Your county board gives us citizens 30 minutes to comment on whatever interests you – twice a month – that’s 60 minutes. You are encouraged to e-mail, write, call as alternatives, and you will get an answer. I’ve found that a public comment also gets an answer but it does something else – it raises the public’s awareness of an issue; it asks everyone at that table to think about the issue and maybe it gets an answer for the public.
Today (May 28) 30 minutes didn’t mean 30 minutes – the agenda is huge (316 pages) and there are more meetings after county board. So am I to guess then that the task of listening to the public to start your day is overwhelming in the face of what is coming? Is the fact that several pieces of the agenda may need to go back to the drawing board before being acted on considered a setback?
Questions were raised about the Vacation Rental Ordinance— suggestions to wait before adopting – given the public comment that did happen there is good reason not to move ahead. Darn that public comment anyway!
So now to what didn’t get into public comments…
An administrator’s report on project updates, communications, iCompass and Kronos with no information in written form. The administrator only verbally presents this to the board. What’s missing here is your being able to read what this is all about. Project updates alone involve current money being spent and future money being planned for tax dollars. We have 316 pages as it is – would two more pages make a difference?
Request for membership in yet another organization (RAMS) that will advocate for protection of communities and schools from harmful legislation. You mean we don’t have anything like this already? How many “organizations” do we need tripping over each other? And then we have the representation on this group that we will of course be asked to consider. And which commissioners would you like to assign that duty to? And there’s another nickel out of our pockets—for what?
A new job description being considered for Emergency Management with a job grade of 170. Is that entry-level uncertified? What happens when certification is done? We have a wage system that doesn’t use dollars or cents but unidentifiable job grades….hmmmm.
I left frustrated and decided to speak in the quickest way I could.
Arvis Thompson
Grand Marais
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