In the May 3, 2018, online edition of the Eugene Weekly, Eugene resident Ken Rosemarin writes in a letter:
In the voter’s pamphlet, City Councilors Pryor and Syrett state that the supporters of the independent auditor believe “the city manager, city staff, elected mayor and elected city council are all so bad that only a separately elected” auditor can fix things. BINGO!
Please read recently retired councilman George Brown’s argument on page 13 of the pamphlet. His experience is that there is a “serious lack of transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility at city hall.” Read the statements of the opponents of the independent auditor.
Every criticism they level toward the independent auditor are ones that councilman Brown fruitlessly tried to get the mayor and council to address. Not only won’t they acknowledge that there’s a problem, but they think they can con the voters into accepting the useless “auditor light” measure.
I’ve come to believe there is a good old boy and girls club that determines decisions made by the city. How many citizens and prominent architects testified against taking down city hall? It seems like their mind was already made up.
Something has to happen to shake this city government out of its rut. If there are problems with the auditor measure, they can be fixed. If it is voted down, it will be back to business as usual in the city with increased confidence that they can do anything they want.
The public be damned.