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.