Mayor Tom Glas called the July 6, 2016, Alcester City council meeting to order at 7:00 pm with Councilwoman Audri Carlson, Councilwoman Kama Johnson and Councilmen David Larsen and  Councilman Mark Dykstra present. Absent were Councilmen Lance Johnson (according to comments he’s baling hay?) and Councilman Mike Burke (according to council comments he should have been off work by 7:00 pm in response to the information, ‘he had to work’)?

The agenda was approved as printed and the minutes for council meetings of June 1, 2016, special meeting and June 6, 2016, regular meeting were approved as presented.

 

NOTE: November 5, 2015, Mayor Tom Glas phizzed and moaned about my formal complaint on Theresa Deem and her violations of code costing the city over $1K.

The June 1, 2016, meeting was to interview police applicants. Really? Mayor Glas allegedly           appointed committees for 2016-2017. Glas appointed Councilwoman Kama Johnson as Chair of the Public Safety Committee with Councilmen Lance Johnson and Mike Burke as committee members. So these three councilpersons could meet with Chief Doty at their convenience to review officer applicants without the cost of a special full council meeting just five days before  a regularly scheduled council meeting. Folks do you care how Mayor Glas is spending your tax dollar? Do you care Councilman Lance Johnson and Mike Burke could not find the time to be present for the June 1, 2016 meeting just after being seated for new terms? Councilman Mike Burke just made the last 28 minutes of the June 6, 2016, meeting? What part of their sworn oath of office don’t they get?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Alcester Union-Hudsonite, June 16,2016, page 9)

Next item up was public input. Alcester Bar was on the agenda again! I presented a document from the 2007 insurance audit which recommended a structural engineer be contacted for inspection and review of the south wall of the Bar building. A structural engineer from Sioux Falls was contacted at the time, the wall was inspected and drilled at several points and concluded the brick were just a façade not structural. The engineer provided a written report to the city which was placed on file and forwarded to the city’s insurance provider. Members of the 2007-2008 Liquor store committee were chair-Tom Kribel and members Jesse Duncan and Pete Larsen. So the only thing at issue is to remove the ‘bricks’. The brick wall faces an alley, so why on earth does the Mayor want to spend $10-$15K unbudgeted tax dollars on cosmetics for the back side of a building that is only worth $25K-$35K at best? Really? Here Glas was phizzing and moaning about my legitimate complaint putting him on notice which he ignored, now he is Hades-bent polishing the back-end of a donkey to make the back wall of the bar look ‘purdy’ for the alley night crawlers. Really?

           Alcester City employee and water systems specialist Dale Pearson received recognitions and award for excellence in his duties but I do not see a photo of Mayor Glas handing Mr. Pearson his award.   I see Mayor Glas and office staff featured front and center in newspaper photos, so where are the photos of our city street, water and wastewater employees when they received awards, where is their public recognition.  I do not mean the behind council doors atta-boys with the Mayor shoving an unframed paper certificate at them, but a full photo-op in the newspaper showing the job well done and the city  appreciates you and your accomplishments!

             202 Broad Street raised its head again. According to a previous statement Mayor Glas must still have wish (?) list plans for a new city offices encased in a Morton style steel building plunked down in a residential neighborhood. One interesting comment made by Mayor Glas was when he referenced the Councilwomen as ‘the girls’. At least I presume he was referencing the councilwomen as ‘the girls’ and not some anatomy part.

            Ward Boundaries have “officially’ and finally been dealt with so the map matches the 2014 Alcester Municipal Ordinances. When one is charged with reviewing a legal document, reasonable care must be taken to prevent the doctrine of unintended consequences from kicking in. In other words, one must anticipate all consequences of semantics and phrasing so one does not castrate the dog when one means to offer it up to stud!

Still no update from Councilman Dykstra on his little chat with the Union County Fair Board and the Union County commissioners about the city land leased to Union County and on which the Union County Commissioners sub-lease to elevator operators/owners to dump corn and soybeans on  and allowing the grain to rot.  Fair time is getting close, Mr. Dykstra and it doesn’t look good for the fairgrounds!  It seems to me, that was a reason Mark Dykstra wanted on the council so he could protect his agri-buddies from mean-ole Mayor Larsen who was trying to protect an Alcester City asset.  Say Councilman Dykstra you mentioned in your March 31, 2016, statement in the Alcester Union-Hudsonite,

“I have work yet to do.  I came on with an agenda and I am not finished doing it. “

Mark Dykstra

Yo Mr. Dykstra, what exactly is the work you have yet to do?   What exactly was the rest of your agenda, I mean besides prop up Madam Woolworth? Economics Czar you are Councilman Dysktra, I have trouble with your apparent economic agenda of continuing to prop up a money pit with no redeeming value throwing good tax dollars after bad.  Why do you refuse to cut losses and sell the building.  Explain what sound business and commercial economic doctrine supports that part of your agenda, Mr. Dykstra?

One last item of interest. Mayor Glas and members of the council are taking another field trip to visit community buildings. Seems to me these trips AFTER architects have presented ideas and costs are silly and wasteful. How much money, time and effort has the new community building committee spent without reviewing and understanding the findings of the old community building committee. Seems like a re-run of “Ground-Hog Day“! By the way, has the VFW and Legion been consulted for their ideas on this remodel delusion?

Vickie A. Larsen