Andrew Hamilton - MIA from Accomplishments

Last week we were talking about Councilman Hamilton's absence from city events (Click Here) and his absence from the legislative process (Click Here). At the City Council meeting last week a long-time resident used the public comment period to tell everyone why she supported recalling Andrew Hamilton. Among the many reasons she articulated, she said that Hamilton had accomplished very little. This was the only comment Hamilton responded to, ignoring her other complaints, but apparently he was confident that he could counter her objection to her belief that he lacked achievements.

Now we have the chance to see whether or not Hamilton is MIA with regard to accomplishments. You can view Hamilton's remarks at the 2 minute mark on the city's videotape.

HAMILTON’S LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS

• Getting the City to pay off the unfunded pension liabilities
• Getting the city to change our investment policy and increase our interest income
• Initiating the “city of kindness” initiative
• Voting against considering allowing residents to vote on Council pay raises
• Changing the City’s purchasing guidelines
• levelling "the playing field for churches and religious organizations"

If this is what Hamilton can point to after 2 ½ years on the Council, it’s a pretty pathetic list, considering that he has had the Gang of 3’s votes behind him and virtually could have done anything.

THE TRUE PICTURE

Let’s take a closer look at what Hamilton’s considers his accomplishments –

Unfunded Pension Liabilities

Councilman Nick originally brought up the idea of paying off the unfunded pension liability. Hamilton did ask to put it on the agenda (8/4/2015). According to the City’s minutes (Click Here) the motion to pay off the unfunded liabilities was made by Councilman Nick and seconded by Councilman Voigts. It appeared as item 13. The vote to proceed was unanimous.

Investment Policy

I originally complained about how little interest money we earned. Hamilton asked to put it on the agenda (3/17/2015) and we created an ad hoc committee consisting of me, Hamilton, the city manager, and the city’s finance director. Ultimately we made recommendations that doubled the city’s interest income.

Kindness

The “city of kindness” initiative was pushed by Hamilton while he was Mayor. During his term he cut speakers off in mid-sentence, threatened Police action against people who talked while he was talking, placed everyone in “time-out” because he wasn’t able to stop people from talking or laughing, had a temper tantrum and ended a meeting early, and complained that he was being “bullied”. Apparently he missed the irony in asking to call ourselves a “city of kindness” while engaging in such unkind behavior. In any event, after getting his initiative passed, he did nothing kind and the initiative simply sits there as proof that hypocrisy is alive and well in Lake Forest.

Purchasing Guidelines

Hamilton takes credit for revising the city’s purchasing guidelines. According to the City’s minutes (Click Here) the purchasing guidelines (Item 11) were in our consent calendar and removed by Hamilton. He proposed several minor changes, which the Council accepted, however, the guidelines themselves were adopted “in the form substantially submitted”. IOW - the purchasing guidelines had already been substantially changed by staff and Hamilton added a few items to a document that was 131 pages long (Click Here).

Council Compensation

At the time of his vote, Hamilton seemed to be objecting to the idea of residents voting on whether or not Council compensation should be increased. If residents got the chance to vote, Hamilton probably wouldn’t get an increase, given that in last year’s recall he got more votes to be recalled than he got votes to be in office, and this year he is the only one on the recall list. According to his statement on last Tuesday night, it appears he is objecting to Council members getting any increase at all, regardless of whether or not residents approved it. Regardless of his intention, a vote to do nothing is hardly a major achievement.

Religious Freedom

It's hard to know what Hamilton is referring to when he says he "leveled the playing field for churches and religious organizations."

SUMMARY

Hamilton did play a role in these issues, and in some cases he played a major role and in other cases a minor role. I’m not sure any of these issues should be attributed to him alone, except the “kindness” initiative and his sole vote in opposition to Council compensation. In any case it's a pretty meager list of accomplishments when you consider the fact that Hamilton and his cohort (Voigts and Robinson) have been in complete control using their 3 person majority to control almost every vote taken.

The truth is, most of Hamilton’s votes have been against doing anything at all. Tomorrow we’ll take up this topic. Given the fact that Hamilton is being recalled, his voting record is certainly germane.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in May.