By Seth Schmidt
“We all want Madonna to succeed.”
Mayor Steve Ferrazzano’s comments at the end of a 30-minute special city council meeting seemed to sum up the sentiments of both city and community leaders Monday night.
The special council meeting, attended by more than two-dozen community members, had been slated to be a closed meeting to discuss personnel issues. But the gathering was open to the public at City Administrator Madonna Peterson’s request.
Ferrazzano opened the meeting by stating that its purpose was for the council and Peterson to “have a dialog” about improved working relationships.
“I view this generally as a way for the council to talk with Madonna about their expectations, and Madonna talking with us about her expectations,” with the goal of improving communications.
The mayor indicated that while he felt the Monday special council meeting was necessary, in the future any issues between the city administrator and the council could best be dealt with by the city’s personnel committee.
“I would rather be able to sit down and talk with Madonna about things…I am really loathe to call another (special meeting). We can sit across from one another and talk about issues like adults.”
The mayor said that because the main purpose of the meeting was a dialog between the council and the administrator, he had decided not to have a “public comment” period Monday. Instead, Ferrazzano said, people can instead choose to address the council during the public comment period at the next regular city council meeting.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.