Comments on: Emotions Flare up at First Council Meeting of Year

By: Bernard

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By: Tammy Casagranda

Tammy Casagranda — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:25:07 +0000

I call it stirring the pot.

By: David Seaward

David Seaward — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:52:03 +0000

Speaking for myself in the mayor’s role, I do apologize for the heated discussions and comments I have made on this site. I want to thank the site administrator for allowing me to share the good and the bad. The community needs to know what’s going on. I take full responsibility. Those of you who have a reason to recall me, please do so. It will give me opportunity to freely explain to the community.

Heidi Zemach (author of this article) does a great job of being fair in her reporting. Thank you for presenting both sides of an issue with the information available.

I have lived in Seward for 9 years and 8 months. I understand the needs and issues facing the taxpayers. Please research my voting record. If anyone is interested in my financies, I will gladly show it to you. Give me a call today.

I urge everyone to go to the new Library Museum and glance through the Charter of City of Seward. It’s the Big Red Binder. The Charter can only be amended by vote of the people. Charter Section 1.2: Form of government is the council -manager form. Section 3.4: Mayor Role. Section 5.4: Manager Role. Section 5.5: City Clerk

In addition, the Seward City Codes provides additional provisions passed by the council. Title 2, page 2-21 explains further the role of appointed officers (city manager, city clerk…)

Finally, we have the Rules of Council Procedures: …formal rules to guide the council. These Rules were Resolution Amendments approved by council. The Charter of City of Seward remains the final guide to follow and only can be amended by vote of the people. I may be wrong, so please get involved.

Thank you.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:50:40 +0000

How embarrassing that elected officials behave like this in our town. Shame on all of you!

By: harry

harry — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:09:52 +0000

Mr. Dunham is out. Now it’s time for a few concil members to go.

By: carli

carli — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:48:01 +0000

Right there is the crux of the problem. I don’t think it really matters who was elected to the office-they will forever be held in Mr. Dunham’s shadow, and many are upset.

By: RR

RR — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:39:15 +0000

Thanks for the reminder that the current mayor was elected by a slim margin, due in large part to a single issue. We should also be reminded that the current mayor replaced Willard Dunham, a dedicated public servant and life long Seward resident who effectively lobbied on the town’s behalf to bring several of our major employers to town…AVTEC, Spring Creek and the SeaLife Center. You have to wonder how much more he could have accomplished for us these past few years had he been re-elected. It’s important to have the right people in those council positions!

By: BTP

BTP — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:05:38 +0000

I think everyone needs to tred carefully and just ride out his term. Considering how ugly this is getting, I am sure there is a lawyer out there who would gladly file a trumped up crazy lawsuit against the City/City Council on his behalf and cost the city thousands of dollars defending the case. He was voted in and he will be voted out.

It will be interesting to see who decides to run for Mayor???

Is it true, if you want to run for Mayor you need to make your financial portfolio public? If it is, wouldn’t that make some sucessful business people in our community who are qualified to be Mayor reluctant to run?

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:49:23 +0000

I think we can all agree that several council members and the city manager have behaved spitefully as well. No one is innocent here, yet everyone acts like the side they support is blameless.

It’s time for all parties involved to squash it and start acting like adults.

By: Maya Moriarty

Maya Moriarty — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:58:46 +0000

Sandie- the public voted each council member into office and each one gets one vote. The mayor doesn’t get two votes or special authority that no one else gets except being the figurehead.

BTW- he was voted in by a slim margin. Can we make the same argument that half the community didn’t want him as mayor and so we shouldn’t accept the results because I represent (this is just an example) the half that didn’t vote for him. Would a compromise be that he step down as mayor and join P & Z, get experience for a few years, and try again?

When he was initially elected, the article about him quoted Mr. Seaward as willing to step down if he wasn’t performing well. If they did a peer and 360 review and allowed the documents to be open to the public- what would those reviews from Administration, the Clerk’s office, and other Council members reveal? I think last Monday’s Council meeting gave the public a taste of the frustration that all of them were having including the City attorney. Those evaluations would reveal so much more than what we see twice a month.

So before you comment again, talk to each Council member, Administration, and the Clerk. You’ll find that -”It is not a conspiracy.”

By: Tammy Casagranda

Tammy Casagranda — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:16:31 +0000

I agree Maya. I think the Mayor lacks knowledge and experience and has been pretty spiteful. Hes not a bad guy but I think his services would be better served in another arena.

By: Sandie

Sandie — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:00:01 +0000

Maya,
You are missing a small detail here…the public voted Mayor Seaward into office. I’ve seen attitude on both sides. Time to pull their shorts/panties up and work together.

By: Maya Moriarty

Maya Moriarty — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 07:12:02 +0000

Christy –

I’ve said in the past that I don’t like to comment in SCN due to the negativity but I applaud your efforts and support the Council and Administration for their service to the Seward community and patience with Mr. Seaward. The Mayor has one vote and precedes over the Council meetings. That means he runs the meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order. It doesn’t give him additional authority over the Administration or any other Council member.

It’s about time that Council, the Administration and even the Clerk’s offices inform the community of the factual difficulties they have had with Mr. Seaward. The articles about him or that he has written himself have been an embarrassment to the community. As for Mr. Hunt – I believe that Mr. Seaward is definitely providing all the proof for a potential defamation suit.

If the Seward community believes that Mr. Seaward is not performing his duties competently and in violation of City Code – then there are options to try to remove him from office. The filing of the paperwork alone would send a clear message and only takes a handful of signatures. OR – voters need to vote Mr. Seaward out of office this fall. Either action would serve the community well.

By: John

John — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 07:02:43 +0000

I read the code. It says exactly what I said it says. It is not confusing.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:32:12 +0000

Good one!

By: Christy Terry

Christy Terry — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:23:07 +0000

John- again we are a City Manager form of government. Take some time to inform yourself before making statements. If you check out our city code at municode.com it is all explained. Or call me or the City Clerk, someone can explain it to you if it is confusing. Why dont you put your last name on your comments and you could also run for Council? Or better yet-there are current open seats on important Boards and Commissions. I realize it is alot easier to take a shot at someone on a blog then doing the work, but if you are interested in Seward you should be part of the process of building up instead of tearing down.

By: John

John — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:04:23 +0000

So then, city code says that the City Manager answers to the council and that the Mayor is the presiding member of the council.

Sounds like he’s the highest ranking official to me.

This article is so slanted, it belongs in the Seward Journal.

By: Original

Original — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:59:53 +0000

I stand corrected. Yet another thing that the illustrious Mayor is wrong about….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council%E2%80%93manager_government

By: Christy Terry

Christy Terry — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:49:36 +0000

Original-
I can’t respond under your comments, but our Municipal government is set up differently than our Federal Government. Seward is a Home Rule City in a Second Class Borough with a City Manager Form of Government. Both the Mayor and the City Manager have clearly defined roles in our government. The common definition of a chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of total management of an organization. Our Seward City Code clearly designates the City Manager as the administrator for the City of Seward.
Here are their duties as outlined in our City Code. If anyone wants to read for themselves the Seward City Code is available on-line at municode.com:
2.10.025. – Duties of mayor, vice-mayor, acting mayor.
(a)Mayor. The mayor shall possess all powers and shall exercise all duties required of him by law or the city council. He shall be presiding officer of the council. He shall be a member of the council with all powers and duties of that office.
…
2.20.035. – City manager duties. [21]
The city manager shall have the following duties:
1. He shall be the chief administrative officer of the council and shall perform the duties of his office under authority of and shall be accountable to the council. He shall supervise and coordinate the work of the appointed officers and departments of the city, except the city attorney, city clerk and city clerk department, and he shall act as coordinator between those officers and other administrative officers.

By: Original

Original — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:46:36 +0000

What would it take to get the video (or even just an audio copy) of the meeting uploaded to the city website. Would we need to purchase a digital camcorder or other technology?
The best disinfectant is sunshine, so the best way to involve Sewardites would be to make access to the Council meetings as easy as possible, and with today’s technology this shouldn’t be difficult or expensive.

BTW – I disagree with the Mayor on just about everything, but by definition, the Mayor IS the chief executive of the city, just as the President is the Chief Executive of the nation.