Really... could it get any better?? That question appears to have a yes.
From the KDMiner.com...
KINGMAN - Local advocacy group Residents Against Irresponsible Development has canceled its series of monthly town hall meetings, citing its perceived poor treatment by the Kingman City Council.
Poor treatment?? Were they waterboarded or something??
Oh and advocacy group?? Give me a break... the last time they 'advocated' was for a 160 or so acre park, or was it a 17 or so acre water ditch, well in either case the political action committee is hardly a community advocate.
RAID president Harley Pettit, who himself ran a failed bid for Council two years ago, said his group decided to cancel the town halls shortly after RAID member Bill Delmar was passed up for two separate vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission late last year.
Certainly harsh treatment applied there, oh boy. Well nothing says we're taking our ball and going home better than the above I guess. Maybe RAID PAC should take a hint or two.
Delmar, who previously served as a planner for the Mohave County Development Services Department and has more than 20 years of planning experience, was shot down by Councilman Ray Lyons at Council's Oct. 19 meeting. Lyons dismissed Delmar for having a "conflict of interest" due to his membership in RAID. While he did not elaborate on his reasoning, Lyons claimed that, even if Delmar had agreed to resign his membership in the organization, "once a member of RAID, always a member of RAID."
"We took that as a real snub," Pettit said. "They didn't do anything about Ray Lyons' comment, and the respect that we've gained over the last several years just got thrown in our face."
What was the council supposed to do about it?? Again, perhaps RAID PAC could begin to take a hint or two.
Instead, Council appointed Realtor Sandi Reynolds to replace Todd Tarson, another Realtor. In December, Delmar was again passed over in favor of developer Craig Schritter, who replaced retiring commission chairwoman Dorian Trahan. Pettit claimed that Councilman Deering "practically leapt out of his seat" to nominate Schritter, with no discussion held on Delmar's qualifications for the job.
"Regardless of who Bill Delmar associates with, he's obviously qualified," Pettit said. "He would've been a perfect liaison between the city and the county. This guy was offering to do for free what he used to get paid for."
As someone who did sit on the Planning and Zoning Commission (yeah that is my name above), even for just a short eight months or so... I can say that what Mr. Pettit is describing about liaison between the county and the city, plus, the offering to do for free what he could get paid for does not apply to sitting on the Commission.
So long as you can read and are at least a bit curious, in my opinion, a person is qualified to serve the community on any one of the commissions. Doesn't mean you'll get a spot though.
Pettit added that he was baffled by the appointments of Reynolds and Schritter over Delmar, since he believed the case could be made that a Realtor and a developer would have a much greater potential for conflicts of interest than a retired ex-planner.
As a Realtor and a former P&Z commissioner... conflict of interest would have never come up unless I requested a zoning change (using zoning change as example), had a direct family member requesting a zoning change, or had an employment agreement with a principal requesting a zoning change. Now all are certainly plausible possibilities, however they would be very rare occurrences.
And here is the last one from the article...
"Just the complete lack of respect over a person who's completely qualified, it was beyond any common sense," he said. "I mean, I like Craig, but this just shouldn't be his job. I campaigned with him, he's a fine person, but he's a proverbial dentist in a brain surgeon job."
Wow... what an asshole thing to say in public about someone you just said you like.
Hopefully this helps end the RAID PAC's little charade here in Kingman. What a hissy fit these adults are throwing over their man not getting a seat on the P&Z commission (and Harley it is a volunteer position not a 'job').
A couple of parting shots... first I think the RAID PAC kids just might be doing this because they want to bring negative attention against a current city council member who is involved currently in an election. RAID PAC has used the Miner over the years to get their message out, though it is surprising that part of their message is calling a new P&Z commish out as not qualified.
The other thing here is... have you seen and heard this Bill Delmar at public meetings?? There is something to be said for first impressions... and if Craig Schritter is, in RAID PAC words, a dentist in a brain surgeon job then that makes Mr. Delmar an ex-planner in a brain surgeons job (no offense to planners or ex-planners).
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