Why the Library Came in $1.2 over Estimates

 At Monday night’s Council meeting Kevin Eipperle of FEH Design, Dubuque, presented a list of potential cuts to the library that seem they may gut the building of its charm: removing the attic section, installing a flat roof to save $275,000, switching from geothermal to regular  heating to save $135,000, and reducing the amount of limestone both inside and outside the building to save around $70,000, among others. You recall that at the previous meeting, the City Administrator Lisa Kotter announced bids for the new library had come in at over $1.2 million in excess of funds.

According to figures provided me by Kotter, the city has already paid FEH over $202,000 for design work, so you would think the estimates would not be so far off the mark. So, I phoned and posed the question of why his estimates were so far afield to Mr. Eipperle. He first pointed out the overall “size of the library isn’t changing.”

Though my meeting notes indicate that some of the ceiling will be lowered, he said it would still have the same height. Eipperle indicated there were two major classes of cost miscalculations: 1) the geothermal system requires well drilling to work, and the cost of that function had more than doubled from $3,000 to $7,500 and the cost of masonry, has gone up because the masons are very busy.  It is easy enough to understand these costs are fluid, but still…           

Of course then, Cascade itself hasn’t exactly been scrimping and saving either: this summer we built a $135,000 high-design looking limestone gazebo in Riverview Park, so it is no surprise we’re coming up short. I went to the meeting with some ideas for cuts we might make to preserve some of the charm of the library—scotch the dog park, build ersatz pickleball courts, not brand new ones, etc. Of course, we didn’t need a new director of party planning and promotions, but that is already water under the bridge.

Time to make City Administrators Accountable to Voters?

 A couple weeks back I called the Dubuque County Auditor and asked her for instructions on putting a referendum item on the fall ballot. She asked me what the subject of it was. “The citizens of Cascade, Iowa will have the opportunity to approve or reject the city administrator at biennial elections. Shall the city administrator be retained for another two years?”

            She said she had a list of approved items that had to do with municipal governance and that is not on her list, so she would not approve it.  I went home and phoned the Secretary of State’s Office and got a young man named Joshua Nelson in the Election Support Division. I explained that in my high school Civics class the teacher lead us to believe that any public issue could be put on the ballot by getting a percentage of voters to demand it, which was called a referendum. He agreed that was a thing and sent me a petition form, saying get as many signatures as you can.

            It is not because I am so put out with City Administrator Lisa Kotter that I am agitating to get this question on the ballot—in fact, I originally wrote it as an ordinance in fall of 2020, when previous city administrator Deanna McCusker exceeded her spending powers (by about $10,000) and okayed a fancy blue roof for the pool bathhouse. I doubt at this point in town whether the current city administrator would be voted down. There are plenty of people who appreciate her ability to get grants. Though you might agree with some others  that Ms. Kotter has overstepped her bounds raising building and other fees exorbitantly (some as much as 600%) forcing resignations, curtailing access to the speakers’ podium at council meetings, curtailing the 3 readings policy and staging a hostile take-over in the Friends of the Library. In short, hindering democracy, and we have had far worse administrators.

            Councilman Bill Hosch would not sign the petition because he said it usurped the rights of the Council.  I just asked him:  “And where does council get its rights?” Yeah, the voters.

            So if you love Lisa, go down to city hall and give her a big kiss. If you also want your democratic rights as a citizen, then go across the street to the library and sign the petition to put every city administrator’s performance on the ballot. It is your democratic right as a citizen.

            Incidentally, you may be looking right in the eyeballs of the “Deep State” is—a hireling, not accountable to you, the voter, is making decisions. Time to make administrators accountable to voters.        

Stop the East Side Dog Park! It's a Real DOG

 In terms of essential infrastructure, it is fair to say that a dog park is purely extraneous and superfluous at least in comparison to the number of other local towns that do not have them. 

TOWN             POPULATION           DOG PARK?

Bellevue                     2,349                           No

Monticello                  4,040                           No

Dyersville                   4,477                           Yes

Farley                         1,766                           No

Epworth                      2,023                           Yes

Peosta                         1,908                           No 

A park of any sort, whether designed for kids or quiet contemplation with trees and flowers for adults, should be geographically accessible to all residents, which made the previous location designated for the dog park—the old sewer plant—perfect. Pluperfect! It is in the center of the city, equidistant for residents both on the east and the west sides of Cascade, and the city already owned the land.

          I am not sure when this was switched to a neighborhood on the far east edge of town because I recall no discussion of it at city council.  The only thing I recall is a discussion of a playground for kids, but the land was donated by the developer and the residents were raising their own money to buy the equipment. (No city money involved; no objection from me.) Maybe I missed something.

Suddenly, we have a dog park being constructed with public money, in a neighborhood of brand-new, highly valued houses where nobody is more than 3 minutes from open space to walk their dog. While the other half of town has to travel a long way to get to it. One wag wanted to know if this is for the people there to show off their designer doggies? Dog parks are a questionable expenditure to begin with because non-dog owners (cat lovers and non-animal fanciers) get no benefit from them. Not to mention that Cascade has plenty of other infrastructure woes and should not be squandering $ money on dogs, who don't pay taxes anyway!D