Speak Out 12/31/14

Newspaper is

out of control

I'm sick and tired of the whining about the new city manager. Tonight it was that out of town consultants give kickbacks? Really? The reason we got an out of towner city manager is because of all the kickbacks that were being handed to local companies.

Nobody in their right mind would hand the task of helping figure out the accounting system than to an outsider that you are comfortable with. If you use someone you don't know and trust then you have to worry about the information you are being fed by them.

The new direction of this newspaper is out of control. Please, stop the tantrum and start reporting from the center.

Bring back Silverberg!

New Wave

raising rates

I just received a notice from our new cable company--New Wave--that our rate is going up $7.94. They told us when they bought the company the rates would not go up for a year. A lot of folks cannot afford this.

All with the

Council's OK

Obviously Kaplan had our incompetent (don't have a clue) city council figured out before he even got here for the job. It appears that he called his buddy in Texas and said, "Boy, have I got a deal for you (us) -- you need to quit your job and start your own consulting business and I can set you (us) up". With the mayor's permission Kaplan hired his buddy to do the job we hired him to do to the tune of $50,000 to date -- more to come . . . We hired Kaplan for the outrageous salary of $160,000+ by now that figure has at least doubled! All with the approval of our crackpot council!!

Are new city

meters needed

Does the city really need to spend 2.2 million dollars on new automated utility meters? That is 2.2 plus whatever it will cost for the installation and the technology to operate them. How many jobs is this going to eliminate? I'll bet we could pay our meter readers a long time before we got anywhere close to spending $2.2 million. Perhaps this is a good idea for some time down the road when (and if) the city can afford it, but if we can believe anything Kaplan says -- that time is not right now when we are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Council should

fire Kaplan

It's time to let our city manager go elsewhere. The council could do this. They have experience, but this time it should be legal in an executive session out of a regular announced meeting bring the subject up, ask the city manager to leave, take a vote to vote him out, then go back to regular session and announce you've decided to let the city manager leave. If he wants to know for what reason, you answer, just because. If you give him a reason then you're tied up with a lawsuit for two or three years while he continues to be city manager. But you have every right to just let him go without excuse. If that doesn't work city's gonna have to work on a recall for five of the council members.

Please return

stolen items

For those who broke the window out of a blue truck at Bluff Lanes Bowling Dec. 10th, please bring my stuff to the police station or to Bluff Lanes. My book, the obituary, my grandkids' pictures, the address book, the pictures in the address book, the man's watch. To keep in a side pocket two sets of keys in bottom of bag. Just turn them in -- no questions will be asked. Please, the people, the person or the people's pictures will be on the tapes that will be viewed by many people along with the license plates and make of car. Please go to police station.