A great disservice — Lisa Roth

Editor,

The partisan politics in City Council and City Hall are again serving no one.

Asked why are we now in such turmoil regarding our city manager, I said I believe the reasons Matt Bedolla, Eleassia Davis and Dan Evans brought this mess upon our city is they are frustrated and/or inexperienced with how to be effective in their role as council members:

• They appear to have expectations regarding timeframes/performance that are not based in reality;

• They want to see improvements (e.g., homeless, potholes, etc) and that are desired by ALL on council, however;

• They think they can direct staff (they cannot) and punish staff (the grand jury recommendation prevents that), therefore;

• They used the same means employed by past electeds to get their way, instead of working together with the entire council - including the mayor

Regarding our current mayor, who won overwhelmingly over Bedolla and Davis, there is the appearance of a power grab/sour grapes as the reason to strip responsibilities from Mayor Nancy Young, which also raises concerns about disenfranchising those who voted for her leadership.

Those voters did not pick the city attorney, who strangely is entwined in all this. What I will say at this time is there’s no doubt that she’s going to be responsible for an expensive settlement for the city manager’s case against the city (which we will pay for).

Speaking of expenses we will pay for, there will likely be a recall election. Some say they want to recall Mayor Young, others say they want to recall Councilmembers Bedolla, Davis and/or Evans. We shall see.

But making this a partisan issue is the greatest disservice to a constructive dialog and outcome.

Our best results have always included, and should continue to include making progress together to improve Tracy’s quality of life.

Lisa Roth, Tracy