Being a Langley City Council person is NOT a difficult job. These people have transcended into a different plane than the rest of us, one where everything has to be processed and processed.

I prefer natural and not processed, especially if it’s crammed down my throat.

Speaking only for myself, I can say, Frankly, my dears, I don’t give a dandelion about your feelings in this context. “Vision” is straight out of Gilman’s comp plan-speak and would likely mean something the Council has agreed on, because otherwise, it would mean they have the courage to speak on their own without checking the script. Thinking – yes, tell us about your thinking – that is, any thinking you are actually doing and not just nodding in response to whatever the boss says.

I worry about a Council that gets along so well with each other. I’d like to hear about disagreement, discussion, more than nodding agreement. As someone once said, “If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.”

Sometimes it feels as if Langley could be transported to some other place where cronyism has always ruled.

As for your feelings, Fran et al, stop navel gazing and get to work.

(Who wrote that statement of purpose for the Council/Mayor blog, anyway?)

Anyone who thought Ms. Abel would do the right thing about the outrage of
the mayor’s salary raises–in the face of $150,000 that had to be borrowed
so the city wouldn’t go under–was hugely disappointed. She not only
didn’t object but actually co-wrote the new ordinance putting them in
place!

Anyone who thought Ms Abel would stand up to Robert Gilman’s abuse and
manipulation of Langley citizens in the name of democracy have to realize
that what they got was not an independent opinion. What they got
was not just a kowtowing, go along to get along, beholding echo of all the
others, but an actual co-agent of Robert Gilman e.g. her co-writing of the
proposed new “process committees” with Gilman.

She has the nerve to call these proposed committees “kitchen cabinets”
when citizens would have even LESS input than the boards and committees
that serve now. Considering what Gilman did to citizens who served on
either the comp plan committees or the PAB, anyone who thinks that they
will be anything but a shill for what Gilman has already pre-ordained
and/or what he decides to override at the end, can only blame themselves
for joining one of these committees.

Ms. Abel: The training you went to seems to have done little to help.
Get a clue. Or like Gilman, do you really want a clue? You have two
planners when towns of over 5000 don’t even have one full-time. Your
first duty is to either show more trust in your planner to come up with
valid research and options (including both assets and liabilities) for all
decisions possible or find one you do trust. It seems you don’t trust the
one you have, and as a result, you and your colleagues have prolonged the
Passage project decision for a ridiculous length of time.

Your second duty is to make decisions based in large part, on what your
planner and other staff present you with, along with a valid sounding out
of your constituents. This does not mean the tiny bubble of people you
surround yourself with (including the sister-in-law of councilman Bob
Waterman you quote as an unpaid “consultant” without revealing that
connection).

You have no right to complain about your “workload” in the face of this
and what is described below. It is of your own making. You are following
right along with Robert Gilman’s modus operandi of interfering with the
work of the planner (and other staff) by attempting to do it all yourself
and then trying to wear it like a badge of honor when all it does is mask
incompetence and self-aggrandizement. It shouldn’t take a citizen like me
to tell you that!

Larry Cort is a well-qualified well- experienced city planner. Debbie
Mahler is a well-qualified, well-experienced city treasurer. She is also
the repository of 18 years of being at the heart of city business. It
shows. At council meetings, it seems like any time any one of you needs
advice, information, she’s the one you ask.

“. . .easing staff support of our work” as you put it implies a
reference to their workload. Instead it smells like a disingenuous
euphemism worthy of Robert Gilman. On the contrary, you and the rest of
the council should be showing more trust in and relying on the work these
people do now. What you ARE doing is following Gilman’s lead in using
this canard to justify micromanaging, interfering, and invading any area
of city business, many which don’t even address the main concerns of the
town or could be better handled by staff.

Attention Langley citizens. We now have two smokescreen artists at work
trying their best to fool you into thinking they’re representing your best
interests and are overworked. Sorry to be redundant but let’s consider
Ms. Abel’s list for a moment. How do so many cities of up to 5000 with
less than ONE full-time planner seem to be able to handle them all? If
you don’t want to learn from them perhaps Brian could do another piece of
investigative journalism to show you.

If you’re so busy Ms Abel, how do you find so much time to compose
self-validating essays for our consumption? In this aspect you appear to
follow the self-congratulatory ways of your colleague Rene Neff. You also
stood by and said nothing while Ms. Neff humiliated Debbie Mahler at an
open council meeting.

According to msrc.org EVEN IN PRIVATE “If you are a council member,
remember that you do not have the authority to direct employees.” The
citizenry is still waiting for a public apology for this humiliation. You
should all be honoring Debbie Mahler for saving the city’s bacon on
countless occasions (including stopping the theft of funds by a former
harbormaster).

That you have not only bought into but are joining Gilman’s machinations
to this extent will hopefully signal to all, that while you may enjoy all
the power and influence you now have, you’ve gotten so carried away with
it, you’ve already shown yourself early on to be not up to the job and
undeserving of re-election next year.

We need new and different ideas from new and different people who
represent more than one person’s narrow self-interested view of our town.
I continue to be optimistic that these kinds of candidates will come
forward next year.

Anyone who thought Ms. Abel would do the right thing about the outrage of
the mayor’s salary raises–in the face of $150,000 that had to be borrowed
so the city wouldn’t go under–was hugely disappointed. She not only
didn’t object but actually co-wrote the new ordinance putting them in
place!

Anyone who thought Ms Abel would stand up to Robert Gilman’s abuse and
manipulation of Langley citizens in the name of democracy have to realize
that what they got was not anything close to an independent opinion. What they got
was not just a kowtowing, go along to get along, beholding echo of all the
others, but an actual co-agent of Robert Gilman e.g. her co-writing of the
proposed new “process committees” with Gilman.

She has the nerve to call these proposed committees “kitchen cabinets”
when citizens would have even LESS input than the boards and committees
that serve now. Considering what Gilman did to citizens who served on
either the comp plan committees or the PAB, anyone who thinks that they
will be anything but a shill for what Gilman has already pre-ordained
and/or what he decides to override at the end, can only blame themselves
for joining one of these committees.

Ms. Abel: The training you went to seems to have done little to help.
Get a clue. Or like Gilman, do you really want a clue? You have two
planners when towns of over 5000 don’t even have one full-time. Your
first duty is to either show more trust in your planner to come up with
valid research and options (including both assets and liabilities) for all
decisions possible or find one you do trust. It seems you don’t trust the
one you have, and as a result, you and your colleagues have prolonged the
Passage project decision for a ridiculous length of time.

Your second duty is to make decisions based in large part, on what your
planner and other staff present you with, along with a valid sounding out
of your constituents. This does not mean the tiny bubble of people you
surround yourself with (including the sister-in-law of councilman Bob
Waterman you quote as an unpaid “consultant” without revealing that
connection).

You have no right to complain about your “workload” in the face of this
and what is described below. It is of your own making. You are following
right along with Robert Gilman’s modus operandi of interfering with the
work of the planner (and other staff) by attempting to do it all yourself
and then trying to wear it like a badge of honor when all it does is mask
incompetence and self-aggrandizement. It shouldn’t take a citizen like me
to tell you that!

Larry Cort is a well-qualified well- experienced city planner. Debbie
Mahler is a well-qualified, well-experienced city treasurer. She is also
the repository of 18 years of being at the heart of city business. It
shows. At council meetings, it seems like any time any one of you needs
advice, information, she’s the one you ask.

“. . .easing staff support of our work” as you put it implies a
reference to their workload. Instead it smells like a disingenuous
euphemism worthy of Robert Gilman. On the contrary, you and the rest of
the council should be showing more trust in and relying on the work these
people do NOW. What you ARE doing is following Gilman’s lead in using
this canard to justify micromanaging, interfering, and invading any area
of city business, many which don’t even address the main concerns of the
town or could be better handled by staff.

Attention Langley citizens. We now have two smokescreen artists at work
trying their best to fool you into thinking they’re representing your best
interests and are overworked. Sorry to be redundant but let’s consider
Ms. Abel’s list for a moment. How do so many cities of up to 5000 with
less than ONE full-time planner seem to be able to handle them? If
she doesn’t want to learn from them perhaps Brian could do another piece of
investigative journalism to show her.

If you’re so busy Ms Abel, how do you find so much time to compose
self-validating essays for our consumption? In this aspect you appear to
follow the self-congratulatory ways of your colleague Rene Neff. You also
stood by and said nothing while Ms. Neff humiliated Debbie Mahler at an
open council meeting.

According to msrc.org EVEN IN PRIVATE “If you are a council member,
remember that you do not have the authority to direct employees.” The
citizenry is still waiting for a public apology for this humiliation. You
should all be honoring Debbie Mahler for saving the city’s bacon on
countless occasions (including stopping the theft of funds by a former
harbormaster).

That you have not only bought into but are joining Gilman’s machinations
to this extent will hopefully signal to all, that while you may enjoy all
the power and influence you now have, you’ve gotten so carried away with
it, you’ve already shown yourself early on to be not up to the job and
undeserving of re-election next year.

We need new and different ideas from new and different people who
represent more than one person’s narrow self-interested view of our town.
I continue to be optimistic that these kinds of candidates will come
forward next year.

You may think your comments don’t sound like whining, but then why did you write them? A whine by any other name is still a whine.

And just to be clear, Anne Lamott used the example to talk about writing, not about running a city government.

Amen, jamiemcnett and commuter – y’all r right on.

In order to create Ecoville, the time and energies of staff and elected officials must be burned up with misdirection. Otherwise, all kinds of people will wake up. The difficulties Ms. Abel refers to have been consciously fabricated to fashion the mindset she is expressing.

It is difficult to understand, given the two planners, the mountainous comp plan, the explicit writings of Mr. Gilman, and any number of actions, how the council and the people of Langley can continue to allow themselves to be led around by their noses.

No one was elected, appointed or hired to endure what is happening to them. The abuse of process and people needs to stop. Then, as Commuter says, decisions need to be made.