Chapter 8 Assignment

The meeting I am examining is the Huntington City Council meeting on February 24, 2014. Following the meeting, the newspapers most closely examined a land transfer and a conference which Mayor Steve Williams will be attending.

The first lead seems pretty straightforward, reading "The Huntington City Council approved transferring 19.4 acres of property along the riverfront in the city's West End to the Huntington Municipal Development Authority by a 10-1 vote during a meeting Monday night." The article, however, then investigates why Pete Gillespie, representative from that district, voted against the transfer. He said there was a barge permit already in place for that piece of land. He also asked its worth to no avail. Williams claimed the land should have gone to HMDA all along and stated that there is a company that is interested in buying the land for economic development.

This item sat pretty low on the agenda (12 of 18), but seemed to involve controversy, which might be why the reporter chose to cover it. Nearly 20 acres is a good sized piece of land, which may have also factored into the equation. If I were the reporter, I would pursue the barge lead, as the permit was established last year. Why has no action been taken and now Gillespie is concerned? The HDMA director also answered negatively to Gillespie's question of if proceeds from the sale could be used to better his district. Where will those proceeds go? I would also look into what specific company was interested in the land.

The story regarding the Community Progress Leadership Institute is written a bit more feature-y and as more of a feel-good piece. The reporter was quick to point out the illustrious company Huntington joins at the Harvard based conference, but he did not go into how or why Huntington was selected. What criteria were used to select cities and did we have to apply? Also, what effect does this have on weak city finances? Are we paying to fly multiple people out there and stay four nights?

Six items on the agenda were centered around the sanitation board, including issues such as software maintenance for the GIS system, updating the contract and support agreement and a partnership with Potesta engineers to redesign wastewater technology. If items from one department dominate an agenda, I feel some sort of media coverage is necessary. Waste water and sanitation do affect the majority of the population. The rest of the meeting was filled with ordinances of Williams entering to contract talks with supply companies or economic development firms. I feel like these are not quite as newsworthy because they are not as relevant to the population as a whole.