City Councilwoman Angela Dougan says she’s tired of her colleagues leaving her out of the decision-making process.
The latest example is what’s happening on the new Oil and Gas Committee.
Dougan said City Councilman Val Snider, committee chairman, is making all sorts of decisions unilaterally.
“This idea of Val being the king of the task force and that he can do or say whatever he wants and make up any rules without talking to anybody is bahooey because we’re all elected officials with the exact same weight of a vote.”
I know Val Snyder and he does not seem like the type of person to make unilateral decisions.
Lisa C. from the council also criticized Snider and the committee earlier today saying that she does not know if the committee is going to have any rules or if it will even share any information with her, the rest of the council or the citizens of COS.
A good question is why Snider thinks that this committee of amateur volunteers will be able to make better decisions for the city than those that have been hashed out through the decades by professional, lawmakers, oil men and environmentalists that are all ready in place.
It is a joke that Snider is ignoring all of the prior art and his fellow council members in these matters in favor of a committee of his hand picked citizen yes men that have no experience in the oil, gas, environment disciplines to decide such an important matter.
I wonder if Snider will release who is on the committee, why they were chosen and what experience they have.
Daniel this sounds like a job for my favorite City Hall Reporter, dont let us down.
This whole thing is designed to give the answer that Snider wants and the council, the citizens of COS and ElPaso County be damned.
It’s not mandatory for all of the people in a governing body (ie: the City Council of Colorado Springs) to “get-along” – but it would be nice if they did OR if they weren’t so mean-spirited and/or immature about their inabilities to get-along (Val Snider(?) or is it Snyder(?) – whichever….probably does NOT need a throne nor makes all decisions.) Come on Councilmembers – you CAN (and really MUST) do better than this back-biting and bickering – especially in the public eye.
We need leadership and possibly some Midol.
No support, poor communication, this job is setup for failure. Commentators, the next election is about 15 months away. Be my guest!
I have not criticized my colleague Val Snyder or the newly formed gas and oil task force. I simply volunteered my time over the holiday break to work on some rules and procedures for all future Council or President of Council appointed task forces. I do firmly believe especially seeing what happened with the Memorial task force that they need to be in place. Any task force will need flexibility regarding its purpose but there can be certain procedures in place to lend clarity to the members, the community, and to avoid criticism and suspicion of the work being done. The whole purpose of a Council task force is to be a subcommittee for Council to bring back information to Council to make a good decision for the community. When it starts refusing to share information with the rest of Council members like the Memorial task force did, thats a huge problem. The fact that work regarding this subject has been done by the County for over 4 months and the City had not previously reached out to them is a problem. The fact that the City had no official input to give when asked by the County is a problem. Angela is simply voicing fustrations publicly now only because they have gone unanswered or ignored for too long internally. The public talks constantly about wanting transparency and honesty coming from your elected officials but when its given the official is ridiculed or has to deal with ignorant, chauvinistic remarks. An elected official cant win in this town, even when they are trying to do things right.
Ignorant. Chauvinistic. But – - – Accurate.
Twin local governments are now at a 50 year high as to dysfunctionality and inability to work together to provide for community needs.
Lisa C wrote and I quote:
“let’s hope this task force or committee has some rules and procedures in place, shares information with the rest of Council and instills confidence in it’s purpose to the community.”
“When it starts refusing to share information with the rest of Council members like the Memorial task force did, thats a huge problem.”
“No support, poor communication, this job is setup for failure. Commentators, the next election is about 15 months away. Be my guest! ”
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Lisa, that sounds like direct and very harsh criticism of Val, the ongoing task forces and all of your fellow councilmen.
Your complaints however do match Dougan’s in the fact that you both say that certain councli members are refusing to share information with their colleges on both the Memorial and gas committee task forces. That is not a good thing and perhaps you should do something to resolve all of the problems you are complaining about above and in your other writings.
Val refusing to allow Tim Leigh to participate on the committee is the same thing as when you kicked the only military representative off of the Memorial task force because you had a personal falling out with the poor guy. Sounds like you also need to put your personal affairs aside and start representing the people of COS.
Not sure what the “ignorant, chauvinistic remarks” are all about but it sounds like the council’s infighting is getting to you and you are not going to run for another term. Lisa, you dont have to wait 15 months if you decide you cant handle the job. There are many people that know they can fulfill the communities trust more than you do. Perhaps it is time you let them do it.
“Drunk Cop and kid at hooters.” I love commentators like you who bravely write out of ignorance and incorrect information. Oh and anonymously on top of it. Criticism and arrogance is huge while typing away behind a keyboard. “Its the easiest way to get attention, make fun of your betters”. So Drunk Cop and kid at hooters, Go get your 50 signatures, and man up at the next election.
or woman, whoever you are.
WOW Lisa, settle down a little, quit attacking me and lets stick to the subject at hand.
Where am I ignorant and incorrect? I am just using facts out of prior Gazette articles and your direct quotes thats all. Sorry if using referenced facts upsets you. Rather than attacking me why dont you point out where these newspaper articles and direct quotes are wrong.
Tone it down a little will ya and please try to work with others to get the facts out rather than insult us plebes who dare to ask questions of our royal council members. By doing this it will go a long ways to reestablishing the citizens faith in your honesty, ability to handle the cities business, and creditability.
Lisa, it is temper tantrums like this that causes the citizens of COS to think the council is dysfunctional, incapable and irrelevant.