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The Owosso City Council is in the process of evaluating the city manager, Gregg Geutschow. The public is welcome to express any comments about his job performance at any open council meeting. I have my own opinion, but I would like to hear from anyone on this forum who are unable to come or who simply don't want to. Any and all pertinent comments would be useful to me when I address the council about Mr. Geutschow's job performance.
Thank you, Gary Martenis

Thanks Kevin, the "Timekeeper" concept bothers me also. I agree that to limit a person's "time" is not necessary. Any abuse of time could easily be stopped by the mayor's gavel. Good point

I don't know about that. Just for the sake of argument, couldn't the Mayor then choose to gavel down someone he/she disagrees with and let their buddies rant on and on about nothing? I saw that happen at school board meetings with a weak president. I think the only fair thing is to give all visitors equal time and a stop watch is the only way to do it. IF the Manager is jabbering on and on, that is another matter.
I think one should remember that you're witnessing a council meeting and the audience is not really a part of that meeting. Visitors are allowed to speak at the discretion of the Mayor, Chairman, President etc. Check it out at Robert's Rules of Order. If all are allowed unlimited time, meetings could go on for hours and hours.
Not trying to pick a fight but just waxing a little philosophical here.
By the way, how did the meeting go?

Because what he has to say is important and what the peasants have to say is merely a nuisance.

This "time-limit" was put in specifically to eliminate two long-winded citizens from speaking and dragging the meetings on "too long", with their unnecessary and annoying chatter. I don't think those two go to meetings anymore. One kinda faded away and the other has been dealing with all manner of severe illnesses, including cancer.

I have not witnessed any long-winded speakers lately. But, yes some council members, the manager, and some of his staff go on and on and on about nothing,sometimes.
The meeting was very interesting (no Argus Press reporter present)--but Bill was there, so read Sunday's Independent.
It was disclosed (because I asked) that our city manager has NO contract. I remarked that this seems "strange". I was told that when he(the manager) was hired, contracts were illegal. But now, a contract is legal, if the city wants to offer one to him. The evaluation is now underway.

The pity of it is, most people have given up, and with good reason.

The council can hardly be bothered with having them in the room.

Certainly the council cannot be expected to listen to any of them!

I'm confused, does the lack of any responses to my request (other than Kevin's) indicate;
1) the city manager is doing a good job
2) nobody cares (except Kevin and I)
3) no one reads these posts anyway
WHICH IS IT??

Not everybody reading/posting here is from Owosso, Gary.

I suspect it's a combination of all three of those options and possibly one more:
4) The Council will never fire the City Manager anyway, so what's the difference?

I am not sure about your #4, the "new" council members are not puppets.

They're not puppets? Are you SURE about that, GMSPARTY? Drove by City Hall today...could've sworn I heard music and....and...singing.......

Buffalo Bob: Say kids, what time is it?
Kids: It's Howdy Doody Time!

It's Howdy Doody Time.
It's Howdy Doody Time.
Bob Smith and Howdy Do
Say Howdy Do to you.
Let's give a rousing cheer,
Cause Howdy Doody's here,
It's time to start the show,
So kids let's go!

My granddaughter's favorite saying is "WHATEVER"

Sorry, GMSPARTY. It's hard to for me to be serious when we're talking about ANYTHING coming out of Owosso City Hall.

I used to believe in government of the people, by the people...yadda,yadda, blah,blah, etc., .....until I attended a few Owosso City Council meetings a few years back.

The "citizens comments" portion of those meetings was something akin to The Gong Show....Citizens who were obviously uncomfortable speaking in public were frequently interrupted, told to "speak up",were asked stupid questions or otherwise intimidated into sitting down and keeping their mouths SHUT. Forceful speakers were politely heard, only to have their comments blatantly ignored by the council.

Showing up in large numbers didn't help the citizenry much, either. The Mayor & Council at that time seemed to take great personal affront that so MANY people would DARE to challenge their authority. They simply "circled the wagons" and continued to do as they d----- well pleased.

I wish you well in your sincere attempt to garner some semblance of accountability from the present City Manager through our city council, but I think you've got a real uphill fight ahead.

AMEN.............You said it all......
Now repeat the same thing for Township Government.......
Amen.............................
Now repeat the same thing for County Government.......
Amen.........................AGAIN
STATE? FEDERAL?

They are all the same......the ABSOLUTE LAST THING THEY WANT TO HEAR IS ANYTHING ANY CITIZEN HAS TO SAY ABOUT ANYTHING!