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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment Card CC - 07/08/2014 - Public Comment Card 07 07 14 Agenda Item 14 196PUBLIC COMMENT CARD (Please print & fill in completely) Instructions: A/ C; DA I rf"""'-"" 1. Complete this card in its entirety (DO NOT leave anything blank) (5 lit I I ~I 2. Give the card to the City Clerk BEFORE THE COUNCIL MEETING BEGINS . ~ ,l ---,Jt7 3. When your name is called, approach the podium and speak directly into the microphone and state your r&t'e and address. Please complete the following information: 0 1 /ould like to make a General Comment that does NOT pertain to an Agenda Item or Zoning Case. (Skip to To(/ay's Date ) y(would like to speak about an Agenda Item or Zoning Case. H IP/e me il/dicate AgC?llda Item No. be/o w)" Agenda Item No . : ! i./ / r? Zoning Case No . : _______ TODAY'S DATE: 7/tfJ z 1.:2 0/ Lj NAME: &/111 ';/'1/ G: (IL/;) Ca,/emal-? ADDRESS: /3C1tJ{? flrl7 tlU #1, II If oCt d ffI,:lhn I C; n PHONE: _G_7_~_------,-7---L..2----,-'t~~1'---"'("--1'8"-----'-'7____ Please check ALL that apply: U j.,aIJl in SUPPORT of this Agenda Item VYcfu, in OPPOSITION of this Agenda Item ~I am a Milton resident n I am a Milton business owner o I am a local lobbyist duly registered with the State Ethics Commission o I am a paid representative of either the support or opposition U I am affiliated with a Group or Neighborhood Name of Group/Neighborhood ___________ o l/ant to speak about this Agenda Item ~DO NOT want to speak but I would like the following comments read into the record: See Allachecl (Please use the back of this card for additional writing space.) **Please read the following RULES regarding Public Comment: • Public Comment is allowed on an Agenda Item or a General Public Comment can be made about something that is not on the Agenda. • NO Public Comment is allowed regarding Consent Agenda Items or First Presentation Items . • ALL Public Comments in SU PPORT of an Agenda Item are allowed a TOTAL of ten minutes. This means that ALL people who wish to speak in SUPPORT have a total of ten minutes as a group. • ALL Public Comments in OPPOSITION of an Agenda Item are allowed a TOTAL of ten minutes . This means that ALL people who wish to speak in OPPOSITION have a total of ten minutes as a group. If you want to speak about a Rezoning or Use Permit Agenda Item, please answer "yes" or "no" to the following question: DYes D No "Within the (2) years immediately preceding the I1Ilng of this zoning petition have you. as the applicant or opponent tor the rezoning petition, or an attorney or agent of the applicant or opponent for the rezoning petition, made any campaign contributions aggregating $250.00 or more or made gifts having an aggregate value of $250.00 to the Mayor or any member of the City Council? NaTE: In accordance with O.C. G.A. § 36·67A·3, any opponent of a re-zonlng application must file this disclosure at least five calendar days prior to the first hearing by the local government or any of its agencies, which is usually the Planning Commission meeting. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 36­ 67A-4, knowing failure to comply with this requirement constitutes a misdemeanor. Accordingly, an individual who has made contributions exceeding the above amount within the past two years who has not complied with this disclosure requirement is strongly advised not to partiCipate in public comment opposing the application. When you have campi thIs urd, piNS. SJive it 10 the CITY CLERK ~the m cing begins. PI /I s.. the CITY CLERK" you haw ny questions ,.-.g;Irtling this Pub/if; Comment Caret. (Agenda Item No. 14-196) The City of Milton Employee Retirement July 07, 2014 Mr. Mayor, Council Members, ladies and gentlemen, Hello, my name is Bill Coleman, 13000 Arnold Mill Road Milton, GA. For the purposes of my comments when I say "Government" it means all government, federal, state, local, and it's employees even though this comment is specifically for the City of Milton. I am 65 this month and retiring in the near future. I will have social security and any investments and 401K that I, and I alone, have provided for myself to rely on. I am mandated by the law of Government to participate in the Social Security system. If I do not send part of my pay to the Government for the Social Security system they can take legal action against me, up to and including sending me to prison, in other words at the point of a gun. The City of Milton is proposing to opt out of the Social Security system and provide an enhanced employee retirement system which will provide much more of a benefit to them than participation in the Social Security system that I am forced to participate in. If the program being proposed were not going to be a much greater benefit for them then why would they change? How can Government opt for a better system than the one they force me to participate in? Because Government made the rules and wrote the law exempting themselves so they could opt for something better. A retirement program I cannot have. A better retirement program for them at my, the tax payer's, expense. If Social Security is deemed good enough for me by my Government, why is it then not good enough for that same Government? My property taxes will be financing this enhanced Government retirement program. This proposal will be much to Government's benefit and my detriment. This is not right and not fair to us, the taxpayers that put you into office. We thought you were elected to serve the people but it appears your proposal here will serve Government at the expense of the taxpayers, the very voters that put you in the office of Government you now hold. The constitution guarantees "Equal Rights Under The Law". Government has found a way to circumvent this by adding exceptions to the laws they make for us, the citizen taxpayers, by adding exemptions deep in the bowels of the complicated laws they pass. This is slowly creating a class difference between the elite Government and the common taxpayer. You are, as my biology professor said, slowly boiling the frog so he does not notice until it is too late. Well, I notice. Government is slowly writing a different set of laws through these exceptions and exemptions that they are governed by than the laws that we, the people, are governed by. If this trend continues what set of laws will the people be governed by verses the laws that Government is governed by in the furure? If this divergence is allowed to continue how much difference in the laws will there be in twenty years, forty years, sixty years? Boil the frog! He won't notice. Just because you, Government, wrote the law so you could elect to opt out of Social Security and provide yourselves an alternate enhanced program at the cost of the taxpayer does not mean you have the moral right to do so. If you do this in the City of Milton you are simply taking advantage just because you can. Well, I ,can't avail myself of this same advantage because you hold a gun to my head and say I have no choice but to participate in a system that you deem not fit for you, Government. This matter should not be decided by you, Government, who have the potential of personal gain form the decision, but by the taxpaying voters who will bear the cost of this greater benefit you are proposing to give Government, yourself. Do this right. Let the people who will pay for this make this decision. I have only one question for you Mr. Mayor, and each and everyone of the Council here tonight which I, and probably a few others here, would like to have you answer to us and that is, "lf social security is good enough for the taxpaying citizens, the voters who put you in Government, why is it not good enough for you, Government?" This is not a rhetorical question, Mr. Mayor? Thank you, Bill Coleman