This might be the legislative equivalent of putting a snowball in the freezer, and then waiting until the spring thaw to take it out and pelt somebody with it.

City councilor Natalia Rudiak has been trying to look into the city’s response — or lack it — to the February blizzard that left residents paralyzed for more than a week. But Michael Huss, director of the city’s Public Safety division, has blown off repeated requests to meet with council and discuss the issue. 

So today, Rudiak issued a subpoeana to compel his presence at council, for a May 10 meeting. She also thoughtfully enclosed a letter to him, explaining the move.

“One of the biggest problems during the snow storm was a lack of communication and coordination between government offices,” Rudiak observes archly in a statement. “If we can’t communicate about an emergency, how can we be expected to communicate during an emergency?” 

If only somebody had subpoenaed administration officials when the snow was actually falling … 

As for the questions council plans to ask? Rudiak’s office supplied Huss — and CP — with a preliminary list.

This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2010.

E-mail Chris Potter about this post.

4 replies on “Rudiak plays snowball”

  1. Well most of the questions strike me as really pertinent and interesting.

    I imagine Team Huss is gathered around a conference room crafting ways to say, “Webinars? Preparation? What the hell do you know about what goes into running a city, anyway. We are public safety people and we do authoritative credibility for a living. We’ll tell you the results of our whitewash when it’s good and ready, and if you want to be arch and get quoted in the press then I’ll arch right back. I enjoy a good pissing match as much as anyone and am pretty good at it, and if I can’t bait you I bet I can bait Kraus or somebody on your precious ‘Council’ into looking the fool.”

    What interested me is Question #16 – What consultations during the snow emergency did you have with the City Controller. Um, what up with that?

  4. Here’s a question:

    Who was responsible for the decision to select all three “blitzed” neighborhoods from the East End? What role did city councilors play in selecting those regions?

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