Board of Aldermen 12-08-2020 Page 37
President Wilshire
Thank you Attorney Bolton. Alderman Jette?
Alderman Jette
Thank you Madam Chairman. So during my research regarding the Firemen’s Contract, when | looked at
minutes of the Fire Commissioner's meeting and | discovered as we all did tonight that Commissioner
Davidson had resigned as a Commissioner back in September. | don’t know about everybody else but |
was surprised to hear that, | don’t know if | just missed that news but it came as news to me. And | just
want to thank him for his service to the City. | remember when he was an Alderman and served as Mayor,
he was | think on the Airport Authority and as Fire Commissioner. So | think for most of his life, he has
devoted it to public service for the City and | think he’s left the meeting now, but | wanted to thank him
publicly.
And | also learned that the Fire Commissioners elected Attorney Gary Lambert to replace him as a Fire
Commissioner and | wanted to congratulate Attorney Lambert. He’s certainly an outstanding individual and
provided great service and continues to provide great service as a Marine and a great lawyer and otherwise
to the City. He was in the Legislature, | can’t remember if he was in the Senate, but | know he ran for
higher office and didn’t make it but he’s a great choice. That being said, | don’t think when we amended
the Ordinances and the Charter to provide to eliminate special elections to replace individuals, you know,
the purpose was to save money and an acknowledgement that those special elections that people just
didn’t come out and vote in them.
But | don’t think we anticipated that Boards would not be more public in their selection. You know the
Charter now provides that Boards can elect their own replacements, which is fine, but | would hope that in
the future, whether it’s the Fire Commission or any other Board, if they are coming to fill a vacancy, that
they would do it in a much more public way; advertise that the position is open. You know, seek people
who might be interested to make known their interest and hopefully have a large select pool to choose
form, interview people and choose the best candidate. | think if all that had been done, Attorney Lambert
would probably have been selected anyway. | think he’s a great choice but | just wanted to say that | hope
in the future that Boards keep that in mind. We have taken the people’s right to elect their replacements,
you know, on a short-term basis to fill a vacancy but we should be cognizant of that and make it a much
more public process. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no one, | wanted to chime in about the Public Health Department and
what great support they have been throughout this pandemic. They work hard, they work long hours, they
have been fantastic. So | just wanted to give them a shout out.
Committee announcements:
Alderman Dowd
Yes tomorrow night, Budget at 7:00 and then next Thursday, Joint Special School Building Committee.
Alderman Tencza
I'd just like to announce that next Tuesday, December 15", there will be no PEDC Meeting. We have no
Legislation and no other presentations so | am giving everyone the night off, thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Anyone else?
