Sunday, April 5, 2009

Rogers says shrink the council

TROY — Former City Councilman Keith Rogers, who announced his candidacy for an At-Large position in February, said Wednesday that the number of council members should be reduced from nine to five.A similar proposal to reduce the council was proposed by Mayor Harry Tutunjian’s City Charter review commission last fall, however, the proposal at that time was to reduce the council to seven members by eliminating two At-Large positions and having individuals run directly for council president.Rogers suggested that the city’s six districts could be combined into three areas with two At-Large representatives to save nearly $80,000 per year between salaries and benefits.Council President Clement Campana, D-At Large, said that he believed city taxpayers needed as much representation as possible and that residents were satisfied with the current setup of the council considering the defeat of the mayor's charter proposal at the polls in November.Rogers also believed that the city’s spending per capita was larger than other comparable municipalities, which he felt was one of the biggest issues which needed to be addressed.“We need to take a hard look at where we are headed and streamlining city government and more specifically reducing the size of the City Council, would be a great start,” said Rogers. “Leadership needs to start at the top and I look forward to discussing these important issues directly with the people of Troy during this campaign and hearing what they feel about this approach.”The entire council is up for re-election this November.

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