The Rubin Plan: Reforming City Hall
Bill Rubin has knocked on over 12,000 doors in the district and heard the opinions of thousands of residents in Northeast Philadelphia. One common complaint that he hears from a large majority of voters is that they just don’t trust city council.
Bill believes that we must reform city council and restore trust to city government. An efficient, open, and transparent city council will restore the public’s trust and make Philadelphia a more desirable place to work and live.
As councilman, Bill would pursue the following reforms to city council:
No more outside employment for city council members –
City council is a full-time job. There is no need for members of council to hold outside employment; it can create conflicts of interest and distract members of council from their most important task – representing their constituents and serving the city.
City council members are paid more than enough to support a family. If a council member desires a salary beyond what the city pays, that person should resign and seek new employment.
Eliminate nepotism –
It is important to not only eliminate impropriety in council, but also any appearance of impropriety. No member of council should be permitted to hire refer relatives for city employment or appointments. Bill Rubin will introduce legislation to remove nepotism from the hiring process.
Eliminate personal vehicles for members of City Council –
The city provides personal vehicles for each member of City Council, and also pays for fuel and maintenance for those vehicles.
Bill would ban city vehicles for elected officials. There are reliable public transportation options from the Northeast to city hall, and a district councilperson should be encouraged to use public transportation in order to develop and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of our mass transit systems.
Shorten summer and holiday breaks for City Council –
A report this past year by Pew Charitable Trusts showed that Philadelphia City Council has three months per year without any Council sessions – the most out of 15 major cities surveyed by the report.
Council members are elected to represent our citizens; they should be working full-time for a job that pays them for full-time service. Bill would work with council to shorten summer breaks and eliminate unnecessary holidays from the legislative calendar.
Create term limits for members of Council –
Bill Rubin supports a limit of three consecutive terms for members of City Council. The political window for such a change is as open as it will ever be – many council candidates during the May primary supported similar term limits.
Ban gifts for council members and staff –
Organizations and individuals seeking to influence the decisions of council members and staff should not be permitted to purchase meals, gifts, or anything else of value for council members and staff.
Bill believes that the public and their representatives have a right to discuss the process with city council. But it is extremely difficult to justify the free meals and tickets to sporting and social events that accompany the process. It is possible that in most cases these perks do not affect the decisions of our public officials, but they are still unnecessary and banning them reduces the chance of corruption in the legislative process.
Eliminate DROP for current elected officials –
Bill Rubin helped write the state bill that eliminates the DROP perk for future elected officials, but does not apply to elected officials that were already in office when the bill took effect (i.e. council members that are “grandfathered” in).
Bill will introduce and support legislation that would eliminate those elected officials who are “grandfathered” in to DROP and make them ineligible to take the perk.
“No” vote for leadership candidates in DROP –
Bill will refuse to support any councilperson that is a candidate for a leadership position that has accepted or plans to accept a DROP payment. We cannot reform DROP and restore the public’s confidence in the program if we elect council leaders that continue to take advantage of the program.