As a longtime reader of the Cook County News-Herald, I have read differing opinions for years. I have engaged to study and understand our current government and the people it impacts.
May I gently point out to the retirees who moved here from other areas in the United States that there is in our county seasonal low-paying jobs, that some folks need to work two or three jobs just to get by. They usually do not have benefits, maybe a small piece of land they call home and have their daily struggle. Some others have worked all their lives going from their 9-5 jobs and then worked weekends to make a few extra bucks. These folks have a small pension, Social Security, and are struggling also.
Then there are those who only have Social Security and subsequently have to make a choice between food and heat. We’re all in this together.
Some of our more affluent retirees moved here from lower Minnesota or other states, retiring from jobs where they made good wages, great benefits and moved to Cook County to build their dream home. Their pensions are good. They have time, money, and try to contribute to the community.
However, the folks who do not have this affluence are the folks who need to educate themselves about our local government. The people who have the jobs that mandate that they work shifts, sometimes many days in a week, never will go to a county board meeting as their jobs never coincide with meeting dates.
Families with children, jobs, traveling to and from work depend on government to do its job and the officials who are voted to those positions should do their jobs well.
The county board’s meeting room is set up to televise the county’s business leaders in action. Since the meetings can be televised, they should be televised. Cook County has a great website – put it to use! I would encourage every commissioner to vote to televise their work. It is absolutely imperative for the people’s trust, which has been surely dissipating.
County Attorney Molly Hicken has initiated a letter to the commissioners regarding open meetings and has not given a favorable response to televise. She has also given written verbal responses commissioners should make to their constituents – specific guarded responses with insinuated follow-up dialogue that most likely does not happen.
I along with many Cook County citizens was not impressed with decisions made by current and former commissioners. When subsequent financial and tax problems became critical, the five commissioners decided to hire a county administrator. Currently we have five commissioners and a county administrator who understand we are not financially sound, but who decided to increase substantially the wages of the county employees. This information is public if readers wish to educate themselves.
The information gathered by a group of concerned citizens is pulled from many sources, studied, presented and discussed on their own time. Different instances, concerned citizens have met 1:1 with governing entities with the old cliché “I’ll get back to you.” Many of these citizens are still waiting.
For all of you “Oldsters,” do you remember we had a real hero a few years back?
Holly Nelson recorded and televised on our local Internet (cable) channel government meetings. It was hard, it was messy, it was funny at times, but a most valuable tool we all used for information and dialogue.
When the public – the voting citizens – arm themselves with information, knowledge, questions and validate the answers offered, we will start becoming a transparent community. We have to work for it. We have to demand it. Our whole county will benefit from and for transparency.
Carol Seglem
Grand Marais
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