Sibby Online

City of Mitchell employees refuse to sign referendum petition due to fear of Mitchell's crony capitalists

I have been collecting signatures on a referendum on the Mitchell indoor pool project. Not surprisingly, I have had employees of the city of Mitchell who support the effort, but will not sign the petitions. Their fear is not with the mayor, who supports the referendum, but with the crony capitalists who run this town. One of them is Roger Musick who left this comment on a previous thread:

Thanks for including my letter to the editor.  I think what is being forgotten is Mitchell did have a recent election and Ed ran against the pool and Tara ran against the fine arts center.  Both were soundly defeated.  We need to turn our heads around and look forward.

Would you rather spend $5 million on a City Hall at $250,000 per City employee that works in City Hall (I spent $40 k per employee for my office) or $5+ million for another museum at the Corn Palace which benefits no residents of Mitchell.  We closed 2 museums within 300 feet of the Corn Palace that failed.

The motel owners have spoken what project they are willing to fund with a $1 million BID and the private citizens have committed to raise $1 million of private money for the pool.

If you have a better project for the City then I expect you and Ed to raise a similar % of private money to help fund your desired project and reduce the Cities share of the project.

I prefer projects projects that improve the quality of life for our children, grandchildren and employees and their children.  This will help move Mitchell forward.  Huron even has a nice indoor pool.

It is very easy to be against everything but much harder to raise $2 million as the pool supporters have.  You will see how hard it is to raise funds when you, Ed and Tara start raising funds for your project.

The reason Tara, Ed, myself, and others can't win elections is because we are marginalized by the same people that are causing city employees to be afraid to sign the petition. If you want to increase the chances of having a good job in Mitchell, then you better be in favor of whatever the Master Class wants. The reason why we have such low voter turn out is because the citizens have been oppressed into submission.

The Master Class decided to change plans mid stream and build an indoor pool instead of building a new City Hall so that the Corn Palace can be expanded into the current City Hall. Mitchell just spent millions on renovating the Corn Palace, and it is the main attraction for bringing visitors to Mitchell. I have seen no evidence than a new indoor pool would attract more visitors. The proposed benefits of an expanded renovated Corn Palace are being sacrificed in order to finance the wants of a very narrow special interest.

Roger and the pool supporters are falsely claiming that $2 million of the pool project is coming from supporters. The truth is that $1 million is coming from additional fees that will be charged for those visitors staying in motels. Most of them will not be using Mitchell's motels due to a new swimming pool. Most will care less about the new pool. The pool supporters are simply adding another tax in order to get the $7 million of funds they can't raise for the $8 million project. In my book, which is the Bible, that would be considered coveting.

And having our children and grandchildren pay taxes to pay of the debt that will be incurred to fund this project is not moving Mitchell forward. Those taxes could be used to stimulate the economy, by citizens buying want they want instead of paying off debt caused by the wants of special interests from days gone by. 

Those monies will be wasted to pay off debt on projects that has no return on investment. In fact, the annual financial impact of the pool will most likely negative as the operating costs will exceed the fees the pool will collect. I have yet to see a financial budget for operating the proposed facility. And this same argument goes for the $15 million fine arts center.

It will be those who profit from building swimming pools who will benefit the most. The rest of us members of the slave class will be paying the costs to subsidize operations and the debt that will fund the construction. This is the real impact crony capitalism has on the economy. That negative impact is causing taxes and public (and even perhaps private) debt to rise. China has been doing similar projects, and now they seem to be leading the world into another financial collapse.

 

Will the people of Mitchell use the approved indoor pool project to begin the process to take back their city government?

On August 17th, the Mitchell City Council approved over $8 million for a new indoor pool. The minutes were published in today's Mitchell Daily Republic, so starting tomorrow, the voters of Mitchell have 20 days to refer this to a vote. Here is a letter I wrote that was published in Saturday's Daily Republic:

The voters in the last election made it clear that they wanted change by changing out the mayor. The mayor cannot make the desired changes by himself, or else we would have a dictatorship. The mayor needs citizens to become more involved in order to bring about the changes the people desire.

That is why I have put together a petition that intends to refer the City Council's resolution to fund the $8 million aquatic facility to the voters. That was one of the issues that brought about the change in mayor. I can't get all the required signatures myself. There need to be others to step up and get involved.

If the people want to take back their city government, then they need to contact the mayor and offer him support. The mayor cannot by himself stop projects that benefit a few. That can only happen through democratic actions by involved citizens. Referendums are one way. A better way is to elect representatives who will represent the common interests of the constituents and not be swayed by those of the master class who now have control over the various governmental bodies at all levels.

Yes, there are benefits to having a new indoor pool. But if there is going to be economic growth, then the benefits have to be greater than the costs borne by the taxpayers in paying off the debt. I have not seen a return on investment analysis on the pool, nor did I get one when requested from the Mitchell Board of Education regarding the fine arts center.

Much of the financial benefits will go to those who are constructing these malinvestments. The long-term economic impact will most likely be negative. That is why our taxes and fees have to be increased, along with the public debt.

What is going on economically in America is not sustainable. And because those few who benefit the most have the ability to control our governments, I doubt that what is going on is stoppable. You may prove me wrong by getting involved, and urging others to join in.

Roger Musick also had a letter in Saturday's paper regarding the indoor pool project:

I would like to congratulate the Mitchell City Council on approving the new city pool project. Mitchell is one of the very few cities our size without a nice indoor pool.

This project has more private financial support than any city project I can remember. Why does it have such a great private support? Because it will benefit our children, grandchildren and employees for decades.

It appropriately sets the bar very high for future city projects. I have always advocated that the supporters of a project should raise a significant portion of the funds. It is one thing to say you are for a project, and yet another to raise 25 percent of its cost.

If you think another project should have a higher priority than the indoor pool, then will you raise 25 percent of its cost privately? It is similar to the joke of the chicken and the pig opening a restaurant together. The chicken is involved, but the pig is fully committed. The pool supporters are fully committed.

The proposed pool is designed for all ages and will support many varied activities at the same time. It will be where thousands of children learn how to swim, lifeguards are trained, older people exercise and use it for therapeutic purposes. Thousands of swimmers come to Mitchell for a couple swim meets every year.

The long-term future of Mitchell is based on our ability to convince young people that Mitchell is a great place to live and raise a family. As someone who has recruited hundreds of young people to Mitchell, I can tell you their priorities are job, education system and activities for them and their children.

Mitchell has come a long way improving the job opportunities, education system and quality of life in the last few decades. Let's continue the progress.

Yesterday the Daily Republic offered this opinion:

CHEERS to people getting involved on the city's indoor pool proposal. Last week, Mayor Jerry Toomey said he hopes the indoor pool gets brought to a vote, because "that's the democratic way." With at least 460 signatures, Mitchell residents could force a referendum on the proposal, which would be on the ballot in 2016. And it looks like that could happen—in Friday's edition, we reported that a local resident, Steve Sibson, said he intends to get a petition started. We've heard so many arguments on both sides of the issue, we agree the issue should be brought to a vote. Let the people decide—and if they do, then let's all move on.

So will the crony capitalists prevail, or will the citizens of Mitchell work to take the city government away from the Chamber boards and return it to themselves? Or will this be just another rejection that will short lived, and the crony capitalists find a way to work around the will of the people?

No teacher shortage in the Mitchell School District

From today's Mitchell Daily Republic:

Mitchell School District is ready to start a new school year.

That's the update Superintendent Joe Graves gave Mitchell Board of Education members Monday night during their regular meeting at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy.

Graves said all of the school district's buildings are fully staffed, and despite some "minor issues here and there," all of the major projects are complete.

"Principals have done a great job of staffing and staffing early," Graves said. "We largely went into the summer with our positions filled."