Well, you have to give Oshkosh Mayor Bill Castle some credit for at least giving everyone a week's warning about the tripe he plans to propose at next Tuesday's new Council organizational meeting. During tonight's Council meeting, Castle floated three stink bombs:1. Claiming that too many people use the forum as a "soapbox," Castle wants to limit citizen statements to one each quarter for each individual citizen. This is clearly aimed at the curmudgeonly Ken Ben Bender and Gordon Doule, though Castle did not mention them by name. A similar proposal was made last year but went nowhere.
2. Claiming that some Council member statements feature inappropriate advertisements for events, Castle wants to eliminate such "advertisements." This is clearly aimed at Councilor Shirley Mattox, who typically uses her Council member statement to act as somewhat of an entertainment guide for an element of the population who apparently rely on annoucements at government meetings to plan their social and activity calender. If I'm at home watching the meeting on Oshkosh Cable Access Television I change the channel faster than you can say "the cost of two butter burger baskets" when Shirley starts the announcements, but I still defend her right to make them. All politicians are entitled to some pointless rhetoric, and at least Shirley's announcements aren't mean spirited, self-serving, or divisive. They are merely . . . pointless.
3. Claiming that the Deputy Mayor position is not based on seniority, and that the person in that position should have an interest in evaluation of the city administration, Castle said he plans to nominate Meredith Scheuermann. This in spite of the fact that Meredith is just finishing her first year, her interest in evaluation of city personnel is no greater than any other councilor, and she will not even be attending the organizational meeting at which her nomination for the position will be voted on. If, as seems likely, Scheuermann receives the 4 votes necessary to become Deputy Mayor, she will be replacing Frank Tower in that position. Mr. Tower decided not to run for reelection this year. Meredith and Frank are essentially similar in political outlook and approach to governance, so in some ways her ascendance to the position represents more of the same. Besides, Castle's golf buddies like her a whole lot.
For his citizen and council member statement proposals, Bill Castle is certainly putting himself in competition for a muzzle award.
25 comments:
Do we not have more important issues to tackle in Oshkosh than these?
Jack Straw
No.
Mr. Straw these are very important issues.
It would be helpful to use your real name. That is important, too.
Tony,
Your statement that we should atleast give Mayor Castle credit for giving us a weeks notice, is somewhat misleading. Yes, we have been given notice prior to the "High Noon" meeting of his intentions. However, there is no opportunity for the public to "sound off" about THEIR pleasure/displeasure with this situation. As you may or may not be aware, there is NO citizens statements allowed for at the re-organizational meeting where Mayor Castle plans to do his damage.
As a previous long term member of the City Council. I find it somewhat interesting that Mrs. Scheuerman with limited (just completing her first year of public service)exposure and experience would be Mayor Castle's choice for Deputy. I said interesting, not surprising! Evaluating the City Manager, is the job of all sitting councilors, the Deputies job is to take notes and complete the paper work associated with all the findings and goals that the collective council puts forth. Let's not fool ourselves here, Mayor Castle is looking for continum of like leadership (his). I find no comfort in this.
What I find even more saddening is that Mayor Castle has never lied nor denied his desire to "muzzle" this community. As a matter of fact he spoke openly about it in his run for Mayor. Guess what he got elected!
Freedom to speak to elected officals may not be important to those that can BUY access to those in power, but to those that only have their activism to fall back on I would hope this ability to speak is important. We are only as good as the people we elect to represent us. What does it really cost any of us to listen to our fellow citizens for 5 minutes...conversely, what will it cost us to shut them down?
Melanie Bloechl
Melanie,
I agree with you--I forgot that citizens cannot speak at the organizational meeting. But at least we have a week to call/write/email. Thanks. --Tony
Melanie Bloechl said "the Deputies job is to take notes and complete the paper work associated with all the findings and goals that the collective council puts forth. Let's not fool ourselves here, Mayor Castle is looking for continum of like leadership (his)". I am confused. If that is what the deputy's job is what role does "leadership" play? It sounds more secretarial to me.
Just to clarify my previous post. I certainly understand your confusion. While the Deputy mayor is nothing more than ceremonial, as is the Mayors post. This is the opportunity for the setting up of like alliances to the bullpulit.
Other communities have these same positions, however they are "Strong" seats. Therefore many communities that we will deal with believe that our city leaders have more authority then they real do.
If it is confusing to us, can you only amagine how confusing it is for companies coming from outside the area, to understand and navigate the political landscape. Who IS the leader of the community, who is accountable, who do I speak to to get things done. Who do I speak to if I have an issue of things not getting done.
Preception becomes reality. Mr. Castle wants to make sure the people that have supported this form of government are ensured that it will continue as is- thus Ms. Scheureman is the natural choice. I guess is short, Mr. Castle has made it possible for Ms Scheuerman to take a short cut to a postion of perceived authoity. That is his right, but it is very politically motivated.
I hope I haven't made this more confusing. It is difficult to explain the inner workings of a power struggle, this one is no exception.
Melanie Bloechl
Mr. Rylance,
You obviously misunderstood my comments, so I will rephrase.
Doesn't Mr. Castle and our council have more important issues to deal with in Oshkosh. This is political posturing at best by our Mayor.
Jack Straw
Great point Anon 10;46
Why then would Castle make a piont of announcing his choice as to Deputy. I think Ms. Bloechl hit it just right. If it is just a note taking job, anyone could do it, but if this is a move to strengthen the current power base, makes more sense.
I couldn't disagree more. Each position commands only 1 vote so how can there be a power struggle here? If it were an issue of power, and you look at the history of 5-2 or 6-1 votes on this council, it seems Castle could have picked anyone (besides Esslinger or McHugh).
I suspect Mrs. Bloechl would be satisfied with Mayor Castle's nomination ONLY if one of her two good friends had been selected.
This isn't about power. What have we seen the mayor really accomplish during his first year in office that came as a result of his "power-LESS" position? How about for Frank Tower?
What this is about is someone in the position who can protray a professional and positive image about the community. It is doubtful Paul Esslinger could accomplish that when he casts such negativity on things. Shirley Mattox, while a kindhearted woman, would be a good PR person for the city but she is not the most articulate person on the council. The position would consume extra time that I doubt Burk Tower has to offer. Dennis McHugh is just coming on the council. So that leaves Meredith Scheuermann or Bryan Bain. Either would be a good choice. Who knows what will happen come next Tuesday?
I'm happy Esslinger is negative about the city spending money on foolish projects.
That makes him a positive council in my opinion.
But he tends to stand by himself so that serves no useful purpose in the longrun other than to be a mouthpiece for those who want no progress in Oshkosh.
We were talking about reasons for Mayor Castle to have made the selection he did. In trying to explain why you think Esslinger is a good council member you have proved the other point about why he would not make a good Deputy Mayor. Thank you for that.
Esslinger stands by himself? I think not.
I would say he stands by the 4,324 people that voted for him on April 4th.
Please don't pretend your in the majority!
Oh, and by the way, if you didn't notice Esslinger and McHugh beat out Tower, who sides with Scheuermann all of the time. Now, who do you think they would want as Deputy Mayor?
Let's not be catty. The majority has spoken as far as this election goes. McHugh got himself elected mostly on a platform of repealing the garbage fee. Absent that I doubt he would have done so good.
But I ask you, if people are so against the way things are going, why did candidates like Monte and Poeschl not get elected? They could have voted Tower out but they didn't. And I wouldn't view the 2 or 3 votes Esslinger beat Tower by as something to write home about. When you compare these totals to years past it shows Esslinger's popularity has decreased or Tower's has increased. Either way it is not what you can call a ringing endorsement for Esslinger.
But we're not talking about voters and vote totals. We're talking about the 7 people elected to represent us. There is where Esslinger has stood by himself except for those times there was a candidate like him on the council. Even then they were by themselves and outnumbered more often than not. So make all the trite comments you want to. Facts are facts and when Esslinger continues being outvoted by his fellow councilors he stands alone, or nearly anyway.
Did you ever think that people that voted straight for McHugh and Esslinger didn't know where to go with the 3rd vote because Poeschl and Monte were similar platforms so they ended up spliting the 3rd votes from those folks?
Just a theory. Poeschl may have gotten more than Monte because of Name recognition and previous experience on the council...
Again, this is all theory because none of us can know for sure.
Back to the subject though, do we really feel that Scheuermann is ready and qualified to take this position as our representative when Castle cannot be. Even last night she had to question the appropriatness of her comments. Does she understand the meeting etiquette enough to run a meeting? I think she needs more time. I feel that she is a smart lady and will eventually reach that position but it should wait.
As a comparison to her present job at the bank. Did she become a branch manager with only 1 year experience in a bank? Things take time. Given the current council, the only qualified candidates for this position would be Mattox, Tower and Esslinger. We all know it will not be Esslinger or Mattox. Tower seems to be the likely alternative. Not my first choice but given the relationships up there... you figure it out.
You make a good point however it makes no sense that someone struggling to decide between Poeschl and Monte would end up going with Tower. That equation doesn't balance on either end.
I love all the spin by the Esslinger bashers. Face it, your golden boy (Tower) got beat by two cobblestoners. The message has been sent that the taxpayers have had it with the tax and spend liberals we have on the council.
It will be nice next year when two or more tax and spend liberals will be beat by cobblestoners.
Who is bashing Esslinger? Some simple facts about the election have been pointed out. What is with your defensive attitude?
Stop being so pissy about this. You see it as people fed up with things. Some of us see it as McHugh giving the people what they want in a garbage fee repeal.
As already mentioned, if people were that fed up Tower would have been voted out and Esslinger would have done better.
If you want to look at it through your Esslinger-colored glasses and think it says something different, be my guest. But me thinks you don't like some of the harsh realities so you've spun it that people are beating up on little Paul Esslinger. So be it.
You don't need a pulpit to be a bully Mrs. Bloechle. We've certainly seen more than our share of that over the years. By the same token, having a pulpit doesn't automatically make one a bully.
Citizen statements should not be limited in any way. City Hall belongs to the people and Bill Castle has a responsibility to listen to us. He expects his employees to listen to him whenever he has a message, doesn't he?
I agree with you Tony and others- email and/or call the city council to defeat the Mayor's suggested rule changes.
As far as Deputy Mayor position I agree it should go to someone with more experience than a year.
Let's hope the city council does not share Mr. Castle's opinion of restricting citizen statements. The reality is Castle doesn't want to spend a moment longer than he has to in those meetings. But guess what...if he only want to hear from people 4 times a year I say we all pack that room and make him sit there for an hour or more listening to us.
Any chance the council could pass a new rule? I think we need to eliminate completely mayoral statements. What say you Mr. Castle? How would you feel having your mike shut off?
SO Mr. Norton thinks the Deputy Mayor should go to someone with more than one years experience. Why? We have had councilors with many years experience who I would never recommend for the job. Mrs. Mattox being one. I think Meredith is more than qualified for the job. She cares about our community and would represent us very well. Mike, stick to the county board and the mess you have there. Experience sure does not help with the county board. Are you more qualified to run the county board than, lets say a Frank Tower would have been last year? No! I will take intelligence over experience any day.
There goes Melanie Bloechl again with her outlandish conspiracy theories. Is there anything that her political opponents could ever do that she might find it within herself to give them credit for? Or is it just impossible for her to find any redeeming qualities is those not of her own likeness?
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