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Mayor Tim Davlin’s second veto since taking
office in 2003 prevailed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting,
even though Ward 7 Ald. Debbie Cimarossa says aldermen had enough votes for
an override.
In a letter sent to aldermen on Jan. 17, Davlin
announced his veto of a city hiring-freeze ordinance introduced by
Cimarossa. The ordinance said that all open positions — excluding
police officers and firefighters — required aldermanic approval
before being filled. Davlin told aldermen that the ordinance “takes
the hiring process out of the hands of the executive branch and places it
squarely in the hands of the legislative branch.”
Davlin previously questioned whether the ordinance
was a political move on the part of the council’s Republicans after
it was initially approved on Jan. 8 by a rare 6-4 party-line vote. Aldermen
would have needed seven votes to override the mayor’s veto Tuesday,
but Cimarossa says they decided to back down and instead focus on solving
the funding issue through budget cuts. “There are some things we’ll be needing
to cut,” Cimarossa told the mayor on Tuesday. “I’m
disappointed, but I truly respect your opinion, and we’ll just have
to work through the budget process.” — Amanda Robert
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2008.
