It’s the end of the two-year grading term for Danville City Council, and we’re giving out the final grades today.
Here’s the criteria for this set of grades. Each “version” of Danville City Council lasts for two years, with the elections results changing the makeup of the council. This grading period covers the two-year period from July 1, 2014 to today (and nothing before that).
And let’s be real with some things up front. Danville City Council isn’t responsible for the recent uptick in violent crime. All they can do is appropriate the money needed for law enforcement to work on the problem.This term of Danville City Council has nothing to do with the previous Job Busts. They hired Telly Tucker as economic development director and they’ve worked out a process so that the Job Busts will never happen again. They’ve hired a great city manager in Ken Larking and have put their trust in him to run the city. Electric rate increases aren’t city council’s fault. They came from bad rate decisions by the Utility Commission and a reluctance to incrementally raise rates as they should have been to ease the pain. Property tax rates haven’t gone up and good budgets have been passed.
Whew. That was a lot of ground rules that people already should have known, but I wanted to make it clear. We’ve taken all nine council members names and thrown them into the Random.org advanced list generator. Let’s see today’s grading order…
All righty then, let’s start writing out the ReportCards!
Here’s a Big Board for our ReportCards. That almost rhymes, you know.
- Sherman Saunders: Sure, I’ve criticized Sherman Saunders a lot over the last two years. I don’t like the way that he gets snippy and tries to cut off floor debate during council business meetings. I don’t like the way that he tries to keep all of the real debate on the issues in the council’s work sessions, keeping the business sessions looking unanimous. I do like the way that he tries everyday to endorse the city’s continuous improvement process. Let’s face it. The Danville mayor’s job is to be a smiling face at events and ribbon-cuttings. The mayor is just one vote out of nine when it comes to decisions made on issues and nothing more. Speaking of that, I’m liking the way that Saunders is actually getting involved in floor discussions lately. I hate some of the things that Sherman Saunders does, but I still like Sherman Saunders. His final report card for the last two years is a B.
- Buddy Rawley: I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again. I’m going to miss Buddy Rawley. Rawley has been the direct, straight-talking SOB that every governing body needs. You always know where Rawley stood on an issue and he rarely changed his mind. That’s because Rawley got the facts and knew everything about what came in front of council. He came out strongly against the $450K needed to give the city retirees a bonus. He snapped back at the outside agitators on both sides on the Confederate flag debate. He took the point in getting the “trains blocking the Pinetag sub-development” issue pushed and that wasn’t just because he lived in that neighborhood. He won’t be on Danville City Council anymore, but I’m sending his grumpy, enjoyable and fiscally conservative ass out the door with a well-deserved A+ grade.
- John Gilstrap: I had strong doubts that a former city department head could be an effective city councilman, but Gilstrap pulled it off. He still sticks his nose into the operations of his former Parks & Recreation department, but he knows when to back off. These last two years have been fun to watch Gilstrap, as he’s became much more opinionated and doesn’t care who he upsets. You may not know it from just looking at him, but Gilstrap is one of the most approachable members of council. He’s never let his personal feelings get into the way of making a city decision. Even though he’s dead wrong with his opposition to the GW precision machining project, he’s stated his objections in a fair and rational way. That’s the way to do that, and it’s part of the reason that John Gilstrap gets an A grade today.
- Larry Campbell: I’ve given up trying to predict Larry Campbell’s next moves, because he is still the City Council Wild Card. I’ve barbecued him in the past for one of his power plays, but that bounced off and a lot people still believed that he was personally threatened over his stand on the Confederate flag issue. I had to sit back and laugh at how masterful his gambit was. When Campbell gets zeroed in on something that he wants to happen, it’s probably going to happen. At the last council work session, I thought about roasting Campbell for asking basic “Jeez. You should already know these answers.” type of questions about how Danville’s Industrial Development Authority actually works. I stepped back and looked at Campbell’s questions objectively, and realized that was Campbell’s way of getting his answers directly. And he got his answers on the spot. Yeah. He fooled me again. If you underestimate Larry Campbell in anything business or city-related, you’re going to pay the price. I still don’t like his support for the city retirees bonus, but he ended up winning on that issue too. I’m not underestimating Campbell at all on this report card. He gets a A-.
- Fred Shanks: Fred Shanks is a genius. He’s got a unique skill set that he beings to council because he’s a civil engineer that knows everything about zoning and planning issues. He’s the only expert on council that can quote the stormwater regulations by heart. He serves on the Utility Commission and knows more about the utilities system than some of the other board members do. Shanks was the other city council member to go strongly against the city retiree’s bonus payment. He’s a cheap SOB when it comes to city spending, and that’s to be admired. Shanks was on the losing end of the Confederate flag debate (along with Buddy Rawley) but unlike Rawley, Shanks has taken that flag supporter support and ran with it. Shanks should be smarter than to become the only populist member of council because that’s going to put him on the outside of the discussion issues in the future. But getting back to what I love about Shanks, it was refreshing to watch him call out Lee Vogler & Alonzo Jones for voting against the recent utility rate increase. Shanks called their votes irresponsible (because he knew the electric fund was $9 million in the hole), and their votes were indeed irresponsible. I love Genius Fred Shanks. I don’t like Populist Fred Shanks. Overall in the last two years, I’ve seen a lot more Genius than Populist so Shanks is getting a very good B+ grade.
- Gary Miller: Gary Miller is hated by the stupid people who think “He’s a Democrat & a Liberal”. Yeah, he’s a Democrat and he leans towards a liberal political philosophy, but that doesn’t mean a damned thing when it comes to local government. Local government should be and is non-partisan. I made a speech in front of city council that blasted Gary Miller for his actions during the stinky water times. I called him out for making irresponsible statements, lying and then going on his little three-hour boat tour to “get to the bottom of what’s causing the stinky water”. But that didn’t stop me from reaching out to Gary Miller on subsequent issues, and it didn’t stop Miller from responding back to me. That’s the business of politics. We disagree, then we move along. I can’t call Miller a Rottweiler from his tendency to grab on to an issue and shaking it until he wins, but I’ll settle on a snippy Yorkshire Terrier to describe his persistence. He’s often on the other side of issues that I believe in, but Miller’s tenacity makes me have to defend my viewpoints.. and other council members have to do the same thing. I’m giving Gary Miller a B+ grade on this report card.
- James Buckner: It took a few months to get James Buckner out of his rookie shell on city council. But once that happened, I’ve been seriously impressed at the young-person viewpoints that he’s pushed forward. Skateboarding, food trucks, a new bus route to help college students… things like that. Buckner may not say much in the business meetings that everybody can see, but he’s vocal in work sessions when he’s got something to say. Buckner also has that “I don’t care who I have to piss off” attitude when it comes to making decisions for the city. Buckner is also very outgoing and friendly, and easy to talk to about the issues. He’ll listen to you, but he won’t roll over and suck up to you just to make you feel good. He went along with the retiree bonus payment so he’s not getting a perfect score, but he’s done enough in his first two years to earn his A- grade.
- Alonzo Jones: If you don’t see a smile on the face of Alonzo Jones, get the hell away from him fast. But seriously, Jones has evolved into the Danville Ambassador position. He’s been able to bridge the gap between whites & blacks, youth & elderly and poor & rich… and that’s an amazing compliment. Don’t let his smiling face fool you, though. When he’s pushing for an issue, he’s going to push hard. Jones often flies under the radar because of his relative quietness during council meetings, but smart observers see through that. Jones has been on the wrong side of some issues, and his recent “No” vote on the utility increase was irresponsible based on the financial situation. And yeah, he backed the retiree bonus payout. Even with those two whammies against him, Jones has the best interests of the city in mind. That’s why I’ve marked an A- on his report card.
- Lee Vogler: Heh. I felt obligated to show the results of the Random.org list generator because yet again, Lee Vogler gets the last word. In the last two years, Vogler has learned enough to mostly know when to shut the hell up on issues and let other people talk in floor debates. He’s still one hell of a self-promotion machine but when it gets him the most votes in the May election, who am I to argue about it? It was beautiful to watch Vogler take on the vicious “No Votes For Turncoats” flagger campaign against him in the May elections and completely obliterate it. But then he votes “No” on the recent utility rate increase and says it was about the amount of money that the city takes from Danville Utilities and uses in the general fund. I called horsecrap on that and said it was just a protest vote (and I still say that). He also voted to spend the $450K on the retiree bonus. But just like Alonzo Jones, I can’t hold that too much against Vogler. Vogler has that charismatic leader personality and he also comes up with good ideas that end up working well for the city. It was fun to see Lee Vogler get a bitter taste of reality a few times, but it really was great to see the lessons that he learned from it. Although I toyed with giving him a I for
the number of times he says that wordincomplete, I have to be serious here. Lee Vogler really cares about the city and is a continuing source of new ideas. He’s getting an A- on this two-year report card.
And there you go. It’s all A’s & B’s because I strongly believe that Danville continues to go in the right direction, despite what the professional complainers so all the time on social media. If I wasn’t professional, I’d tell those complainers to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. Heh.
We’re looking forward to the next two years of Danville City Council. That starts on Friday, July 1st at 12N. SouthsideCentral will be there LIVE! so follow along with us.
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