Last night Council voted unanimously, passing the budget as amended and overriding the veto that had been issued.

For me, a key theme is that everyone has a seat at the table in the conversation about how our City funds are spent: residents, Mayor, and Members of Council.

You can watch my brief discussion comment here, and I’ve included a text copy below.

Thank you Mr. President, and yes, a couple thoughts to share:

First of all, I believe the intent for this program is definitely coming from a good place and also I’m very appreciative of what LARS does for our community. I’ve also been very supportive of many of the Mayor’s programs.

But in my thinking, and as my fellow Councilmembers have also said, this $1 million is something that warrants additional community input, and Councilmember input, to think through.

We did discuss this program during the budget process and realized there was more here than could be unpacked during the budget cycle, so this amendment allows us to unpack this on the other side – That we can do what needs to be done for the City in the meantime, and unpack this on the other side to talk through it further.

It’s been said that Council could have extended conversations deeper into June, but in my thinking, in reality that really isn’t a workable solution – A thoughtful design of our budget cycle keeps June in reserve for situations such as this: a veto (which can be issued within 30 days)/ possible conversations that might occur afterwards if so/ and then a potential veto override vote (which can happen within 35 days). So there’s a buffer we need at the end of the process [in order to meet the June 20 deadline imposed by the State], and practically speaking, therefore, a vote really needs to happen sometime by the end of May, which is what we did.

In closing, our call to hold a common conversation – this thing we call “community” and what we do here tonight – it’s something higher than the technical requirements of the law. The truth is, it’s messy and at times can be cumbersome – but it also has an underlying beauty I believe, that can be accomplished in no other way, and it’s a worthy exercise of our human effort: to together, build towards the common good.

Thank you Mr. President.