Aspen City Council has bigger fish to fry

The Sept. 21 Aspen Times ran a story on possible changes to the city’s ethics code.

Concern about the ethics code is sour grapes from small minds about former city employees and City Council members who freed themselves from the drudgery of serving a feckless city government in favor of making a decent living for themselves and their families.

The proposed changes would only make it harder to find qualified employees or council members willing to serve the city. In doing so, they would cut themselves off from future employment opportunities.

The only people willing to serve would be those with no more ambition or vision than being slaves to the city of Aspen in perpetuity — a self-defined population of duds.

City Council, quit wasting time on small-ball, sour-grapes grudges. Fix the out-of-control Aspen-Pitkin Housing Authority program. And do it now, instead of leaning on the excuse you have to wait years for another study.

Manage and discipline the city manager who’s your master, not the servant intended by the City Charter. Where are his performance guidelines and annual reviews? Get a decent plan for future city water requirements. Amend the land-use code to subject city projects to the same standards as private projects.

There’s plenty of useful stuff for you to do with your limited time and resources. Don’t sweat the petty stuff.

Maurice Emmer

Aspen