At this point, I suppose we should not be surprised at anything the city would attempt to pull, but, once again, the Oswego City Council and Mayor are attempting to take the moral low road. In a special meeting held last week, Susan Bringle insisted on voting for her husband in his bid for the city clerk position. The question of whether she should be allowed to vote shouldn't even be brought up. Of course, this is a monumental conflict of interest! Even if legally they can find no reason to stop her voting, the city needs to take the ethical high road and insist she stay out of this.
I personally like Tom. That isn't the point. What IS the issue here is that the city, which has been consistently making decisions that the citizens find insane, again and again votes to do whatever it wants, whether it is ethical, moral or makes the best sense for the town. That three of the 6 council members have voted "no" for this city clerk appointment tells me there is something else at stake.
People in town wonder why Carol Eddington isn't being offered the position. She has years of experience with the city, has served as the community finance officer, has earned her certification as a Master Municipal Clerk (one of only 36 people in Kansas with this certification). And she was in the running for the job. Where is her name in this? Since she undoubtedly knows more than anyone else about the day to day workings of the city, if the job doesn't go to her, will she end up having to do both her current job and much of the clerk's position as well?
A question is being brought up on a consistent basis - "is it time for some recall elections?"
When the city makes it impossible for the citizens to get on the council meeting agenda to ask questions, something is wrong. The city even refused to allow our librarian speak to them last year, saying they were too busy to learn about the services it offers or about any of the plans for its Centennial celebration.
Something is wrong when three people attended a special meeting last week and they were forced to stand, saying there were no chairs available in the city offices.
When people who have considered moving here are told by countless people that they would NOT recommend them come here at this time - then something is horribly, horribly amiss.
The City of Oswego is currently being run with subterfuge - holding meetings they would rather keep secret, doing as much business as possible in closed sessions and with decisions obviously made before the meetings actually happen. People we have elected to office are behaving as if the local citizens are simply their's to be reigned over.
More and more, people are looking back over council decisions of the past months and questioning who is personally gaining from some of the acts that they are taking.
Regardless of whether Tom Bringle is the man for the city clerk position or not, Susan Bringle should NOT be allowed to vote in that decision and if they allow her to cast the deciding vote, she needs to remove herself from the council.
It is only the right thing to do.
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