…it’s about the validity of issues that have been raised and whether or not they’ve been resolved to the satisfaction of the stakeholders, in this case, the citizens of Northfield.
I can appreciate the desire of Council Members to want to put some of these issues behind them and move forward on important issues facing the city. There’s certainly something to be said for such progress.
For at least some of us, it’s not that easy. Issues have been raised, all of which sound as if they have significant, if not substantial, implications for our governmental process and the future of our community. Personally, I am not comfortable being told by my elected officials (to paraphrase), “We looked at the issue and took care of it”.
Perhaps I’m attaching too much importance to the list of 14 items that was generated for the state auditor. However, every time that I review the list, all of the items seem to have fairly significant, if not substantial, implications, at the very least, for our governmental process and, potentially, for the future of our community.
It could be due to my liberal arts undergraduate degree. Rather than learn to accept the passed-down wisdom of the experts, I was taught to ask questions, and to continue to ask questions, until I had made the knowledge my own.
There has been much speculation and many rumors in the community about what incident actually occurred or was thought to have occurred to generate each of the 14 items on the list. I think that I am not alone in wanting more thorough answers on these items.
I would suggest that if the Council does not want the Leftover Eight independently and publicly investigated, that at the very least they owe the citizens a clear explanation of the incident or incidents that resulted in the generation of each item on the list, so that all interested citizens can understand what is or is not being investigated. I also think that if the Council believes that an item has been resolved, then that resolution should also be clearly explained to all interested citizens so that the citizens can decided for themselves if they believe that the item has or has not been satisfactorily resolved.
If I’m the only one who feels this way, then I’ll drop it.
Thanks for bestowing upon me the “Hero of the Week” honor. I am looking forward to receiving the crown and the bullet-proof cape… or can I chose the invisibility cape!
Would you do me a favor and repost the “original” list of 14 items without someones added underlining? Or repost the document with a notation at the top that the underlining represents your or LG’s personal feelings. I feel it is hard to have an open and fair discussion if right out of the shoot, information provided has been manipulated. I know that that was not your intentions, and you may have done it to provide more clarity to the issues, but you are, how did Perry Mason say it… “leading the witness”.
I will be posting more about the list of 14 items tomorrow!
Can’t say anymore as I am heading up to the cities to celebrate my fathers 73rd birthday! And that is way more important to me than today, than the Leftover 8 or the __________ 14.
I don’t think anyone who lives in Northfield should “drop it”. As a citizen of Northfield, I and you, have every right to know the answers to all 14 questions.
Well then maybe it’s about the LESS admirable qualities of our leaders … I think they have forgotten, in the midst of a lot of sincere emotional angst, that they are not just there as themselves.
They are there to represent US. As difficult as these times may be, they must see that they cannot fulfill their responsibilities to the people who elected them if they are sweeping issues under the rug. That sounds harsh, but the first two issues of the leftover eight, that they now say have been dealt with, have not been resolved to all of their satisfactions, and until that is done, they cannot truly be said to BE resolved.
Remember, a councilperson put each of those issues on a list to possibly go to the state auditor. Anyone who did that, without a genuine concern for the process, should be ashamed. If anyone put an issue on that list as a “gotcha”, then they should be ashamed.
They are adults, who have a large weighty responsibility, and their problems…whether with process or personalities… must be discussed in an open forum. We, the public, are not such babies that we cannot tolerate some differing POVs within our city council/staff.
What we should NOT tolerate are the ways they have chosen to handle their differences.
I look forward to Scott’s posting. Maybe those of us reading his post will have a clearer idea of what is going on!
However, what about the rest of the public who may not read LG?
With the current lack of leadership in the city, communication has been silent. The result is mistrust. Reading between the lines of lists like the one from the August 20 council meeting (approval of the list to go to the State Auditor) encourages suspicion. Not providing a list at the October 15 council meeting (of items to be investigated by Mr. Everett) increases suspicion.
And now, there’s the Mayor’s lawsuit! One more blow to communication. Suspicion is justified!
Do the council members have the Everett list? Is there a legal justification for not making it public?
The council and the administration, rather than needing lawyers and judges, need a mediator who will effect communication between city officials so that there can be real communication to the public. Without such a force, our city is doomed to months of dissention and inaction.
The most important question is how the Mayor and the Council can lead the City when the lawsuit, Chief Smith’s allegations, and the 14 “issues” are hanging over everyone’s heads.
Jane’s right about the Council working together. It doesn’t matter what the answers are to the above questions if the Council can’t get along.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that the above matters are like the heroin press conference – much ado about ordinary problems. Rather than sweeping the issues under the rug, the Council should sweep them out the door.
We should probably agreed on terms to use for the Issues for Examination by the State Auditor and now by the special investigator. I suggest:
Original 11
Amended 14
Leftover 8
Select 6
Cluster of 14 (currently unknown, expanded from the Select 6 by the special investigator)
Scott, the PDF of the Amended 14 is on the city’s website. Here they are for all our convenience:
You know, I’m just having a really hard time with the fact that none of these adults we have elected to lead/represent us have the guts to have a discussion of their problems in the public venue of a council meeting.
Having been at the work session last night, it just became so apparent that the process is “verschmiggled” (one of my kid’s favorite descriptive words) because of their group dynamics.
There are small snide remarks, heated glances, questions meant to provoke, cautionary statements … all the symptoms of a group that can’t talk to each other, through their basic level of irritation with each other.
Enough already; since July it has been said to “be patient, wait and see, there’s more that will come out, trust me”!
We’ve been patient.
We’ve waited and only seen more complications.
Virtually nothing has “Come out”.
Trust is worn to the breaking point.
Nfld News Managing editor Jaci Smith has blogged The [14] questions and how they voted on her blog at 9:35 pm
Lisa, I’ve moderated your comments for being unnecessarily harsh and not conducive to constructive dialog. I’ve sent details to you via email. Hope you can try again.