As all readers likely know by now, former Hudson mayor Tiffany Martin is now the aide to our new mayor, Joe Ferris. As the mayor's aide, Hamilton has been forced to take on the title of ADA Coordinator to, for one thing, make sure the city complies with the U.S. Justice Department's 2019 "settlement agreement" forcing the city to make our ridiculously dangerous sidewalks and curb ramps ADA compliant. And, just like her predecessor, Justin Weaver, the ADA Coordinator is required to be a member (and an important one!) of the Public Works Board, the group of five members tasked with complying with the DOJ's directive and implementing the new and ambitious city-wide sidewalk repair program known as the Sidewalk Improvement District (SID). A lot is riding on the efforts of the Public Works Board. A whole lot. Everyone has to be on board, so to speak, including, and especially, the city's ADA Coordinator. C-O-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-O-R!
The PWB did not meet in January but did on February 12th. Our mayor's aide/ADA Coordinator, however, was absent from that first meeting of the year, it being the other members first chance to meet with their newest and perhaps most crucial member in a public setting. After roll call, the chair of the PWB, Gary Purnhagen, announced, "Tiffany Martin was not able to make it tonight." Here it is late February and one wonders if the four PWB members have had a chance to sit down for an hour or three in person with the board's newest member to get the ADA COORDINATOR and liaison to the Mayor's Office up to speed on all things sidewalks and gauge how well she will or won't serve the board. Maybe even just get introduced to one another.
But guess who did participate in this month's PWB meeting to offer some helpful words to the four members, all who showed up in person? You guessed it, FORMER mayor's aide and ADA Coordinator Justin Weaver made it to the meeting (via Zoom). The city's former ADA Coordinator and once crucial, highly involved and knowledgeable Public Works Board member, Justin Weaver, attended the meeting virtually and was asked to speak, while the current ADA Coordinator/Mayor's Aide and questionably knowledgeable or effective newest board member did not make the meeting, not in person nor via Zoom.
In the written minutes of the PWB meeting, available online, Martin is noted as the only member who was "Absent." Among those named as "In Attendance" is -- and I am not kidding -- "Mayoral Aide and ADA Coordinator Justin Weaver." (We've got two of them!)
Why on earth did Joe Ferris replace Justin Weaver with a former mayor who was apparently miserable during her two years at the helm of City Hall several years ago and who had no interest in running for a second term? Has Joe never heard of a little important something called institutional knowledge that allows organizations to thrive and function properly? Or was our mayor intent on scrubbing the mayor's office of everyone associated with former so-called mayor Kamal Johnson, regardless of their abilities or institutional knowledge?
Is Mayor Ferris satisfied that his ADA Coordinator and Aide was "not able to make it" to the PWB's first meeting of the year, not able to dive into all the responsibilities she is expected to deal with as a crucial member of the board and the liaison to the Mayor's Office? (Maybe Ferris should have attended in his aide's stead -- would that have been too difficult to handle?) Was Martin too busy preparing the slides and other important details for her boss's several public "town halls" to be able to set aside one hour to attend her first PWB meeting, one she was expected to attend? Isn't one of our mayor's stated goals to improve the city's ten most dangerous intersections, wherever they might be? How many more absences from PWB meetings will Mayor Ferris tolerate from his aide before he seriously considers bringing Justin Weaver back on board and back in the seat that he never should have been told to leave? *
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| Which ADA Coordinator didn't show up? And why? |
It would come as absolutely no surprise to me if Gary Purnhagen and the three other PWB members were extremely disappointed, if not downright angry, that Tiffany Martin was a no show at the February 12th meeting. Who wouldn't be? She didn't even bother to "attend" by Zoom or, apparently, offer a valid reason to Gary for her absence!
But Martin's predecessor was able to attend the meeting and contribute???!!! Was Justin expected to attend the meeting?
* (It is entirely possible, of course, that Justin Weaver declined an offer by mayor elect Ferris to remain as his aide, but I seriously doubt this happened.)
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