Is the Sac City Council Actually Going to Re-appoint Shirley Phillips to the Planning and Zoning Board?

By Curtis Bloes

You read it here first.  Shirley Phillips, who has presided over what is in my opinion, the least user-friendly Planning and Zoning Board in recent Sac City history,* is due to be considered for reappointment to that board in January of 2010.


Her reappointment by the Sac City Council will send a clear message to the people of Sac City that they approve of the tactics she employed in the recent Zoning Map debacle. The entire P&Z Board under her direction attempted to pass major changes to Sac City's land use without informing the actual landowners whom those changes would affect. (To be fair, they did publish the bare minimum that is legally required, in tiny print, in the back of the Sac Sun… arguably the #2 place to publish information if you don’t want anyone in Sac County to read it.)**

The only reason anyone knew these changes were going to be made is because the Sac City Administrator took it upon himself to send a letter to the affected citizens informing them that there was going to be a hearing regarding their land use change. The Planning and Zoning Board took no such measures and repeatedly mocked the citizens who showed up that did not want their rights yanked out from underneath of them.  The P&Z Board characterized those citizens as either selfish, or “against progress.” ***

Sac City Council… Do you need Shirley Phillips continuing to make your own jobs harder than they need to be? Do you need Shirley Phillips drawing what could be relatively painless months long procedures out into years long ordeals, and THEN blaming landowners and taxpayers for the problems her style of "leadership" created?

Please send the message that Sac City is no longer interested in Shirley Phillips brand of “help.” A vote FOR Shirley Phillips to continue in her role on the Sac City Planning and Zoning board is a vote AGAINST open and honest government. How many strikes does she get?

Plus, appointing fresh blood into these high profile positions is never a bad thing... Remember, that kind of thinking is the reason 4/5 of you (after January) hold your elected positions.

(…Now, let’s all kick back and see if Councilman Brian Muska re-pays Shirley Phillips for her help with his water problem at Evapco by voting to allow her to stay on the Sac City Planning and Zoning board.)

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* About 5 years ago, the Sac City Planning and Zoning Board attempted to make criminals of downtown business owners by introducing a rule that, among many other things, would make it a crime to paint the outside of a private business a color that wasn’t pre-approved by the city.

**#1 is the Lake View Resort.

*** As far as I can tell, “Progress,” as espoused by Shirley Phillips and her crew of sycophants, has something to do with making it easier for out-of-county box stores to compete directly with in-town family businesses via the Highway 20 bypass… and having a really tiny school with a dwindling spending authority.