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yaryrret
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The Flint Journal always gets it wrong when critiquing the Flint Ombudsmans office.
Now they want the office put on the ballot. The citizens of Flint have voted in this office three times.
They want it Put on the ballot just because they want it.
They, the Flint Journal, are lacking is the credibility for the community to follow this lead.
Lets wait and see what the usual suspects have to say.( those who attack rather than discuss. The community is satisfied with the office existing.
What is needed is an intense budget review .That is the job of the Flint City Council.
But for this community to act on the whimpering of the journal will not happen.
Last edited by yaryrret on Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:20 pm |
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Demeralda
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| Your post is hard to decipher. |
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Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:11 pm |
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00SL2
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Flint Journal Editorial: City Council should put the ombudsman's office on the ballot
Posted by The Flint Journal April 06, 2008 08:00AM
Categories: Editorials
Flint Ombudsman Brenda Purifoy has finally weighed in on a police misconduct case dating to St. Patrick's Day of 2007. http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/03/ombudsman_s_report_says_police.html
Is anybody listening?
Not seriously because, as anyone who encounters this office can quickly discern, the ombudsman has no true power except to churn out reports -- some of which admittedly make for juicy reading.
The immediate case involved a confrontation between four off-duty officers and the son of a Burton gas station owner after the officers parked at the station in order to walk to nearby St. Patrick's Day festivities.
One officer was fired over the incident and convicted of assault, but her conviction was overturned and she now is attempting to get her job back. The other officers remain on the job.
Purifoy thinks all four officers should have been fired, but has no control and does not call for the discipline to be revisited.
Flint had higher hopes for the Office of Ombudsman 34 years ago, when it was introduced into a new City Charter as a rare feature among municipal governments. But after all the years and ombudsmen -- including one who spent four years on sick leave -- the time has come to call it quits on the position.
Financially, it's a bad bargain for a cash-strapped city, sucking an annual $425,000 out of the budget, with about $70,000 going to the ombudsman as salary. Even at that cost, the office is not adequately staffed to do the job. The money would be better spent on other needs.
While some ombudsmen have performed decently -- and we would include Purifoy in that group -- none has ever met the standards originally envisioned.
From the get-go it was understood that the office would only work if it were filled by a non-political person of impeccable reputation who did not need the job. The impossibility of meeting the ideal became evident as aspiring ombudsmen, when applying to the City Council for appointment, began acting as if they were seeking public office -- visiting churches and lining up influential backers. The UAW sometimes seemed to wield inordinate influence.
Yet the voters have clung to the office when given opportunities to cancel it out in elections -- the latest being in 2006, when 53 percent supported the office. Perhaps in this financially difficult time, residents finally would be ready to accept that the office is a well-intentioned experiment that never realized its potential.
A special election would be wasteful, but the council could put the question on a ballot that has other issues. The council should not raise this in a vacuum, but in the context of an alternative plan that might include a civilian police commission. Many complaints involve police conduct, but as this most recent incident again demonstrates, the ombudsman has no real influence.
We do believe that citizens need an advocate on other issues as well, but that is a role elected officials can play.
In the meantime, we hope the council hears our plea.
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Permalink:
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_editorial_city_council_should_put_the_ombudsmans_office_on_the_ballot.html |
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Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:53 pm |
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00SL2
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The opening post on this thread is worded slightly different from the original language which got an entire thread (13322) deleted over on Flint Town Talk. The following is my response that disappeared with the entire thread.
Don't boycott a newspaper because of an editorial opinion which says city council should put the ombudsman's office on the ballot for a vote of the people. Presently there is an ombudsman and two full time investigators on her staff. We have read about her report on the Sims political issue, and now her report about the off-duty police officers. Both these investigations duplicate investigations of other agencies. The current ombudsman's annual reports do not detail the disposition of all the complaints filed in her office as required by the City Charter. The two investigators have appeared at community block club meetings and told residents if they have a problem with city, first take the problem to supervisor, and then if it's not resolved to their satisfaction report the problem to the ombudsman. With the city having such serious budget problems that police and firefighters are being laid off, I agree that residents should be allowed the opportunity to vote on whether it would be acceptable to them to eliminate this office as a cost cutting measure. That's asking them to express their opinion in the polling booth.
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Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:07 pm |
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Josh Freeman
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Well then, it seems that the problem is with the Ombudsman herself, not with the office. If the ombudsman is a total failure, remove her. How many times in one term do we have to vote on the issue of keeping the office?
At least give the office a chance by appointing a qualified individual to run it. It was essentially dormant for 4 years. Then the Council appoints someone that, in my opinion, is unqualified.
Perhaps it was by design. |
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Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:30 pm |
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