City council needs to stop its micro-managing

It’s baffling what the city council is doing about the city’s financial well-being.

Just when you think they are on the road to recovery, some members take a sudden loopy turn.

Case in point: At Tuesday’s council meeting a majority of the council decided to postpone applying for a $3 million emergency state loan. The city has to formally apply by no later than mid-September, said Acting City Manager Nevrus Nazarko, in order to receive the loan by Oct. 1.

There is no guarantee the city will get the loan, however.

A majority of the council supported the delay because they first want to see an updated budget and a budget deficit elimination plan in the next two weeks.

That’s a tall order to put together, considering that the last deficit elimination plan was rejected.

Without the loan, there will be payless paydays for employees, and that will likely trigger a state intervention.

We can’t understand why this council is gambling so recklessly with the city’s future. There was even a call to go ahead and let the city run out of money because some councilmembers were frustrated that the firefighters’ union is not accepting contract concessions.

This is crazy talk.

If city officials don’t like the last plan to reduce the city’s budget deficit, just wait until the state steps in.

Local officials won’t have any say in what the state does.

What’s even more disturbing is that they have butted heads with the last Acting City Manager and the city manager before that person, and now apparently with their current one.

The council should step aside and allow the city manager to do his job. This micro-managing is turning into chaos.

If the state does step in at some point, it will be because our city officials purposely drove the city into insolvency.