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Terry Bankert
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Flint ombudsman [reply to editorial , Flint Journal 12/5/05]
FLINT CITIZEN- By: Terry Bankert 12/06/2005. Flint MI USA
[Conversational comments by Bankert are in brackets.-trb]
Debate overdue on whether watchdog post should stay
FLINT [Journal Editorial presumed to be written by Editorial page editor Mike Riha - trb]
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION http://www.mlive.com/columns/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1133797803293980.xml&coll=5
Monday, December 05, 2005
Flint's office of ombudsman, which has had a checkered performance in its 30-year history, is overdue for a public debate on whether it should survive.
[I agree. The office has not functioned for over five years, it cost $200,000 plus per year to fund, the current position holder is has a term ending soon. Only a hand full or governmental units have an ombudsman why should Flint? The public debate should begin with a discussion of why the office was created, what were the strengths and weakness of the previous position holders? ( You cannot separate the office from the office holder.) What could the office do? If retained how to we pick an ombudsman to get the job done? If we eliminate the office are other changes needed in charter or code to promote governmental accountability?- trb]
However, that discussion should begin soon, as the City Council is asking voters Feb. 28 whether to continue the office or abolish it. One concern is how many voters will even know it exists, considering that current Ombudsman Jessie Binion spent four years of her seven-year term on sick leave. Her term expires in January.
[Good point! The Flint community will rely on media to inform us what the Flint Ombudsmans office is, was and could be all about. Contact the American Ombusdman Association. Contact the Canadian counterparts. Somewhere at Michigan State or the University of Michigan I bet some experts are lurking to help us in this discussion. Community leaders with the proper stature( as spoken about later in this editorial) should organized informational presentations or debates. Presume we have a jewel in this office, how do we let the Flint Citizens know? What is the state of the Ombudsman movement in North America?-trb]
The ombudsman vote will be held alongside a police millage renewal, which creates conditions to draw at least a modest turnout, if not one that a vote for mayor would attract.
[The Ombudsman office in practice was most effective when it addressed police accountability. Unique elections have unique voter mixes. Here the pro police enforcement voter will decide if the office whose purpose is governmental accountability with its sub set monitoring the police department will survive. How ironic!-trb]
Included in the City Charter to counterbalance Flint's strong mayor, the ombudsman has been used mostly as a complaint bureau on city services, especially police.
[Wrong!-trb]
[Flint’s current City Charter adopted in 1974 "...opened up government.." "Citizen interest in the effective and ethical conduct of city business is served by two...measures in the charter. The 1974 Charter review commission created the office of Ombudsman and a standards of conduct board.
The Ombudsman is a city official appointed by a 2/3 vote of the City Council for a non- rewable term of 7 years. The office is intended to check bad or unfair practices in City Administration.
The Ombudsman has broad powers of investigation in city affairs. This officer responds to citizen inquires and may initiate investigations.
The Ombudsman can only seek information on the failure of City services or suspected misconduct."
"An Ombudsman is often called a citizens watchdog. The person holding the office is given broad powers of subpoena and investigation to follow up and attempt to prove or disprove complaints by citizens that the city is not serving them properly or that powers and rights of the city are being abused .
Citizens take their problems to the Ombudsman when the regular channels of communication complaint do not bring satisfaction.
It is important that this official be far removed from the political and other pressures so that he she can pursue citizen complaints with unquestioned integrity."
The Ombudsman is appointed by 2/3 of the council, 6 votes with a 9 person council ( Williamson appears to currently have 6 votes, we need time for this council to develop its own agenda before this appointment, mabey the election is a blessing in disguise. )
Previous Ombudsman cannot be reappointed. (i.e. Darryl Buchanan and Terry Bankert.)
Elected city office nor city employment can occur until after an Ombudsman has been gone for 2 years. "
These provisions are intended to assure that the person taking the job will be satisfactory to most of the City Council and will by virtue of the long term of office be well insulated from political pressures. The Ombudsman should serve the citizens in a fair manner which cannot be tainted with self interest. These quotes are directly from a publication of the Charter review commission that wrote the 1974 Charter.-trb]
While there were moments when the office functioned ideally, there were occasions, too, when the position was abused by excessive politics or cronyism in staff hiring. The most egregious performance came in recent years, when the ombudsman issued not a peep on a spiraling deficit that led to a state takeover.
[I agree.-trb]
Whether the ombudsman has ever been effective in checking mayoral powers is certainly questionable, perhaps because too many of the personalities appointed to the position lacked the temperament and stature in the community to endow the office with authority and credibility.
[Wrong again. Electoral accountability and the Flint City Council check the power of the Mayor. Elected officials ethical conduct is the target of the standards of conduct board and the Ombudsman. A stated by the charter commission the target of the ombudsman is the City Administration or bureaucracy. To frame this argument as being the Ombudsman office is one more thing to get in the Mayors way is simply an attempt to turn the voters against the office. Mike you should understand the office before you attack it. The personality and temperament of the next Ombudsman is to be determined by the Flint City Council and those citizens that wish to join this debate.-trb]
Maybe there is still a chance that the office can be reinvented so it can fill the role envisioned when the charter was adopted in 1974. But that would take a very energetic intervention and commitment by the council. Above all, it would have to select an ombudsman who is bold, beholding to no one and morally uncompromising. Only then could this potentially useful asset of Flint government possibly work out.
[I agree.-trb]
The Flint Citizen is a publication of Attorney Terry R. Bankert of Flint Michigan US
A. http://enewsblog.com/terrybankert/
attorneybankert@yahoo.com
Terry R. Bankert P.C., 1000 Beach St., Flint MI 48503 810.235.1970 fax 234-5080 |
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Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:56 am |
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Ted Jankowski
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| Damn, Terry, Your writings are getting better and better each time I read them. Or it could just be that your just plain RIGHT! |
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Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:56 am |
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Adam Ford
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| I think we should use the $200,000 to hire more police. I think police are more critical than an Ombudsman. If Flint had decent customer serrvice we would not even need an ombudsman anyways. |
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Tue Dec 06, 2005 11:59 am |
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Ted Jankowski
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| While it is true. If we had decient service an Ombudsman wouldn't be neccessary. However, if you live in the City of FLint you'll notice. We don't have anything that even resemlbes service, let alone having service that rates on a scale. We have a council that now is afraid to stand up for what is right or best for the city. And cow-tows to everything the Mayor wants, out of fear of being looked at as argumentative. They are not willing to be the Check in the Checks and Balances process of government that we have in Flint. So without them doing their job. Who is going to check? It should be the Ombudsman. But without one. Who do you go to. I can already prove. That in all actuality NONE of these offices have done what they are supposed to do by their OATHS of office. NONE of them. So what do we do? Here we the people have a last ditch hope or oppertunity to get some type of justice. Once it's gone. We are completely without hope. What we need is an Active Ombudsman. The office has been basically unmanned for four years. That is where the Blame lies. No one in our local government doing anything about it. |
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Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:18 pm |
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