HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-21-2017 Item 1, SchmidtCOUNCIL MEETING:
ITEM NO,: rJ., FEB 21 2011
CITY
From: Richard Schmidt
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 11:08 AM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil@slocity.org>
Cc: Heidi Harmon <heidi@heidiharmon.org>; Pease, Andy <apease@slocity.cr;;>; Gomez, Aaron <4 omez@slocity.org>;
Rivoire, Dan <DRivoire@slocitv.org>; Carlyn Christenson <cchristenson@slocity.ore>
Subject: Agenda Tuesday: Appeal fees
Dear Mayor and Council,
Please see attached note on the wisdom of not raising appeal fees.
Richard
Feb. 20, 2017, Presidents' Day
RE: Appeals fee
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
The bureaucrats are recommending you raise the cost of an appeal of a staff,
committee or commission decision.
You must not do that. In fact, you should strongly consider making all appeals free
since an appeal differs fundamentally from other items in your "fee schedule."
Unlike a permit fee, where one pays a fee for a service, an appeal is a fundamental
American right enshrined in our national Constitution. It is wrong, therefore, to lump it
into the same category as the city's "fees for service."
The right of appeal is enshrined in the First Amendment, part of our national Bill of
Rights, which states (pardon the ellipses, but I want to cut to the quick):
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people ... to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances."
For those of you not up on First Amendment theory and history, "Congress" means you,
a city council.'
Note that this right is categorical. The First Amendment does not say "the right of the
people who can afford an appeal fee to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances." It says this is "the right of the people" period.
Your appeal fees chill this fundamental American right. Raising an appeal fee chills it
that much further.
Legislative history and intent are instructive here. When appeal fees were instituted and
then raised by the previous Council, it was with malice and forethought that this would
"cut down" on the number of appeals. I suggest any Council that thinks that way should
do its business in Russia, not in America, since this illustrates a fundamentally un-
American understanding of the purpose of government. Representative government,
' It's instructive that long prior to the First Amendment, the matter of denial of redress of
grievances was cited as grounds for declaring independence from and making war on
the mother country. In the Declaration of Independence, after a long recitation of
offenses by the Crown, the authors noted: "In every stage of these Oppressions We
have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have
been answered only by repeated injury." And that was grounds for Revolution.
after all, is supposed to have our backs, something the autocratic bureaucrats who bring
you an appeal fee increase apparently don't understand.
can see this playing out several ways. You can do the right thing, and make appeals
free, and be heroes. Or you can force the People to do an initiative and put this on the
ballot — at the next Council election — where the People themselves will enact free
appeals and forever take away the power of the bureaucrats to infringe upon that
fundamental American right.
Thank you for doing the right thing and being heroes.
Richard Schmidt