So you would think after the first meeting of our new mayor my barbs would be flying towards Paul. Nope. He did a fine job, even reading a proclamation to a non-existent recipient. And how could he go wrong with a bouquet of flowers in front of him from Stehly’s garden?
In the appointment category, the council did move forward by nominating and electing councilor Brekke to the operations committee. Brekke’s first course of business should be opening the meetings to the public.
The big disappointment of the night? The council towing the old way of doing things and electing Selberg (rubber stamper) to the vice-chair position. Selberg has done nothing for two years except warm a chair, and that is what they wanted, a yes man. While I will try to stay optimistic, I’m afraid this move was a way to keep things just the way they are, leadership embargoing information from ‘certain’ councilors, the public and the media.
They know if Starr would have had that position he would have actually embraced open government and shared leadership information with the rest of the council, the public and media. Oh we can’t have that, can we.
Status quo right on day one. You should be so proud of yourself Councilor Neitzert. We wouldn’t want to overturn the apple cart.
what would rex say to the mayor not wearing a tie?
I thought TenHaken did a nice job handling public input. It seems smart to not respond and follow-up later on items that need to be followed up on, such as the gentleman with the driveway issue (something that could be easily verified by looking at his property on Google StreetView) and let the public judge some of the more “interesting” comments for themselves. If it’s this mellow every week, hard to see a need for any changes to be made.
The election and the swearing-in are all over with now and so is the tie….. And when the Potsdam officials return this summer, I sure hope they don’t mistaken him for a luggage boy….. (“And this is our new Congressman, ‘Dusty,’ too….. Yes, the young one wearing a tie”)
I have been to enough meetings to draw this conclusion of marshal selberg. He is either woefully unprepared on a given topic, or just does not care. I believe in most cases, it is the unpreparedness. When pressed into a situation where he must give input on a given topic, he resorts to saying he agrees with councilor so and so’s opinion. He is really good at sitting on his hands, and pulling out his rubber stamp. Vice chair material? Not likely, but, we will see.
Matthew, aside from first night jitters, the new mayor did well. But what was on the agenda that tested his mettle?
Nothing. That time is coming. New “field of dreams†downtown? That will test his mettle. The inevitable annual water and sewer rate increases will test his mettle. Annual parking ramp rate increases will test his mettle. We’ll see his mettle in action when he must negotiate a new union contract with police, fire, and street department employees. What of the mayors first proposed annual budget? These are the things that will tell us what we can expect from the new mayor.
I’m used to the chauvinism and gerrymandering in this state. Jolene would have been a good mayor and Noem should be governor. It couldn’t and can’t happen so we return to the majority sex mostly unrepresented. My future here will be a PO Box for voting and an RV for visiting states with liberty and freedom for all.
So how many boot lickers are left in the council yet.
Who is Marshal Selberg? Is that an old west lawman? Cause I’ve never heard of him. Unfortunately, the title of Seatwarmer seems quite appropriate. I’d like to have him have an opinion on something
He was rather opinionated when it came to an issue involving golf…. But then again, golfers matter, but not construction workers in this town….