Politics & Government

Op-Ed: Public Deserves Right to Vote on City Offices

Burt Hoffman says Novato City Council should re-examine the decision to build the planned city offices in Old Town and present the idea to the voters.

By Burt Hoffman

Let me say first of all, I’m sorry.  It is my fault that we don’t have a new Novato City Council that might correct the errors of the past and fix the problems regarding the in Old Town.

This is not about Eric or Leslie or Madeline or Jeanne or any other candidate. At last count, Leslie Peterson Schwarze of unseating our mayor, Madeline Kellner. This could have brought an important vote in what might reopen the council to giving proper consideration to the city office issue that I have been passionately following for nearly a year. Maybe 44 telephone calls would have switched enough votes from Madeline to Leslie or 87 conversations would have created enough new votes. I talk to at least 30-40 people every day, maybe I could have changed our future by bringing up the topic for just a few moments in every conversation.

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The problem is, beyond the surface of one issue, I just don’t know which candidate is right.  We have a system of representative democracy that is based on picking a person that will make the right choices on a lot of different issues for years to come based on a few bullet points during a two-month campaign.  If a citizen really participates, most will read carefully for a day or so, maybe pay a little more attention to the summary of a debate, ask a neighbor or friend for an opinion and then go vote.

My vote on the council race, the school board race and the sanitary district race was based on a really light understanding of the candidates. I didn’t even cast a vote in the other races because I had no idea of the issues or where the candidates stand.  This is how the course of history is decided. Out of millions of votes, a few hanging chads in Florida and our country might be completely different (for better or worse.)

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"Do the right thing" … what does that mean?  "Core values" … how do you tell? What is "right" and what is "wrong"?  I believe that most people are fundamentally good.  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  I am a Rotarian, and I believe in their Four Way Test, “Is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it bring goodwill and better friendships, and will it be beneficial to all concerned?” These are all ways to measure core values for others and ourselves. Most decisions are not black and white, but shades of gray.

In politics, it is hard to always see the right way. I am pretty sure that I have the facts right on the downtown city offices. I keep asking questions and digging deeper to figure out what took place and what should happen next. It is important for voters and representatives to keep their eyes open to new information and continue to re-examine their position. It is easy to say “I made the best decision based on what I knew at the time” and move on. It is hard to say, “I made the wrong decision because I didn’t know enough.”

I, and others are going to continue to question the decision to build city offices downtown because we have an informed opinion that a decision was made for the wrong reasons. It is all about the money and the rights of the people to decide how it's spent. It is easy to get lost in building design and location, parking and all sorts of other details, but it really is just about the money and the right to vote on an expenditure of this magnitude.

As of now, the critical point that we don’t seem to know enough about is the following: When the bond issue was planned for March 2011, was the council ever offered the option of a taxable bond issue?

The decision to issue tax-exempt bonds is what attached restrictions to the proceeds that limits options and created a need to spend the money within a tight time frame.

City council, city staff, please answer this question: If this option wasn’t offered, wasn’t the decision to build made with inadequate information? If the option wasn't possible, then the repayment of the loan from the general fund was faulted.

At the risk of appearing revisionist, the simplest bullet points to date are as follows:

  • The Novato Redevelopment Agency borrowed money from the city’s general fund.
  • The money was returned to the general fund with restrictions because of the type of bond that was issued.
  • If the money was returned to the general fund without those restrictions, it could be used for any purposes such as police services, parks and recreation, senior services, etc.
  • The will of the people to vote on a real estate decision worth more than $1 million was clearly stated in Measure D.

To newly elected Eric Lucan and the rest of the City Council, it is time to get all the facts and re-examine your decision to build the planned city offices. If you still think it is a good idea, present it to the voters and let them decide. It is the right thing to do.


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