Home Rule's resolution dooms city to repeat past

Seems like just yesterday I resolved to quit smoking, lose 15 pounds and finally determine what's in the takeout container grafted to the back of my refrigerator.

But here I am, daydreaming about lugging my 15 pounds fatter frame up to the coffee room for a quick puff and fumbling through the menus of the city's finest purveyors of artery-blocking eats.

And isn't that just the rub with New Year's resolutions? Most, no matter how earnest and well-intentioned when made, are doomed to go unresolved.

Take the resolution Scranton's Home Rule Charter Study Commission made going into this year.

Elected by the taxpayers in November of 1999, the 11-member panel pledged to take an objective, apolitical look at the city's form of government and recommend any changes it felt would finally get Scranton on a recovery course.

This was a historic opportunity, the commissioners said, to develop a charter with bite, a new map that would make government more accountable and ensure the light at the end of Scranton's tunnel would be a bright future, not a runaway train hauling past mistakes.

The commission seemed determined to follow through on its resolution back in October, when it voted to change the city's weaker-by-the-minute strong mayor form of government to one led by a professional city manager.

Voting for the change, Commissioner Bob Sheridan said he'd talked to 150 to 200 people, and "99.9 percent" said they wanted a professional manager running the city's business.

You couldn't round up that kind of support for a Constitutional amendment abolishing the income tax.

Taxpayers lauded the decision as an important step forward for a city whose unofficial motto over the past 10-plus years has been "One step forward, two steps back."

Next, we draw up a new charter and get it on the ballot for a vote sometime next year.

A funny thing happened on the way to closing the deal, however.

Bob Sheridan changed his mind.

Then he changed his vote.

In a hotly-debated split decision, Mr. Sheridan joined Commissioners Terry Osborne, Charles Spano, Wayne Evans, Joseph Cardamone and Sean Hanlon and, by a vote of 6-5, helped make sure that the city's business will continue to be done as usualfor the foreseeable future.

The flip-flop drew outrage from residents and commissioners Annette Palutis, Sharon Quinn, Nancy Kay Holmes, Tony DiBileo and Anne Marie Stulgis, who charged that it was politically motivated.

Not so, said Mr. Sheridan and his new allies, four of whom are or were political appointees of Mayor Jim Connors.

Standing up for his suddenly strong belief in strong mayors and his right to change his mind, Mr. Sheridan resolved to stay with the current system of government but draw up a new charter that will make the system more accountable.

"Now we have a chance to put a new charter together and put bite in it," he said. "We have to come out and make sure that the future of Scranton will be bright."

Yeah, and I'm going to smoke my way to good health. See you in the coffee room, Bob. Anybody got a match?

CHRIS KELLY, the Saturday columnist, and the staff and families of the Times-Tribune newspapers wish you and yours a safe and happy new year. E-mail him at loudmouth72@hotmail.com.

Subscribe to The Times-Tribune