Houston FY 2022 Budget Session : An exercise in futility because of inexperienced councilors.

Dr. Ntuba Akwo Thompson Ntuba, editor of health and development magazine and media sat all day working on the recently concluded city of Houston fiscal year 2022 budget council session that took place on the 6/2/2021 from 9 am to about 5.15 pm with great concerns over what he experienced and termed an exercise in futility marked by lack of experience in the running of local government governance in the local government of Houston administered from the city hall downtown.
The were too many many binders of amendment proposals, with certain members coming with as many as thirty, making the process uncertain, especially as many were to be thrown out, outright from the start as the presiding budget officer, the mayor, sat to decide as head of a council, over his own budget, a process which also appears very undemocratic.
A lot of the budget amendment proposals were forced to be withdrawn and more than 60 % sent to the different committees to deliberate on, with the possibility of introducing those proposals as ordinances in the future not budget amendments again.
While the councilors voted the budget of 5,1 billion dollars into local city law, the same councilors voted against a member who wanted to change her vote from yes to no through a change of rule votes. Why will you vote yes first and try playing games with your colleagues by saying you want to change your vote to no ?.
Councilmember Pollard had enough from the mayor and other councilors who would not allow others to have their amendments go through by either saying it was not a budget amendment and or it needs to go to committees for vetting by forcing a vote to increase the amount of district service money from 750.000 $ to one million dollars after the mayor advocated against it, though the amendment proposal passed.
The issues of slum lords created a heated debate, with certain councilors told off, who supported the landlords who owned apartments in Houston that compromise the health and safety of residents by not taking care of them.
Mayor turner sent a message to those residents who live in certain districts, especially that of one representative of Houston at the Texas Congress to tell their constituents who vote to cap Houston revenue to know that, they are compromising their own safety, by reducing city budget through their votes in the Republican-controlled TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
The problem of private persons and or institutions helping the councilors get office space in their districts and also city money for certain nonprofits in certain districts, showed that each person is in the city hall for their own first before the rest. The same people who refused certain nonprofits getting city taxpayers money, give money to their own nonprofits like Baker Ripley and Search.
As an international political leader and communicator, Dr. Ntuba Akwo Thompson found the inexperience and lack of leadership experience of a lot of the councilors a handicap in the smooth running of the city of Houston government.
Too many amendment proposals unrelated to the budget were presented and too many many of the amendment proposals sent to the committees will never make it to any budget of 2022 because the budget was already voted into local law.
The is no educational requirement to be qualified as a city councilor and the is no experience needed in a previous political office, especially as city council offices are often considered an entry-level position in government politics and therefore the inexperienced councilors are not to be blamed for what happened in the city hall of Houston on the 6/2/2022.
by
Dr. Ntuba Akwo Thompson, an international leader, and communicator certified professional and expert in global health [USA]. Adviser of prime ministers and presidents.