading the right way.
Alderman Jette
| too would like to thank Mrs. Ortolano for bringing a lot of these issues to our attention and you know she’s
been very articulate about this whole thing, but her voice is not the only I’ve heard. A lot of our citizens
question the fairness of our current assessment process and | think the Mayor by ordering this audit and |
think the audit itself was a step in the right direction. | think we can look forward to some improvements
and | think the Mayor has talked about being on board with doing a complete reevaluation, the so-called list
and measure | think is what they call it. | support that and | am looking forward to more on that.
| also would like to congratulate Margaret Loret Ward 5 resident on her appointment and | want to
congratulate Alderman Clemons and welcome him, maybe he ought to be welcoming some of us since he’s
been here before, but it is our turn to welcome him. And lastly | would be remiss if | did not acknowledge
that next week we will be celebrating the feast of that great Saint and Patron of the Christian Church, of
course, | am speaking of St. Joseph.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
| will just follow up and say “Yay” to St. Joseph, my favorite desserts. | too would like to welcome Alderman
Clemons and look forward to working with him once again, congratulations. And thank you to all of those
who came and spoke this evening during the public comment and the public hearing. One other thing, and
Alderman Laws can correct me but | believe next Tuesday at 6:00 GAD is having their Annual Meeting in
the Auditorium. Is that correct, before PEDC? Yes so just for anyone who would like attend, Paul Shea will
be doing the Annual Meeting for GAD in the Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. and as Alderman Tencza said, PEDC
will follow. Thank you.
Alderman Clemons
Thank you for everybody’s warm welcome. | just want to be brief and say that | will be raising this Sunday
for my favorite Saint, which is St. Patrick and | want everybody to enjoy and have a safe St. Patrick’s Day.
Make sure you have a designated driver or take an Uber or Lyft home or a cab.
President Wilshire
| too would like to welcome Alderman Clemons back to the horseshoe, he has been missed, so welcome
back Alderman Clemons
Committee announcements:
Alderman Dowd
On the 18"", we are going to be starting our series of budget meetings, everybody on the Board has got a
list of when those occur particularly the Budget Committee, | would like you to study before you come in for
that particular department so that you Know what to expect and what questions to ask. The budgets pretty
much haven’t changed except for a few departments and I’m sure you'll hear from those departments when
they come through. | will be putting out some other guidance before the first meeting, actually the first
meeting | will be occupied somewhere else, | have a previous commitment, but the president of the board
will be chairing that particular meeting and | believe it is Public Health.
