Seriously Gary? How can you possibly have the gall to intimate that the money wasted on Emagine Concepts via the Cheyenne County Commissioners loan of CDBG funds last year isn't a big deal?
KSID manufactured news reported that the company opened on a, "limited basis" at the end of last year but failed to secure enough financing to continue operations. They screwed Adams and Sons out of rent and other utility fees and just walked away from their obligations to the tax payers.
Whether the money was to be returned to the state or not, the loss represents harm to other potential small business developers with the integrity to develop and achieve a commercial objective.
Person's argument is a lot like the one posited by councilmen Gaston and Hiett, who often tout the need to spend government money or risk losing it to other localities. Person attempts to gloss over his part in the matter, saying, "Many people tried very hard and put a lot of effort into making this project work, but unfortunately this time it didn't." He further shifts responsibility onto the backs of others saying that officials reviewed the plan and were encouraged by the potential.
I would like to know who reviewed the plan. Certainly Person and Schaub didn't and frankly, it should be Person's prestige (or lack thereof) that should bear the full burden of shame. Given the original requirements of the project to create a minimum of 20 jobs in Cheyenne County, one would have thought that some ongoing progress reporting or investigation would be done to ensure the project tracked well. Like Person's other failed fiasco, Prairie Winds, nothing was ever done to get the project moving, all the while leaving the tax payers to risk monies advanced.
Person is an abject failure at his job. He cannot do economic development and has done nothing to develop business in the city limits. How can people not see his economic development activities which benefit the county (presuming that he actually gets economic development going) as being naturally counter to the economic development needs of the city? Surely, someone as progressive as Person should be philosophically opposed to the trickle down economics of the 80's, but he expects all to believe that by developing the county (with it's tax advantages) will benefit the city though increased sales tax based on demand for related services such as food.
It is time to allow Mr. Person to retire from public life for his shameful performance. Were it not for John Hehnke managing the public works sector of the city, Sidney would be in worse shape that it already is. The town can ill afford people such as Person, who build alliances and tear down honest men. Person's dismal record at economic development inside the city limits should be the cause for clamor that fiscally responsible citizens should yelling at the top of their lungs.
It is time to go Gary Person. Take thee and thy friends to grandma's farm. While you have not earned your retirement, you certainly now deserve it.
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