By Michael Bullington–
A schism between the old and the new members of the Citrus Heights City Council? Well… one of the newest members, Porsche Middleton, has voted along the same lines as the highly tenured members. And one of the “new” members had first served back in 1999.
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Instead of analyzing the schism in terms of its chronology, it seems that the answer lies in an examination of motives and personalities.
I know and have known Bruins, Miller, Slowey, Turner and Frost, and dealt with each on the notorious Creek Corridor Trail Project (CCTP) in 2013, when homeowners along the biggest creeks were being threatened with the exercise of eminent domain by the city’s renegade Planning Division.
Along with the support of the then-Manager Henry Tingle and then-Chief of Police Chris Boyd, we homeowners were spared the excesses of the CCTP. Ever since then, I have felt a debt of gratitude to all those I just named. It was clear to me that they really cared about the residents.
Thus far, I have not had such an impression about Messrs. Daniels and Schaefer. Daniels has always struck me as a loner who takes great pride in his irascible individualism. His ostensible basis for opposing the others is an overriding desire for fiscal austerity. In that regard, he is joined by Tim Schaefer. Hence, their alliance on the Council.
However, Tim’s approach is softer and eye to eye with his constituency. Nevertheless, in the time that I’ve spoken with him, I detect an obsession to effect fiscal austerity particularly in the City Manager’s position. I think Tim’s issue is that Tim is just a little too full of Tim. I’ll explain.
I’ve heard him compare the salaries of our city manager with the head of the Sacramento Library, for which I saw absolutely no basis for comparison. And how interesting it was to see in his 100-word statement that he faults a fellow council member for not being able to think objectively because of that member’s relationship with the city manager.
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That’s another indication of his animus towards our manager and the elevation of himself as arbiter, not to mention an absurd basis for criticizing another member. If Tim Schaefer would like to make the argument for lowering a city manager’s compensation, he would be better served to make it on the basis of a comparison with other similarly positioned civil servants. That’s objectivity AND common sense!
Regarding Porsche Middleton, she won election at the expense of Albert Fox, whom had been dubbed by Mel Turner and the other Council members as his appointee before his impending decease because of cancer. I, like everyone else, loved Mel and I admired and appreciated Al Fox and campaigned vigorously for him in 2018. However, Porsche won the seat he had occupied and she has developed into a capable and cohesive element on the council.
Finally, I fault Lone Ranger Bret and Proud Tim for hastening the departure of our city manager. I can easily imagine that he’s had enough of dealing with those two “gentlemen,” after faithfully and capably serving our city since the founding of our Police Department in 2006.
I’ll shed a tear for Chris Boyd, but I’ll give a hearty hoorah when our two mavericks ride off into the sunset.
Michael Bullington has been a resident of Citrus Heights for over 35 years and is the owner of Safety First Firearms Training. The Sentinel welcomes guest opinion columns from Citrus Heights residents. To submit an article for publication, click here.
