MINUTES OF MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL CALL MEETING CITY OF KENNESAW Council Chambers Wednesday, June 26, 2013 6:00 p.m. B. Consideration of Mayor and City Council election of Councilmember to fulfill the vacancy for Post 4, with a term ending December 31, 2013, as required in the City Charter, Section 2.08. Twelve candidates qualified for the Council vacancy (with a term ending December 31, 2013): Christopher Bishop, Leonard Church, Jimmy Dickens, Pat Ferris, Robert Kozora, Francis O’Brien, Sam Paglioni, Matthew Riedemann, Jim Sebastian, Suzanne Thrash, Kevin Tidwell and June Wick. Mathews: The next item is the consideration of the election of the person to fulfill thevacancy on Council. Thank you. Again, Charter Section 2.08 requires the Mayor andCouncil to elect a replacement if the vacancy is created within 12 months of the expiration of the term of office which has been created, and there is no required time frame only a requirement for us to elect someone and we have all been through the names that were submitted and by no means are we required to pick from the names CITY OF KENNESAW 10 Special Call Meeting Minutes 06/26/2013 that were submitted, that was just an opportunity for anyone who was interested to submit their names in a format so that we can all review and consider, so… At this point I will open up for any discussion, any comments, or just open up for any nominations if there are nominations. Killingsworth: First of all Mr. Mayor I would to thank…I don’t know how many of them are here, but I want to thank each and every one of them for stepping up and showing that they do love the City and they want to be a part of the City. I personally have talked to each and every one of them and I feel very comfortable with the people I have in mind that would represent the City well. I don’t look at…and even though some of you said "I just want to do this for six months" I didn’t look at it as a six month obligation, I looked at it as a long term obligation. I looked at it as someone that…would want to continue to stay with the City and if you so elect not to run, that’s incumbent upon you. But to be re-elected is all on you. It certainly doesn’t give you any carte blanche from anybody here because we elect you here at this stage. So, I just want to thank you for stepping up and, I truly have made no bones about it – every one of you have been prayed over by me, every single one of you and I feel very comfortable on my decision with my heart and mind. Mathews: And while it’s not required and was not without…unless there are any objections here I would like to offer any of the candidates the opportunity to come up and speak, ask questions, whatever you’d like to do unless, like I said, unless there are any objections from the Council. Anyone that is interested that has submitted their name or is interested in being considered. Yes sir, come on up. O’Brien: Mr. Mayor, Council. I’ve submitted my name and I have some further observations that may help Council. Mayor: We know who you are, but for the audio, if you will just give us your name please. O’Brien: I’m Francis O’Brien, one of the candidates who put his name forward. I have watched Council working at some Work Sessions and some Council meetings and I think the present composition of the Council is working very effectively. I don’t see any real requirement that Council proceed and put a temporary person in position for just the next six months – I think that would be very disruptive to put someone in who only wanted to stay for six months and then to go through another transition with a different person with a different agenda. So I think you should only consider people who have an intent to…for long term service on the Council and I think there is, based on this discussion, Council seems to reach consensus very easily on most issues. There are several issues that in my mind really could use some further attention by Council or Council committees and I put them forward in an email to you. I know we’ve got a proposal to spend a chunk of money on the jail, but we desperately need a decent library, one with space and parking in Kennesaw and that’s a much more attractive addition to the City of Kennesaw than an expanded jail. I don’t know what the allocation of funds is, but I certainly think that in terms of what the City plans for downtown, a better library rather than housing prisoners, is certainly something I want to see in Kennesaw. I’d like to see some progress on transportation, traffic moving through Kennesaw. If you’ve had the opportunity to travel on Main Street in the evening it is an CITY OF KENNESAW 11 Special Call Meeting Minutes 06/26/2013 unpleasant experience generally and we need to get moving rapidly to make something happen and if I were appointed to Council, I would make that a personal task that I would like to be appointed to, to do something about, and to spearhead a change in that area. I think we’ve done a lot on our parks, but travel is a key subject on everybody’s agenda in Kennesaw and if we want downtown to be what we dream it can be, we’ve got to make it easier and more accessible and not something that people shun away from; someplace where they’d like to stop on their way home and have a beer because traffic is comfortable, feel in a safe environment where there’s things going on, and we can make that happen, and if I were appointed to Council, I would be a very active member of this Council. I’d welcome any questions from Council members. Mathews: Questions? Thank you sir. Anybody else? Paglioni: Sam Paglioni, also known as Saverio but it’s easier to go by Sam. I had the opportunity to be interviewed for my views on serving. I think with respect to the Councilman’s widow, I think anybody who would run certainly can either say they’re going to continue in the position and try to go for a permanent or simply try to fill in. My interest was simply from filling in, learning a little bit more about what Council does. Based on my background, I have experience in a number of Boards, number of Committees, so I understand the workings. I don’t think necessarily that it should be handed to the widow from the perspective that an elected official, with respect, is elected by the people in the jurisdictions. So that would be, God forbid something would happen to one of our Georgia Governor, government officials or any one of you, that’s not how it works in the United States, your spouse doesn’t take it over. It has to be followed by the rule of law, whether it’s myself or one of the other candidates, that doesn’t necessarily matter. I just stepped forward to try and do a civic duty, to give something back to the City and in the meantime learn a little bit about the inner workings of the City government. So, thank you very much. Mathews: Questions for Sam? Thank you Sam. Thrash: In respect to Sam there is prescience where the spouse… Mathews: You need to address up here. Suzie Thrash: Okay, I’m just saying that there is prescience, there is law in the Federal government when a seated candidate dies or whatever, the spouse is given the opportunity to take that seat and then they have the opportunity to run again. That is the way it is in the Federal government. Okay? I have not been interviewed, personally, through this whole process and Mr. Killingsworth, you said that you had talked to everyone… I didn’t… Killingsworth: Shall I interject? I’ve talked to you on numerous occasions. Thrash: Not after I put in my name, sir. Okay. Well, so sorry. But obviously…I guess my feeling is I’m very disappointed. I’ve already talked to the Mayor and this is not the way it was supposed to be. And Jeff, we’re supposed to be able to talk things out and discuss, and see what my feelings were, what my plans were. And you never talked to me. Never. So how do you know how I am going to vote or how I’m going to react to
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 04:19:06 +0000
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