I have been gone for a couple weeks, but just read the defense of Ibs Young by Mr. Nelson. Nelson claims that my logic isn't infallible. He is correct. No one's logic is completely infallible. In the case of the conspiracy to unseat or otherwise harass Loren Avey, Dave Wiederspon and Marv Filsinger, I can assure everyone that I know who was responsible and their motivations. You don't have to be perfectly correct all the time to be right occasionally. Mr. Nelson should see the difference and stop throwing red herrings out there to confuse the people of our town.
I did not attack Mrs. Young. I did point out that she was making public intimations of wrong doing to two men she doesn't like on council. She should be prepared to use the ample resources she has at her disposal (oddly enough, she chose the paper over her own radio station) to investigate for something approaching a factual basis before implying that people were cooking the books. It is my understanding that she did not take up the request of Bob VanVleet to attend the City Council meeting. Sometimes the silence which follows public accusation says a lot about the accusation and the accuser.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Proving a Point
In answer to CJ Cornelius' letter from Saturday:
I never said that the City Manager's Job description was OFTEN at odds with the EDD position duties. I said that there should occasionally be honest opposition where additional growth would come at the expense of current services obligations. As an investor who stands to gain from the growth opportunities, Dr. Cornelius' intentions are self-evident. We all want Sidney to grow and have everyone be more prosperous. You don't have to be the wealthiest or most loved person in town to understand what common sense teaches us.
Perhaps more businesses would come here, if we trained our residents in the kind of jobs that would bring businesses here. Sidney's unemployment rate is whimsically small. The county is as close to over-employed as any town around. We can't get employment diversity because there are not enough people around to fill a new business's job requirements, including advanced technical skills. This was the point I was trying to make in the first place. Unrestrained growth without considering the whole picture leads to an excess of spending in the hope of attracting business and people. In my opinion, we have stifled relocation growth because our taxes have grown at a rate that most people consider troubling. I know dozens of people who chose not to live in Sidney due to the high cost of taxes. Peetz and Sterling, Colorado are populated with many employees who are paid by Cheyenne County businesses. We are stagnated as a population, due in part to the tax burdens we bear. Unless this changes, any other growth beyond that which we are currently obligated will act an additional barrier to living here.
The justification for separating the two positions is to ensure a reasonable check and balance between two different functions of community growth and governance. One only has to look to the current Obama administration and Congress to realize how "well-meaning" folk can concentrate too much power in the hands of too few individuals for the "betterment of all." Pray that we do not repeat the national mistake as none of us can afford that kind of failing at the local level. Sensible growth brings a gradual elevation in the standard of living for the majority of the people in the community. Separating the City Manager's job from the Economic Development Director's office will place a needed check on uncontrolled growth in spending and tax increases without tangible benefits. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do.
His points regarding councilman are correct. They often work in thankless ways because the truly want to benefit their fellow citizens. They receive little compensation for the hours required to do a diligent job and and every councilman I have ever asked a question always took time to respond. This is also true of the City Manager and every department head I have ever talked to. Even when I did not agree with the information they provided or their strategy, they were still as professional as they could be. They are a good group of people by and large and they don't deserve the blind and thoughtless accusations by Elizabeth Young.
Its nice to be admired for progressive growth and community strength. Let us be reasonable in our growth strategies so our vision for the future doesn't become a hallucination.
I did not attack Mrs. Young. I did point out that she was making public intimations of wrong doing to two men she doesn't like on council. She should be prepared to use the ample resources she has at her disposal (oddly enough, she chose the paper over her own radio station) to investigate for something approaching a factual basis before implying that people were cooking the books. It is my understanding that she did not take up the request of Bob VanVleet to attend the City Council meeting. Sometimes the silence which follows public accusation says a lot about the accusation and the accuser.
I never said that the City Manager's Job description was OFTEN at odds with the EDD position duties. I said that there should occasionally be honest opposition where additional growth would come at the expense of current services obligations. As an investor who stands to gain from the growth opportunities, Dr. Cornelius' intentions are self-evident. We all want Sidney to grow and have everyone be more prosperous. You don't have to be the wealthiest or most loved person in town to understand what common sense teaches us.
Perhaps more businesses would come here, if we trained our residents in the kind of jobs that would bring businesses here. Sidney's unemployment rate is whimsically small. The county is as close to over-employed as any town around. We can't get employment diversity because there are not enough people around to fill a new business's job requirements, including advanced technical skills. This was the point I was trying to make in the first place. Unrestrained growth without considering the whole picture leads to an excess of spending in the hope of attracting business and people. In my opinion, we have stifled relocation growth because our taxes have grown at a rate that most people consider troubling. I know dozens of people who chose not to live in Sidney due to the high cost of taxes. Peetz and Sterling, Colorado are populated with many employees who are paid by Cheyenne County businesses. We are stagnated as a population, due in part to the tax burdens we bear. Unless this changes, any other growth beyond that which we are currently obligated will act an additional barrier to living here.
The justification for separating the two positions is to ensure a reasonable check and balance between two different functions of community growth and governance. One only has to look to the current Obama administration and Congress to realize how "well-meaning" folk can concentrate too much power in the hands of too few individuals for the "betterment of all." Pray that we do not repeat the national mistake as none of us can afford that kind of failing at the local level. Sensible growth brings a gradual elevation in the standard of living for the majority of the people in the community. Separating the City Manager's job from the Economic Development Director's office will place a needed check on uncontrolled growth in spending and tax increases without tangible benefits. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do.
His points regarding councilman are correct. They often work in thankless ways because the truly want to benefit their fellow citizens. They receive little compensation for the hours required to do a diligent job and and every councilman I have ever asked a question always took time to respond. This is also true of the City Manager and every department head I have ever talked to. Even when I did not agree with the information they provided or their strategy, they were still as professional as they could be. They are a good group of people by and large and they don't deserve the blind and thoughtless accusations by Elizabeth Young.
Its nice to be admired for progressive growth and community strength. Let us be reasonable in our growth strategies so our vision for the future doesn't become a hallucination.
I did not attack Mrs. Young. I did point out that she was making public intimations of wrong doing to two men she doesn't like on council. She should be prepared to use the ample resources she has at her disposal (oddly enough, she chose the paper over her own radio station) to investigate for something approaching a factual basis before implying that people were cooking the books. It is my understanding that she did not take up the request of Bob VanVleet to attend the City Council meeting. Sometimes the silence which follows public accusation says a lot about the accusation and the accuser.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Misusing the Media?
Ms. Young seems to be agitated at the practices of City Council for going into executive session recently. Citing the school yard bullies she wants to know who are what they are talking about. State law provides for an exception to open door meetings when discussing specific individuals and their salaries or benefits or status. Open door policy may be trumped when personal privacy issues exist. They can't tell you, even if they wanted to, what they were talking about.
The characterization of Marv and Dave as bullies or acting like bullies based on a three year old incident is unfair. Casting aspersions about their honesty without facts backing it up is underhanded to be kind and libelous if not for their position as public officials. Ms. Young should use the resources available to her in the City Manager's office to validate or refute her theft theory before launching it into the public space for comment and consumption.
There are few people who have done more for the people of this town than Bob VanVleet. I know him personally and I can honestly say that the man doesn't hold a bad word for anyone, even if he wouldn't do business with them based on prior dealings. He is even-keeled and principled and he is one of the only brakes on spending in this town. Spending that has grown out of control in recent years and will become painfully evident if the recession presses further into our region.
The implication that votes are cast with no comment by members of council is a prejudgement is laughably overstated. Many times Council members vote on issues as a matter of practicality or the facts plainly speak for themselves. Approval of budget expenses, where a council member is the payee are always abstained by the councilman in question. Read the record. There is no conflict of interest where services are bid for and rendered. If the other vet clinic were complaining about Dave's practice before City Council, I would at least think there was something to check into. Ms. Young's imprudent accusations against Council members do a disservice to her lengthy letter, which has some good points on charity and donation of time and efforts to worthy causes.
I also have a problem with the City Manager and the Economic Development Director being the same person. This isn't personal against Gary, who I think is doing his best efforts as EDD. The problem I have is the City manager is basically a cost containment and oversight person and the EDD is someone who seeks to grow outward. These two positions should be occasionally at odds with one another, particularly in tough economic times. It is my belief that these positions need to work together, but against each other particularly where growth would come at the expense of current obligations such as road maintenance. We have clearly looked to the future for too long and we have crumbling streets that will probably break the axles of the new fire truck when it uses gravity from the hundred foot ladder canon to put out my barbecue fire during a training run on the 4th of July.
In order to tie this up quickly, I would submit to Ms. Young and others out there, If you want to know why council members vote the way they do, you should consider going to the meetings and asking members and others who provide information to them your questions before they vote on these issues which you deem to be important. Ask them if they support the measure being considered and why. Hold them accountable based on your values. The circus otherwise known as, "the Pundit" which caused so much gossip and angst in the town was designed to isolate and remove three council members. Two of them remain and both have been retained by the people, who obviously believe in them. The people have also returned Bob VanVleet to the council to ostensibly act as a brake on the spending habits we have "enjoyed" recently as well. It is about time someone on the council said "no" to matching funds and ludicrous expenditures for items or projects that do not benefit all the people of this town.
Whatever the personal disposition of the member's of the City Council, each has a responsibility to do their best in determining the direction and guidance for the City's future. If their vision isn't your own, either get some new glasses, or find someone with eyesight as bad as yours. I, for one, and tired of the farsighted goals of some that come at the near term financial disaster to a great many who are not, the so-called powerful.
The characterization of Marv and Dave as bullies or acting like bullies based on a three year old incident is unfair. Casting aspersions about their honesty without facts backing it up is underhanded to be kind and libelous if not for their position as public officials. Ms. Young should use the resources available to her in the City Manager's office to validate or refute her theft theory before launching it into the public space for comment and consumption.
There are few people who have done more for the people of this town than Bob VanVleet. I know him personally and I can honestly say that the man doesn't hold a bad word for anyone, even if he wouldn't do business with them based on prior dealings. He is even-keeled and principled and he is one of the only brakes on spending in this town. Spending that has grown out of control in recent years and will become painfully evident if the recession presses further into our region.
The implication that votes are cast with no comment by members of council is a prejudgement is laughably overstated. Many times Council members vote on issues as a matter of practicality or the facts plainly speak for themselves. Approval of budget expenses, where a council member is the payee are always abstained by the councilman in question. Read the record. There is no conflict of interest where services are bid for and rendered. If the other vet clinic were complaining about Dave's practice before City Council, I would at least think there was something to check into. Ms. Young's imprudent accusations against Council members do a disservice to her lengthy letter, which has some good points on charity and donation of time and efforts to worthy causes.
I also have a problem with the City Manager and the Economic Development Director being the same person. This isn't personal against Gary, who I think is doing his best efforts as EDD. The problem I have is the City manager is basically a cost containment and oversight person and the EDD is someone who seeks to grow outward. These two positions should be occasionally at odds with one another, particularly in tough economic times. It is my belief that these positions need to work together, but against each other particularly where growth would come at the expense of current obligations such as road maintenance. We have clearly looked to the future for too long and we have crumbling streets that will probably break the axles of the new fire truck when it uses gravity from the hundred foot ladder canon to put out my barbecue fire during a training run on the 4th of July.
In order to tie this up quickly, I would submit to Ms. Young and others out there, If you want to know why council members vote the way they do, you should consider going to the meetings and asking members and others who provide information to them your questions before they vote on these issues which you deem to be important. Ask them if they support the measure being considered and why. Hold them accountable based on your values. The circus otherwise known as, "the Pundit" which caused so much gossip and angst in the town was designed to isolate and remove three council members. Two of them remain and both have been retained by the people, who obviously believe in them. The people have also returned Bob VanVleet to the council to ostensibly act as a brake on the spending habits we have "enjoyed" recently as well. It is about time someone on the council said "no" to matching funds and ludicrous expenditures for items or projects that do not benefit all the people of this town.
Whatever the personal disposition of the member's of the City Council, each has a responsibility to do their best in determining the direction and guidance for the City's future. If their vision isn't your own, either get some new glasses, or find someone with eyesight as bad as yours. I, for one, and tired of the farsighted goals of some that come at the near term financial disaster to a great many who are not, the so-called powerful.
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