Charlie Brown II is Coming

During the first reading in which Mayor Wood stated "Why am I passing this” (with the emphasis on “I”) should give the public overwhelming insight relative to his administration’s interest in ignoring public input and involvement.

In what could only have been described as a total breach of parliamentary procedures the Roswell City Council approved the first reading of the UDC last week after its author, Councilwoman Diamond, resorted to an addition of 50 amendments. And over a “point of order” objection, Comrade Wood proceeded to open the floor to public input without a motion even being presented for approve of this universal zoning code document.

Historically, motions are routinely presented to council which immediately makes additions or corrections in the form of amendments. That procedure occurs long before the matter is presented to the public for their input and final evaluation. This procedure insures that unacceptable amendments cannot be “slipped in” and the public denied the opportunity to respond to such an undesirable tactic. These protocols were completely ignored by Comrade Wood and this is just one further example how this administration is uninterested in public involvement on the UDC.

During the first Roswell Council meeting public comments were technically directed towards Roswell’s Community Development Director Mrs. Alice Wakefield opening remarks consisting of a litany of meetings to include what she presented as a favorable presentation to the residents of Martin’s Landing subdivision.

As a resident of this subdivision, I can candidly state that Mrs. Wakefield exited that presentation with her tail between her legs resorting to the repetitive excuse that the UDC was a “work in process”, which it apparently still is.

There hasn't been a single discussion on transfer of development rights. This can potentially be a disaster, but nobody knows how it came to be and how it’s intended to be used. Martins Landing is going to get screwed with Charlie Brown II and all the properties in East Roswell.

During the three (3) subsequent public hearings conducted utilizing the deceptive Delphi protocols the city presented their case for the UDC and the public was not even allowed any open public comments.

So was it any surprise that the first public reading ignored routine acceptable parliamentary procedures opening the floor to public input without a formal motion being presented? The subsequent manner in which the proposed UDC was approved by Roswell City Council with a vote of 4-2, AFTER the author, Councilwoman Diamond presented 50 amendments to her own documents, and was Council subsequently approved the UDC without any subsequent public input to these massive changes was grossly unprofessional.

The entire proceedings illustrated just how much pressure this administration & council is under by developers that want to plop a series of cluster you know what’s throughout our city which our one time “stop the sprawl” Mayor deceptively sales as “walk-ups”.

Comrade Wood should publish his own parliamentarian “Rules of Order” however it would likely only be one sentence long – “I conduct Council meetings however it pleases me and council dare not try to do otherwise!”