The Greensboro City Council at the Thursday, June 30 work session discussed taking back control of the City Council work sessions.
The move may have been politically motivated, since the beginning of early voting in the City Council election was one week away.
During the past several years, the City Council has often not made it through the work session agenda and has had to postpone agenda items to the next work session.
At the June 30 meeting the presentation on the Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) program had to be cut short in order for the City Council to discuss the controversial plan to implement $25 for residents who did not roll their garbage cans back from the street by 7 p.m. on collection day.
The MWBE program is the topic the City Council discusses far more than any other topic, so cutting that presentation short was no small thing.
Councilmember Sharon Hightower said, “I really didn’t like having to cut them down. I didn’t like it at all.”
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter asked if an approximate amount of time it would take to discuss each item on the work session agenda could be provided, so they wouldn’t have to cut one short.
City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba said, “It is your work session. I did not want to dictate to you.”
He added, “I also don’t want to limit your ability to engage in discussion.”
Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann said that the MWBE discussion should have been the only item on the agenda. She added, “There is nothing magic about two hours. We could go two and half or three.”
Councilmember Justin Outling said, “I think it would be helpful to get all of the materials in advance.”
Jaiyeoba said, “That’s fair. But you want to be very careful when you send out material that can be one-sided and doesn’t have context.”
He said that the MWBE report from the city’s consultants Griffin & Strong was only sent to the city staff about an hour before the meeting, so it could not be provided to the City Council.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said, “I understand that you say numbers can be taken out of context, but I do think it helps council to have information in advance. One it can help us form questions. Two if we read through it, it might stop us from asking questions during the presentation.”
Pitiful but priceless. Better use your vote wisely.
Blah, blah, blah, blah…..
Sharon, so you “didn’t like it at all”. If you say it twice, does it count for more?
Looks like Jaiyeoba is tripping up the council that he works for. Time to fire him, get rid of the present council and puts some folks in office that remember that they work for the tax payers… not the other way around. Time for change, elect Katie Rossabi, Tony Wilkins & Thurston Reeder, this will be a good start to people that understand that the tax payer funds the budget and believes in transparency in government. Where is the city budget that was just passed? When will the tax payer have access to the budget on line?
Who is the boss? Council or the city manager?
OMG! A bunch of children. Please, people, please vote out Sharon Hightower and get someone with brains that can not only represent your district, but can actually get something done for you instead of talk talk talk talk talk. She thinks she’s doing you a favor, but she is actually saying that her district is not smart enough to get on Boards and Commissions, become business owners, etc. She thinks you are all stupid and on welfare! She is not only denigrating you but the whole City. Use your brains people. We know you have them
Agree 100%, Hightower needs to go!!!
Sharon Hightower will never be defeated. Her constituents believe she can solve any problem. That is all you need to know.
Dumb and dumber!
The Griffin and Strong report needs to be released. Maybe MWBE contracts are being awarded by private businesses, or minority businesses that do not want government contracts. Maybe there are no MWBE contractors large enough or experienced enough to handle some city contracts. City Council forces contractors to subcontract to MWBEs. Are these subcontractor numbers included in the Griffin and Strong report? Where does Griffin and Strong get their numbers from? Do they do an internal audit?
It would be helpful to know who would be considered a minority. Let us see. There are Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, Blacks and others living in Greensboro. Is Sharon Hightower as concerned about Hispanics and Asians and Muslims as she is Blacks? Probably not.
In Hightowers pea sized brain if it’s not black it’s not a minority and blacks can’t be racist just ask her.