Can you help?

An ask from me

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Let me tell you a few things before getting to my ask.

If you know anything about me you know I’m not only watching what’s happening at city hall, but I attend a lot of council meetings and often speak. Yes I know I am a tad crazy ( Is that you laughing and saying “only a tad?”) and I can say for sure that no one, not even close friends, know all the topics I weigh in on behind the scenes.

There are times when I go beyond speaking at council or working behind the scenes to bring subjects to a wider audience via Nextdoor and now Substack. I do this for a variety of reasons. Here’s a small sample.

1. When I first got involved in city stuff I knew nothing and I remember how that felt when trying to make my voice heard. In my younger years people helped me and my late husband so I see this as a way to pay that forward. (Remember this I am going to come back to it later!)

2. To show people that it’s actually possible to make a difference on a local level, because if a goof like me can have an idea or a suggestion and on occasion make something happen then they can too.

3. We have something special here I don’t want it to get messed up. (Some might say too late for that!)

4. Because I am sure if people knew about x, y or z they would want to know how to respond.

Here’s something I want you to know about that I didn’t bring to the wider audience at the time.

You might recall in 2021 Lafayette voters were asked to raise our sales tax via two ballot questions. One question was for a public safety measure focusing on police and fire. The other was for mental health and human services. That’s what I want to focus on in this report.

THE MENTAL HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TAX

GOING TO THE VOTERS? YES OR NO?

To refresh your memory, when the city council decided to bring these measures to the voters there was a considerable push to inform the public about why these funds were needed. This was done in a few ways.

First a poll was taken to gauge public support. If support was low, moving forward might not be worthwhile. The polls showed there was enough support for the city to take these to the voters. Polls like this also serve another purpose they allow the city to provide some education while posing questions. There’s a reason for this. Read on.

BALLOT QUESTIONS AND CITY HALL

While it’s the city staff and city attorney, with direction and approval by the council, who write the ballot questions and get them in front of the voters, there is a restriction that comes into play. Here’s the process.

Once the language is drafted it goes to the council. At this point they can change the text and tweak it to their liking. It comes back for approval at a later meeting and if a majority of the council votes yes it’s full steam ahead for the city clerk who is charged with putting the language on the ballot for the upcoming election.

Once approval happens city funds cannot be spent to advocate for a yes vote. At this point anything coming from the city must be neutral.

EDUCATION PRIOR TO THAT FINAL VOTE

Perhaps you remember that not only was there a poll but also a blast of information to educate the public about these potential ballot questions. Postcards were sent to every address directing us to a page on the city website, plus there were posts on social media and city notifications as well as a video for each ballot question. Here’s the page for the Health and Human Services Tax. I had never seen this much outreach and education done for ballot questions before. I attributed this to new leadership in the city administration.

I want to point out one section from this Health and Human Services Tax page because that plays a major role in why I am writing this piece. Note the text outlined in red below. The whole point of this ballot issue was to provide funding for nonprofits who are already working in areas of mental health and human services.

COUNCIL WORKS ON THE BALLOT LANGUAGE

While all that outreach was going on the council was crafting the ballot language. Resolutions are written to accompany ballot questions and are used to fill in the details regarding the questions. The idea is to keep the ballot language short and understandable. The resolution authorizing the question provides more information via a series of sentences that say whereas this and whereas that ending with a “now therefore, be it resolved”, then text about bringing a ballot question and the text of the question itself. These whereas statements also give future councils, staff and the public a list of reasons illustrating why the ballot question was written.

THE FIRST DRAFT

The first draft of the resolution for council for discussion.

Here is the section of the resolution that reflects what we had been told the money would be used for:

At one point in the council’s discussion, Councilor Mangat (now mayor) talked about the potential to use the funds for city related programs perhaps at the library. When the resolution came back for council’s approval at a later meeting we saw this change which gave the city access to use these funds, the ballot title was also changed to reflect this:

I SAY OH NO YOU DON’T

I read this change to the language and was, well, not too happy. I went to the council meeting and spoke about it. Here’s what I said. ( FYI this was the same meeting that council voted to stop the watery gravy train for developers. I reported on that here)

“Our ethics code talks about avoiding even the appearance of impropriety, or how does something look to the general public. Going beyond the parameters of the code, even with the best of intentions, a city action might not pass the smell test for the regular person. This smell test is really valuable and I’ve been offering them for free for many years so believe me when I say the change made to the resolution regarding the health and human services tax suggested by Councilor Mangat, is getting a bit stinky.

I have copies of the text for you so I don’t have to use my time to read it. But the city just sent out a flurry of notifications sending us to the city website for more information so we can make an informed decision. We are told “Lafayette doesn’t staff a department to help with human services.”

Yet the whereas that was added to the second draft of the resolution tonight will allow that. This is not right.

You can’t tell the voters that the city will partner with trusted non-profits because we don't have a human services department while also setting up a way to allow the city to gain access to the funds so that could be done. This also sets up the possibility of another layer of bureaucracy taking away from the very funds we are told are urgently needed by the non-profits who are already specialists in their fields.

I do not support this and will be a no vote if this language remains. Should a need for more city involvement arise in the future there are methods to handle that such as going to the voters again or using money from the general fund. Please go back to the previous language and stick with what the voters were told via the city’s very intense educational campaign. You will then pass the smell test.”

COUNCIL DISCUSSION

Some council members indicated they wished to have a discussion about this change.

The city attorney and city administrator weighed in saying changing this language was not a legal issue but a policy issue and added that it could allow for the creation of a health and human services department down the line.

Mayor Harkins made the point that the annual amount predicted to be raised by this tax was $750,000. If they used it to add one full time employee with salary and benefits that could eat up 1/4 of the funding.

Council discussion included how to handle distributing the funds, that non-profits are experts in their own fields and concerns about how community members would be made aware of the services provided. The consensus was to take a short break and allow the city attorney to revise the resolution to reflect the original language. Councilor Mangat read the revised language into the record. Council voted 7-0 to approve.

Lafayette voters said yes to the ballot question in November of 2021.

The revised language.

HEY KAREN, WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS NOW?

I know, I know, it seems way too late but I really do have a reason. Remember above I said I work on things behind the scenes? Well one issue I have worked on for years, which I may never reveal, (insert laughing emoji here) led me to suggest to a councilor and top city staff that a committee comprised of residents could be created in order to recommend to council how to distribute that tax money to the non-profits. Well that actually happened. (insert shocked face emoji here).

If residents are shopping in town they are contributing to these funds. It seemed like a great way to facilitate a deeper connection between residents and non-profits who are helping people in our community.

Voilà.

OK GREAT, NOW WHAT?

Alas the deadline to apply is fast approaching and there are only three applicants when up to seven was the plan. So, here comes my ask, are there even a half a dozen people reading this that would step up to help those in need and apply for this committee? Six meetings between July and October and then you are done.

Have you been helped in the past? Now that you know about this committee here’s a way to pay it forward, (I told you I would come back to this!). You can also make a difference on a local level and contribute to making our city special by helping those in need.

The deadline has been extended from Sunday till Wednesday so you have a few days to fill out the application. Here’s all the details and the application.

Thanks for following along and please consider volunteering for this committee.