Muscatine

I don't know about you

rhirdt but I didn't elect my City Councilman to be a bean counter.

The purpose of the City Council is to govern the facilities of the City. The City Council isn't elected to review pay increases, pay decreases, job hirings, job firings, establishing municipal budgets. Those duties fall to the individual agencies the City helps fund and oversee. The City Council reviews the budgets and amends the budgets as necessary. The City Council also takes up complaints from the citizens.

I suggest you personally appear before the City Counsel and go on record with your complaints. That's one of the things I elected my Councilman to do. Hear the voices of the community.

Elmer Remle

Elmer isn't paying attention

Elemer this is about exactly waht you said and I quote ''establishing municipal budgets'' which these 4 can't seem to do or understand.

FYI

If the city council is not happy with the budget, they send it back to the city administrator who inturn decides which items from the various departments can be eliminated. Then during budget discussion the council goes over the changes and decides whether they want to except the changes or not. they discuss the changes with the department heads who are at the budget meeting. The public is invited to the meetings,but usually no one shows up.

But that takes

The responsility for failure away from the city council because the gutless wonders in the group would just say that they did what the city administrator suggested. It's all about taking responsibility, and they take none when the possible outcome might be negative, but all when it's a no brainer for a positive outcome.
The city administrator isn't elected, he represents no one, the magnificent 7 are elected, so it is clearly their responsibility.