Thank you Councilman Dave Emanuel for sharing the following about nominations.
Prior to being elected to the City Council, I was nominated and confirmed for a post on the Planning Commission. At the time, the Council was divided with three members opposing virtually everything Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer proposed.Mayor Oberholtzer told me that my nomination would probably be turned down the first time, and he was correct. The politics of divisiveness were in full bloom.
In spite of that, since I knew only one member of the Council, I sent an e-mail to all the members to introduce myself and invite them to ask me any questions they might have about my qualifications and viewpoints. I thought it only reasonable that they would want to know something about the person they were going to approve or disapprove for a position on a city board or commission.
I did not receive a single response, which struck me as being very odd. Clearly, the nomination and approval process needed to be revised.
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After becoming a Council member, I made it a point to research every nominee, talk to them personally when possible, and share the information with other Council members. Although that provided good insight into a person’s background, it did not address the issue of nominees being approved without ever having spoken with the members of the board or commission with whom he or she would be working. That’s a bit like being dropped into an ocean to see if you could swim.
Consequently, a majority of the current Council members decided that the best way to serve the interests of the city, the boards and commissions and individual nominees was to have each nominee meet by the organization for which he or she had been nominated. This helps ensure that the nominee is fully aware of duties and responsibilities and has personally interacted with existing members. It also provides existing members the opportunity to evaluate each nominee.
Having personally had the experience of being appointed to a commission without knowing any of the existing members, and not knowing what was expected of me, the current process is a dramatic improvement. It eliminates many unknowns and enables much smoother transitions when new members join a board or commission. Nominating people who have not had the opportunity to interact with other members and learn about responsibilities and expectations, isn’t fair to anyone, and doesn’t serve the best interests of the city.
Good evening,
As Chairman of the Arts Commission, I believe a response is warranted. After our June meeting, the Arts Commission received three applications. All three people were invited by e-mail to our next meeting, which was on July 20: “Thank you all for your interest in the Snellville Arts Commission. Our next meeting is this Monday (20th) at 6:30 at City Hall, and we would like you to be there, if possible, to see what we’re all about. We’d also like for you to become involved, whether you’re ‘officially’ a Commissioner or not – we currently have two openings and four applicants, one of whom we have already recommended for confirmation by the City Council. We have many different projects, and we’re always looking for committed people to help (or lead) with more. You can check everything out at our (newly designed) website: http://www.snellvillearts.com”
At the July 20th meeting, it was explained as openly as possible that the Commission had already recommended Leroy Banks to the Mayor and City Council for one of the two open positions, leaving one other Commission seat available. It was reaffirmed at that meeting by a unanimous vote to re-recommend Mr. Banks to the Mayor and City Council as he has been involved with the Commission for several months (you can see his picture on our Facebook page from the past two weekends painting on the mural).
Since March of 2014, per the City Council’s directive, this has been the process – people interested in a Commission are vetted by the Commission, i.e., they attend a meeting, meet the Commissioners and get involved. Then, the Commission makes a recommendation.
It’s unfortunate that Ms. Herrington’s name was put forward twice by the Mayor before that process had occurred (first on July 13th, before the Arts Commission had even met Ms. Herrington) and she was embarrassed at the City Council meeting. Mayor Kautz may not like it, but that is the process.
As to the rest of Ms. Herrington’s suggestions, she (and everyone else) is welcome to come back to a meeting (August 17th at 6:30 at City Hall) and offer to help with as many projects as she has time for. Since she has only attended one meeting, she is clearly unaware of the many projects involving children, senior citizens, and “light” subjects that the Arts Commission has completed and are still working on. We obviously need to do a better job publicizing them. (Incidentally, anyone interested in helping to create an “Art Walk/Snellville Stroll” is invited to meet this Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall parking lot.)
Thanks,
Kirk Buis
Chairman – Snellville Arts Commission
It is about time to put the tired, old dog down for a nap – but I would like to point out that Councilman Emmanuel did not speak to me about my nomination to the Arts Commission.
Furthermore and in retrospect: in that the intention of the Council (which I find no reason to criticize their intentions!) did not play out in the meeting of the arts commission I attended. Neither nominated candidate was asked anything about our past experiences, what our vision might be, what input and skills we could offer.. . It seems the only thing the commission was interested in was ‘how well we would fit in with their already-selected’ projects and they would not make any nominations until the November meeting – so that “they could see how hard we worked on their projects.” [may not be exact wording, but it is very, very close.]
So, it seems not everything is as it was intended. Question: did any written communication go to the commission chairs from the Council once this different form of procedure was passed? Perhaps they did not even know what the commission’s responsibility would be in the process and HOW it should be carried out.
It seems the arts commission seeks ‘worker bees’ to put on the commission, rather than visionary, experienced persons who can network into the community to invite others to participate – the arts commission was in all likelihood not formed to have a group of ‘worker bees’ ready, at the omission of others in our community who might just enjoy the experience.
In addition, I have the following observations of situations that are very disconcerting to me:
(1) Lack of opportunity and intentions to provide a variety of arts experiences for our children. How long has it been since we have seen a display of children’s art displayed in our City Hall? What about music for children and even drama opportunities just for our children’s participation? The commission’s focus appears to be predominantly visual arts – there are other forms out there. . .
(2) Care and concern for certain populations in our community: the seniors, the handicapped. I do not ask that these be the only priority, BUT they need to be included and their inclusion should be actively sought by the commission.
(3) And a final question: why does the arts commission focus on such ‘dark’ projects involving ghosts, dinner theaters on murder mysteries? In our world of today is there not enough darkness surrounding us on all sides? Let us consider the use of arts for the positive, the good, the light-filled. . .
Instead of ghost tales, why not stories of our early residents in Snellville – told by volunteers who wouldn’t be in scary attire, but in attire of their era. And there is a plethora of dinner theater scripts that are light in nature and provide the audience with laughter and fun. And yes, our residents are fully able to write stories/scripts along those lines.
(4) In addition, I have had others mention to me their concern about the art work on Hwy 78 with 32 figures painted – of which 16 are simply decapitated bodies. Some parents have expressed great displeasure at their children viewing this. . .One parent even voiced the sentiment ‘is this how we want others to see our city of Snellville?”
Just thoughts. . . just questions. . . just from someone who cares about their city in which they (and others) live. . .
Blessings to all,
Anna Herrington