Kicking It Down The Road

I went to the Fairfield City Council meeting on Tuesday night to see two things----the Atkinson Forest Steering Committee report….and the council’s stand on non-city employees riding in city vehicles.

The Steering Committee Report was well done.

The discussion on a policy for the city moving forward on the use of the city vehicles was just flat out disappointing.

Remember, this controversy started when a city police officer was denied the ability to have his mom ride with him in a parade. The mayor promised a policy would be forthcoming. Fast forward several months…and non-employees were given aerial rides in a bucket truck over the Frontier Community College Lineman Rodeo. The questions started….

Where’s the policy? The city council decided to form a committee to wrestle this weighty matter to the ground. So, I was somewhat stunned when the three-person committee of the board came back with…..nothing, nada.

At least one council member said he was frustrated. The committee was “kicking” the can down the road.

How difficult is this? Either non-employees or family members are permitted in city vehicles and the city’s insurance carrier is apprised of the policy, so there are no surprises. Or, no one gets to ride. It’s really an either/or issue.

And make the policy uniform throughout the city’s departments. Don’t discriminate between police cars, fire engines and bucket trucks. One city, one policy.

Enough can kickin’