This spring, the Cascade City Council voted to curtail citizen access to agenda discussion almost totally. Previously, a citizen could get up; volunteer any information, opinion or fact about an issue. Now you are limited to “3 minutes per person—Agenda Items and Local Government Issues.” Good luck if you have a complicated issue and are not an accomplished public speaker!
Though a Cascade resident is still able to put an item on the agenda—but tell me, who is going to put Tax Increment Financing or Façade Reimbursement (programs under which we transfer taxpayer money to businesses) on the agenda? You? Me neither! So citizens are not free to input to these discussions. One routinely hears grumbling around town about public money going people who already have plenty, but that notion is never aired in a public TIF discussion!
At the end of a meeting, when the issue has been decided or tabled, the citizen gets another three minutes—then only to comment on agenda issues.
I have long harbored a suspicion that this change in agenda policy was aimed at me, and was gearing up to ask City Administrator Lisa Kotter point blank, when in a conversation she volunteered this, “You are very dramatic and you interrupt any time…”
“No, when an idea is appropriate and relevant. With ideas they seldom, if ever consider.”
She went onto confirm that something I had suspected for even longer—that she (and former administrators) bend over backward to present Council with ideas and ordinances—the legal execution of ideas—they already favor. “Assessing the sentiment on council and giving them what they want is the heart soul of this job!” Kotter explained.
And she is crackerjack at it: in the last year since she has arrived, we have had a clutter of ordinances and fee increases that Council adores, because generating $, not aiding citizens seems to be the object of the exercise.
Oligarchs, especially Councilmember Mike Delaney, insist this is “representative democracy.” Once the vote is taken, you no longer have a say—and good luck changing his mind. The ideas and options for dealing with issues are simply off the table, if he doesn’t fancy them.
The Dog Park is a perfect example. When the Rural Enhancement people said it couldn’t be built on the old sewer plant grounds in the flood plain, rather than having a public discussion to find another central site, as it seems democracy would dictate, the decision was made behind closed doors to move it to Oak Hill. A sign suddenly appeared out there. Now, only 2 towns, roughly our size have dog parks—Dyersville and Epworth. Most don’t—Anamosa (pop. 5,201), Bellevue (2,349), Farley (1,766) Monticello (4,040), and Peosta (1,908).
For most of my years in this town, we have had a council dominated by business people. The current one may be biz-interests-on-steroids, considering Mr. Delaney is running a business-to-business concern, and Mr. Rausch is married to Builder Bucky Manternach’s daughter.
Normally, I abhor blaming women for their husband’s actions, but Hailey Rausch put herself on the agenda advocating the new Council-Chamber Promotions and Party-planning position and then her husband, Councilman Riley Rausch give Brad Ludwig, and Ken McDermott Chamber president and VP respectively the 3rd degree for 45 minutes in a council meeting. There was never a sentence of discussion of the drawbacks.
I might have said something, but now I am locked out and so are you!
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