And Then There Were None! And Then There Was No Money To Worry About?

According to the minutes found on the webpage of the City of Hudson Common Council Finance Committee, the committee met 11 times last year.  With the end of this year's fifth month about to arrive, the committee has met just twice.  The city, as we all know, is in financial trouble.

The Finance Committee is comprised of four council members: Chairperson Rich Volo, Mohammed Rony, Lola Roberts and Council "president" Margaret Morris.  Treasurer Heather Campbell is not listed as being a member of the committee, though I think it's fair to assume that she is as vital to the functioning of the Finance Committee as, say, Rob Perry is to the functioning of the Code & Infrastructure Committee (at least the Infrastructure side of it).  Superintendent Perry is expected to show up to meetings to give his monthly report, to be involved in the goals and efforts of the committee and to answer questions from the committee members and the public. (I'm leaving CEO Nick Fox out of this because his lack of involvement with the C & I Committee is beyond absurd, though no fault of his.)  Shouldn't the City Treasurer -- whoever that person is -- also be expected to (and actually) show up to all the meetings of the committee that is relying on that city official/department head to help them?  

According to what can and can't be found on the 2026 MINUTES page of the Finance Committee's webpage, it appears we have a problem.  Perhaps a deadly serious one.

There were no committee meetings of any kind scheduled in January.

February's scheduled Finance Committee meeting was cancelled.

Four people are listed as "in attendance" of March's Finance Committee meeting -- 3 members and Treasurer Campbell.  Margaret Morris is listed as "absent."  Campbell gave an extensively detailed "2025 Budget Report."

For last month's meeting (April), only Morris and Volo are listed as "in attendance."  Yes, just two committee members showed up.  Roberts and Rony are listed as "absent."  Treasurer Campbell is not listed in the minutes as being "in attendance" or "absent," though she definitely was not present at the meeting.

Yesterday's Finance Committee meeting scheduled to begin at 5:15 was cancelled.  No one was in attendance of or absent from that meeting because it never took place.

0-4-2-0!  Up the mountain and right down the other side.  The old bell curve.  

Of the 13 Finance Committee meetings held in the past 17 months, the City Treasurer has showed up to just two of them (one this year and one last year). Among the minutes of those 13 meetings, Treasurer Campbell is listed as "in attendance" twice and "absent" once.

The question is this:  Was Margaret Morris expecting the City Treasurer to show up to yesterday's Finance Committee meeting?  How about to next month's meeting if, of course, it takes place?  And does Margaret Morris consider a City Treasurer to be absent when they don't attend a Finance Committee meeting?   Given the city's shaky financial foundation, these seem like fair questions to ask and to get honest answers to, don't they?

Had yesterday's Finance Committee meeting taken place with Treasurer Campbell in attendance, I was planning on asking her the following question:  Where does the revenue wind up from all of those parking tickets that HPD issues?   (i.e., meter violations, overnight wrong side, $150 boot fees, no parking zones, etc.)  Maybe I'll be able to ask that question and get an answer in 4 weeks.  Maybe not.  It's hard to say for sure.