Omaha Forums

Couple of things in the news recently concerning Jim Suttle that have not been mentioned here and it is kind of a surprise to me so I thought I would start this and see if anyone want to weigh in.


First have been the raises that were given and then requested in the next budget.  I understand that he has the authority to run his department within his budget so technically he did nothing wrong but as I remember things he had made promises about being transparent and also made promises about holding salaries flat.  In the proposed budget it sure came across as these being future raises.  Now I do not live within the voting jurisdiction of Omaha so my opinion holds little value but it sure rubs me wrong the way this has been communicated and handled.  It is not like these are small % raises either on top of the bumps that these positions got when they were filled.  I get that they did a "GREAT" job dealing with he flood, as I heard stated but where they the only ones?  Did everyone in the public service sector get these raises?  Also, they are not just a bonus but a raise so they will live on.   On the other hand isn't that what they are supposed to do in their positions.  I know in my private sector job I delta directly with the flood all summer as a manager.   Many consecutive 7 day, 90+ hour weeks and that is what I was hired to do in these situations.  


On the most recent front, we hear that he is hospitalized on a business trip to Ireland.  First off, I hope he is OK.  I read that this is a 10 day business trip.  What amount of business does Omaha have with Ireland (and other countries) that requires a 10 day business trip?  For that type of trip I would think there would be local media coverage and if there has been I have missed it.

You know, I was wondering the same thing about his 10-day extravaganza to Ireland. I would think a 2-day trip to some place closer, say, Witchita, would accomplish a whole lot more. Wonder if his family went, too.

S33 wrote:You know, I was wondering the same thing about his 10-day extravaganza to Ireland. I would think a 2-day trip to some place closer, say, Witchita, would accomplish a whole lot more. Wonder if his family went, too.

Today's article (if you read it) states he was visiting Omaha's European sister cities and that he paid all expenses for the trip.  And yeah an economic development tour in Europe seeing what works and doesn't work makes a lot more sense to me than going to Witchita and just seeing what doesn't work.

nebport5 wrote:

S33 wrote:You know, I was wondering the same thing about his 10-day extravaganza to Ireland. I would think a 2-day trip to some place closer, say, Witchita, would accomplish a whole lot more. Wonder if his family went, too.

Today's article (if you read it) states he was visiting Omaha's European sister cities and that he paid all expenses for the trip.  And yeah an economic development tour in Europe seeing what works and doesn't work makes a lot more sense to me than going to Witchita and just seeing what doesn't work.

The aerospace industry definitely isn't working out in Wichita.

The Governor's recent trip to China seems to already be paying dividends with a Chinese company opening offices in Omaha.  If this trip could foster something like that I think the trip would be well worth it.

To clairify, I started this saying what I did not necessarily thinking the trip was a bad idea.  My point was an official trip of this length for this purpose would have local media coverage here I would think.  I didn't hear anything of it until the health issue.  I may have missed it too.  When the media was interview the spokswoman about the raises all I ever heard then is that Sittle was unavailable becuase he was "out of the county"  May be it is a media problem but a press release would ahve coverage of some srt too I believe.

iamjacobm wrote:The Governor's recent trip to China seems to already be paying dividends with a Chinese company opening offices in Omaha.  If this trip could foster something like that I think the trip would be well worth it.

And this trip was covered well by the media.

nebugeater wrote:To clairify, I started this saying what I did not necessarily thinking the trip was a bad idea.  My point was an official trip of this length for this purpose would have local media coverage here I would think.  I didn't hear anything of it until the health issue.  I may have missed it too.  When the media was interview the spokswoman about the raises all I ever heard then is that Sittle was unavailable becuase he was "out of the county"  May be it is a media problem but a press release would ahve coverage of some srt too I believe.

I too had never heard of the trip until the health issue. I don't think any of local media covered it.

I heard about it.... but maybe that was just from Facebook....

nebport5 wrote:

S33 wrote:You know, I was wondering the same thing about his 10-day extravaganza to Ireland. I would think a 2-day trip to some place closer, say, Witchita, would accomplish a whole lot more. Wonder if his family went, too.

Today's article (if you read it) states he was visiting Omaha's European sister cities and that he paid all expenses for the trip.  And yeah an economic development tour in Europe seeing what works and doesn't work makes a lot more sense to me than going to Witchita and just seeing what doesn't work.

He went to "promote economic development." (According to the article I didn't read) Second, Europe is one of the last places I would be looking at to help develop economic growth, even after Wichita (which was just an example I through out there).

It was a vacation with a couple visits to our cutsey sister cities; you know it and I know it.

iamjacobm wrote:The Governor's recent trip to China seems to already be paying dividends with a Chinese company opening offices in Omaha.  If this trip could foster something like that I think the trip would be well worth it.

Exactly. Focus on China and the rest of the developing world.

S33 wrote:

nebport5 wrote:

S33 wrote:You know, I was wondering the same thing about his 10-day extravaganza to Ireland. I would think a 2-day trip to some place closer, say, Witchita, would accomplish a whole lot more. Wonder if his family went, too.

Today's article (if you read it) states he was visiting Omaha's European sister cities and that he paid all expenses for the trip.  And yeah an economic development tour in Europe seeing what works and doesn't work makes a lot more sense to me than going to Witchita and just seeing what doesn't work.

He went to "promote economic development." (According to the article I didn't read) Second, Europe is one of the last places I would be looking at to help develop economic growth, even after Wichita (which was just an example I through out there).

It was a vacation with a couple visits to our cutsey sister cities; you know it and I know it.

I don't doubt that.  If some positive economic insight or future development comes out of it, great.  If not, oh well.  But I think the reason it was a non story is because he paid for the trip.

nebugeater wrote:
First have been the raises that were given and then requested in the next budget.   

So if the council does not approve these raises,  then what?  Many of the things Suttle does goes against what he has committed to doing.  

I still have his campaign commercial pitch in my head "Restore civility to city hall".   To me, that means, working with the city council, not against it.   Now that is a 2-way street, but the lack of transparency is the cause of many of the issues.

Looks like the Council voted unanimously to admonish Mayor Suttle, which is basically a formal slap on the wrist.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Coun ... 73206.html

WOWT wrote:The resolution was approved unanimously. Following the vote, Council President Mulligan said, “Words of caution and advice. This is not political posturing, it is a serious message from the Omaha City Council. Thank you.”

Well he posted this on his facebook yesterday.

iamjacobm wrote:Well he posted this on his facebook yesterday.

Is there a graphic showing how much the contract the mayor wanted would have cost the taxpayers?

How about representing it as a % of base