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.