OCR Text |
Show The Milford City Council seems stuck between a rock and a hard place and it doesn't look s if they are going to get moving in the near future. But it's not the fault of not trying In fact, this council has come up with some darn good ideas, but have consistently run into road blocks that have kept them from proceeding with due dispatch. The Council immediately upon forming in January tackled the dog problem, the zoning ordinances, and many other issues that have long been put off. Counoilman Pettey moved that the city set priorities on projects and tackle them one by one, until completed. He recommended recommend-ed a number of projects the city already had underway that needed to be completed. He urged the other council members to add their projects to the list, and then they be prioritized. This was never done. Councilman Swain proposed a citizens committee be set up to study several areas of city government, andmake recommendations recommenda-tions to the Council for needed changes, etc. The committee has barely functioned, function-ed, partly because some appointments were never made, some resigned and weren't replaced, and the delays have now taken them past the deadline originally set forth for them to make their recommendations. Dogs immediately were brought to the front. Councilman Pettey acquired a model ordinance for study by the council. The issue has been continually raised but no action either to adopt a complete new ordinance or-dinance or to am mend the old ordinance. When the zonlngordinances were adopted, adopt-ed, It was admitted that there were a number of areas that were unconstitutional. unconstitution-al. It was agreed that all would be cor rected when the new ordinance was completed com-pleted (1976) and either the old ordinance amended or the new one adopted. The Council now has a copy of the 1978 model ordinance, and has been trying to set public pub-lic hearings and get on with it. But because of delays in getting legal work done, to date nothing has been accomplished. Councilman Hanley moved that the zoning zon-ing on fences be amended. This too has failed for lack of legal attention to get the job done. Each time the council has tried to get a grip on a city problem it's been blocked. Milford City was offered the Milford Golf Course with five completed holes for just the indebtedness to the Milford Golf Assn. This includes a water right which In itself, is worth more than the indebtedness. indebt-edness. A water right that may be badly needed for future growth. Councilman Pettey moved to purchase the Golf Course and received a second from Hanley but a tie vote gave the Mayor a "no" vote. Swain them moved to put the matter to the voters and this motion passed. But, in a special meeting, called for another an-other purpose, the Council decided to form a recreation district to broaden the tax base for the Golf Course. This, as we see it, has effectively delayed de-layed any purchase of the golf course past the time in which it is possible for the Golf Assn. to make a decision. So, for the year, we've got to give the City Council A for Effort, but zero In accomplishment. ac-complishment. We don't see that things are going to change much unless they decide to take matters mat-ters in hand and remove those road blocks that thwart their every move. "Red" |