Massillon City Council on a Mission

They have debated it for months. The discussion has been heated.

Councilman Larry Slagle wants to use "current policy as a rubric for establishing guidelines for council" (The Independent, October 12, 2010) to deal with this titanic issue.

It is the issue that has dominated city council.

What could it be? The city's budget? The deteriorating park system?
Jobs and economic development?

Nope.

The key issue dominating city council is whether or not to rename Shriver Park.

It's a damn park. Take a vote and then do some real work.

Call the question. Will the city honor the late councilman T. Roy Roberson by renaming Shriver Park after him, or not. And then move on. There are important issues in the city, but it looks like our city council is not equipped to deal with them.

Larry Slagle, one of the architects of the delay, obstruct, and avoid a vote as long as possible strategy now wants to create a city council policy on naming parks.

"He (Slagle) will use the Massillon Parks and Recreation Board's current policy as a rubric for establishing guidelines for council. He hopes to have an initial draft to council by Wednesday. He plans to make some changes to that policy before council takes ownership of it" (The Independent, October 12, 2010).

How about guidelines and policies for reviewing the city's budget? How about guidelines and policies concerning the purchase of city owned businesses, such as a golf course, or a restaurant at the golf course?

Larry Slagle has never been so active as a councilman. He is focused like a laser on the critical work of creating policies for the naming of city parks. We can see how this is time well spent.

We are left wondering. Will Slagle's proposed park naming rules and guidelines somehow preclude the renaming of Shriver Park after all?

And Nero fiddled as Rome burned...