The city commissioners have only one meeting every other week.
They get paid extremely well. Where do you get this "less than minimum
wage" stuff? - The commissioners
also knew the pay before they took the job. I doubt if most of them knew the
workload, though. The commissioners get
a very thick stack of papers continually that they should read and consider.
There are additional meetings that they attend. They need an office with filing
cabinets, time to read, sort through, and file all of the papers, time to study
the issues and consult with others, time to talk on the phone and listen to you
and me. A commissioner who does a good job puts in many, many hours. We are
lucky that people have been willing to run for office. It is long past time that
the commissioners got a BIG pay raise. If the job paid reasonably well, more
people would be willing to run for office. There are people who would like to
run but cannot afford to donate their time to the City.
But the Charter Amendment Petition doesn't fix all of the city's problems. Of course not! But there are significant changes which would improve the chances of things being fixed. For example, the charter review commission once appointed would not be under the thumbs of our current city government. They would not need the approval of the city commission to put a charter change on the ballot.
But a Ward system? We will have constant arguing at the commission meetings like Cleveland does. - No, because there are major differences between Sandusky and Cleveland. We would have some commissioners elected from wards and 3 elected at large. Our community is much smaller than Cleveland. What affects one end of town affects the entire town. And a difference of opinion and discussion is healthy! It means people are thinking!