Fifteen years ago during the Stony Johnson garage and septic trial, the late commissioner Wes Hedstrom started educating me on pollution caused by septics. In his data were aerial photos of local lakes and visible pollution in front of homes with failing septics. It’s real and both a popular and unpopular subject because many drink lake water and because of the high cost of septics.
The commissioners’ recent rhetoric on the issue left an image of being totally uninformed; grandstanding for headlines, ordering testimony before the board whether pollution is real!
I wonder if they think global warming is real?
Doing their homework would probably reveal the information I have seen at a minimum, but why do your homework when you can order someone to do it for you? Commissioners have 36 meetings per year and make $555.55 per meeting plus health insurance. If they attend extra meetings they get paid more. It’s easy to make $45,000 a year attending four meetings a month. Most meetings are not over three hours. Yes, that’s approximately 12 hours a month for approximately $45,000 and our commissioners cry they are overworked and need an administrator.
Three commissioners are up for re-election and are all career politicians. I’m for term limits of eight years because I believe after that, spending tax dollars gets too easy and so do poor decisions. I believe small community politics shouldn’t just be about a paycheck or insurance—it should be about doing the right thing and serving your community. Eight years should be long enough to complete your agenda and not long enough to build a legacy at taxpayer expense.
Consider running for commissioner. If you run a household and pay your bills first and on time, or if you’re a parent planning a future for your family, or if you have common sense and make good decisions, you are as qualified to be commissioner as any commissioner currently serving.
It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about finding the correct data and making a good decision. Filing for commissioner closes in a couple weeks. Think about it.
Please vote for change.
Tod Sylvester
Grand Marais
Leave a Reply