Two tickets to paradise

Being a city councilor has its perks, but one thing it won't get you: a pass from parking tickets.

Todd Fedora and Jim Stauber found that out last week when they spoke at the Chamber Forum last week, and because they were parked at one-hour spots and the event lasts for a bit longer than that, they both got tickets. They could have parked in the Tech Village garage to avoid those tickets, or, apparently they could have been  city employees.

Stauber said that he was parked next to three city vehicles driven by the same employees who attended/the one who spoke at the Forum. None of those vehicles got tickets.

He brought this up during last Thursday's agenda session, to which city CAO David Montgomery said he didn't believe it was right that the vehicles weren't ticketed.

But, city attorney Gunnar Johnson sent an email to the council Friday saying it was his understanding that "city vehicles on official business do not receive parking tickets."

That begs the question: were the employees there on official city business? Economos, a speaker at the Forum, said he was coming from a job site and would return to it at the end of the Forum. The other city workers at the Forum seemed like they were there to support Economos -- they were all part of the AFSCME bargaining team.

It begs another question: how many comments will I get on this post? I'm putting the over/under at 35.

UPDATE: The following email was sent to the city council this morning: 

Dear Mr. Montgomery,

I read with interest a post by Brandon Stahl on the Buzz Duluth blog titled “Two tickets to paradise.” I found this particular post by Stahl interesting because I was one of the Basic Unit employees who attended the Chamber of Commerce forum regarding the cost of government. Stahl’s piece was filled with inaccuracies if not outright lies.

There were six Basic Unit members in attendance at the Chamber’s May 4th forum. They were Dave Wiesen, Scott Stewart, Jim Drier, Robin Davis, myself, and guest panelist Nick Economos. All six of the Basic Unit members in attendance were there on their own time using management approved vacation or personal leave. All six members traveled to the Tech Village in private vehicles and paid for their own parking.

It is unfortunate that Councilors Fedora and Stauber attempted to use City vehicles and employees to divert attention away from the fact that they broke the law. If Stahl’s blog has any truth to it, which may be a stretch, it is even more unfortunate that Councilor Stauber raised this issue during a City Council meeting. In my opinion this was nothing more than another mindless smear against the Basic Unit in a very public arena by Stauber. The idea that Stauber would waste the public’s time, the Chief Administrative Officer’s time, and the City Attorney’s time over a parking ticket truly is a sad commentary on Duluth.

Sincerely,

Daral Lange

Comments | Permalink

Tags: daily updates, news, politics, unions, afscme, buzz, blogs, duluth

More from around the web