Council doing it the hard way

SOMETIMES IT SEEMS THAT some members of the Plymouth City Council refuse to do things the easy way, even when it’s offered to them.

A case in point is the issue of city funding for non-profit community agencies and groups.

It’s an issue that has been a bone of contention when the council draws up the city’s annual budget for years and years. Groups like Junior Football, the Plymouth Youth Athletic Association, the Family Resource Center, the Plymouth Historical Society and the Plymouth Arts Center have asked the city for funds to help their efforts. Aldermen have wrestled with how much to give each group, how big a pie to divide among the groups, and where to get the money to distribute to them. Representatives of each group have come begging and pleading, hat in hand, to council members seeking the maximum amount of funding.

For the few thousands of dollars involved in a multi-million dollar budget, the annual wrangling over those donations was a most inefficient use of the council’s time.

To that end, a study committee was formed, chaired by Council President Charles Hansen. That group worked diligently during the summer and last month presented an excellent set of recommendations to the council to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Among them was that the “groups be funded at the same rate as provided in the 2009 city budget, if funds allow.” If that much was not available, the committee recommended cutting the funding for all groups, across the board, 50 percent and, if that was not possible, that all such funding be eliminated entirely. It was an eminently wise and reasonable recommendation.

Council members seemed to agree, when the committee’s report was presented to them. Then, when City Clerk/Treasurer Patty Huberty asked if she should send budget request sheets to those groups, as she has in the past.

That’s when the council slammed the door on the efficient and expedient solution that had been offered them. Alderman Ronald Lade said he felt the budget request sheets should be sent out and the majority of the council seemed to go along with him.

Which raises the question, why did Hansen’s study committee bother coming up with a recommendation, if the council is willing to initiate the same time-consuming process it has followed in the past.

Going through the budget-request and allocation procedure with all these groups will only make the study committee’s time and efforts pointless. If the council does go ahead and follow the committee’s recommendation, it will make the time and effort these groups spend filling out their budget request forms pointless.

Either way, the council missed the boat.

At issue: Something or other Bottom line: Do something about it