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IRONWOOD -The Ironwood City Commission gathered for the purpose of
“Goal Setting”. This was the second such session for the group and
was intended to refine the input from the first workshop.
Without commenting on the validity of the content, this meeting was
disappointing. Scott Erickson has done these “goal setting” sessions
before and they were done well, especially well compared to Thursday’s
workshop. Perhaps he had a better group of people to work with.
Seriously, the problem arose because one step in the process was
skipped. Perhaps with good intention, but none the less adversely
affecting the effort put into this workshop. Normally, all the
suggestions of the group would have gone into part 2, where similar and
overlapping ideas are merged. Then the group should refine the
suggestions down to a meaningful and manageable number of goals. The
goals selected should have reasonable expectations of success.
The meeting began poorly right from the get go, when Gema Lamb who
confused goals with her political wish list. Had not Co-Mayor Bobby
stopped her and tried to explain where he believed the process should be
going. Not wanting to disappoint her critics, Lamb continued her wish
list with her very next breadth.
The meeting was long and
boring, totally unsalvageable even with some sarcasm thrown in..
At the first workshop, members of the public (taxpayers) were
able to suggest items for the City’s goals.
As one might expect,
the City Commission members totally and completely ignored the thoughts
of its citizens. Just one more item that can be added to the
upcoming Recall Election that appears to be headed for the August
ballot.
Not only did the commissioners ignore the taxpayers, but
also ignored the recommendation of the Parks committee. Just a week
before, the Parks committee declined to support a grant application to
acquire a Railroad Right Away in the caves area. The city’s cost in
matching funds will be far more than $100,000, most if not all will be
in cash.
Another interesting thing at the workshop was the fact
that the City is making plans to spend income not already realized.
There are millages that will be dropping off in the coming years and the
manager and commissioners are already planning on spending those
potential tax savings!
No wonder that Ironwood is the most
highly taxed city in the Upper Peninsula and the number one beggar city
in the state after Detroit.
Other than commissioner’s using this
meeting for their own self serving purposes, this was just one yawner.
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