Dear editor:
1) What Issue 7 is NOT about:
a) It is not about personality conflicts. I believe the BPA members, past and present, should be applauded for their willingness and abilities to serve the Bryan community.
b) Nor is it about a power grab. City Council per the charter has always had control over the BPA budget, which I believe exerts quite a lot of control already.
c) “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” The issue is not about being broke, but can our governing body be improved?
d) It is not about the loss of the experience of the BPA members.
i) I have attended over 70% of the BPA meetings the past eight years along with 99.9% of the City Council meetings. I can say without hesitation I would have voted 99% of the time with all the BPA resolutions over that eight-year time period.
Why? The reason is simple: it is not the experience of being a BPA member that leads to good decisions by the BPA; it is due to the value of the recommendations coming from the BMU director and his BMU management staff. It is this BMU management staff that will remain the same, making the same recommendations to Council as they currently do now with BPA.
ii) Also, 60% (three of the five) of the current BPA members are new, and BMU has downsized its operation through the loss of the communications department’s TV and internet services.
I do believe BMU is large enough to have an appointed volunteer advisory group going forward to make recommendations to City Council should Issue 7 pass.
2) What Issue 7 IS about: Is our current form of city government with two governing bodies necessary — i.e., do the citizens of Bryan want more or less government? If less government is your preference, then vote Yes on Issue 7, and here is why.
a) If two forms of governing bodies are necessary, why is Bryan the only municipality in the state of Ohio with such a system?
b) Do most corporate boards have multiple boards? Do schools have two superintendents with two separate school boards?
c) I believe the citizens of Bryan are better served by a more efficient and effective form of one governing body.
Sincerely,
Bryan City Councilman Betts