Breaking news: Mayor has called two special council meetings

Mayor Tom Williams has called two special council meetings for Tuesday, 8/29, and Wednesday, 8/30, both at 6:00 p.m., for the second and third readings respectively of this ordinance:

A. Ordinance to change appropriations for the year 2006.

A motion to have all 3 readings of this ordinance at last week's council meeting failed because a super-majority of 6 yes votes was required in order to pass it. Mr. Gabbard was absent. The vote was 5 to 1, with Mr. Schneider dissenting.

The ordinance has two parts:

1.) put money into the special Police Academy Fund that was created at last Tuesday's meeting. An anonymous donor has contributed $25,000, and the money, as we understand it, is to be used for repairs.

2.) transfer $15,000 from the general fund for state audit fees, sometimes referred to as the "state examiners key," to the Safety Service Director's key to fund the newly created budget analyst position.

At the 8/22/06 meeting, Mr. Schneider explained in detail why he is opposed to the city hiring a budget analyst at this particular time and, therefore, why he voted against the motion for all 3 readings. See our post below, "Council may cut deputy auditor..." for one of his primary reasons.

8/30/06 UPDATE: With Ms. Kelly absent from last night's meeting, council had the second reading only of the appropriations ordianance. They're back tonight for the 3rd.