Dear Eric: A year ago, a former council person campaigned for someone who had barely lived in my city of 35,000 a few years. That person won a seat on our five-member council. Now, a year later, this new councilperson has proven himself to be inept and without even having the basic skillset to do the job at the council meetings.
Basically, it’s become embarrassing even at the last council meeting. For instance, he did not even know how appeals work and kept asking really dumb questions, which revealed further he was not prepared and well-read on this issue.
I called the former council member who pushed for this guy to win a seat, and the former council member had a meltdown at me and was really angry and told me the new council member was doing an excellent job.
Other residents and I are concerned about what we are stuck with. How can we get this resolved as soon as possible?
— Stuck Resident
Dear Stuck Resident: Take a look at your council’s by-laws. Find out what recourse residents have for a recall, if any. Perhaps it’s as simple as getting enough signatures on a petition. Perhaps it’s more complicated or not possible. You won’t know what checks and balances are available to you without doing a little digging.
This should be publicly available information. The city council, like every other elected body, works for the people. So, they have a duty to perform their jobs with transparency. If you can’t find the by-laws or the answer to your question on the council’s website, reach out to the secretary of the city council or the president of the city council.
It’s important for every citizen to remember that even though elections might seem byzantine or beyond the reach of regular people, it’s possible to educate yourself and get involved in local, state, or national politics at every level, whether as a volunteer, a staffer, or a candidate.
If something is happening that you’re concerned about, you should contact your elected officials and ask them to advocate on your behalf. If they don’t do the job in a way that’s satisfactory to you, find out what the term limits are and cast your vote for someone else in the next election. That someone can even be yourself.
(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.)
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