Many of her questions, she adds, are follow ups when the responses aren't adequate or raise new issues. She also makes requests for her colleagues' requests, trying to keep up with all the available information, she said. It's not just the questions, but the probing, distrustful way in which they are asked that ruffled the mayor's administration, officials said. The difficulty is at times there are some areas of inquiry that don't go to helping inform. Some of them take on the character of investigations.
Most council members make few written requests for information.
Frank Peterman made just 10 such inquiries in 1998. That's because he says he prefers to pull someone aside in a hallway or pick up the phone. Beginning this month, Peterman also is having lunch with a number of key administrators to learn about the issues city departments will face in 1999. I like to see a person face to face. Stephens began keeping track of the council's information requests when he became city administrator in summer 1997.