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January 2008 Postings 1-31-2008-02 December vendors report. Why does the assessor, Vicki Esch, who started working in January, get paid almost $880 in December? I don't recall seeing an agreement for contracted work before she started as a salaried employee. If there was contracted work, that should have been put out on bids. Does anyone have a copy of her contract to see what this assessor is going to cost us? And, also in the vendor's report: why is the assessors digital camera $169.96 & the code enforcement digital camera $507.57? Do we need clearer pictures of blight than we do of assessed property? 1-31-2008-01 1-30-2008-01 Answer to
post 1-28-2008-02 1-29-2008-01 I am one of those restless natives. I will not only sign a recall, but will volunteer to be a circulator. I can only see a 4 to 3 vote for the next few years, That is unacceptable!!!! 1-28-2008-02
I see the "Old Guard" is trying to
force the new City Council members into NOT answering citizens
questions and just passing them on to the "Spin Doctor".
I do have an issue I'd like to
see an answer for. If according to County Tax Records,in
2006 the City of Iron Mountain had a "Taxable Value" of
$177,237,272 and $16,815,778 in Breitung School District
"Taxable Value" and collected the following Taxes:
County Library:
$174,647.74
Health Department:
$38,810.60
Senior Citizen Programs:
$77,621.22
$291,079.56
AND:
A TIFA " Taxable Value" of $51,636,195 and
captured the following Taxes:
County Library:
$46,472.58
Health
Department: $10,327.24
Senior Citizens Programs:
$20,654.48
$77,453.30
What happened in 2007? The County
Tax Record shows the following for the City of Iron Mountain:
"Taxable Value" of $188,147,166 and $18,439,504 in Breitung
School District "Taxable Value" and collected the following
Taxes:
County Library:
$185,928.01
Health Department:
$41,317.33
Senior Citizens Programs:
$82,634.67
$ 309,880.01
AND:
A TIFA "Taxable Value" of
$58,011,913 and captured the following Taxes:
County Library: $
000.00
Health Department $
000.00
Senior Citizens Programs:
$ 000.00
$ 000.00
The City should have collected
and passed-thru the following TIFA Taxes:
County Library:
$52,210.72
Health Department:
$11,602.39
Senior Citizens Programs: $
23,204.77
$87,017.88
I guess my question is, what
happened with the $87,017.88 ? Did the City collect these taxes
and NOT give them to the County? Did the City just add this
money to the General Fund? Can someone answer these questions?
Thank You. 1-28-2008-01 Under the flimsy excuse
that council meetings are only for "business", whatever that is
supposed to mean, Van Laanen is trying to keep the public in the
dark by reverting to the Tousignant gambit - speak, sit
down, shut up. No questions will be answered directly buy
council members or the city attorney. Remember what happened to
Tousignant, Jeff? 1-27-2008-01 If there was a simple
survey taken of public opinion of the four incumbents sitting on the
city council, it would be 75-25 against. A survey on the city
manager would be even worse. 1-26-2008-01
I couldn’t believe they cut down the
trees by the ‘pit’. It looks just terrible with them gone. Now I
read that it was done in order to check the fence. Well, they
might as well say goodbye to the fence now, no matter its
condition. With the trees gone, what’s to keep the sides of the
pit from washing away, taking the fence with it?
They plant trees downtown where they
aren't needed and cut them away from areas where they should
remain.
1-25-2008-01
I saw a recent post that shows
the city spent $800,000.00 on "engineering" done by STS
Consultants. We may as well add $200,000.00 to Rich Brook
and his associates as more money down the drain, for a total
of $1,000,000.00 WASTED in one year.
Now, we have a picture in the newspaper of a covered downtown street. Isn't that dandy? Looks like we're going to take another stab at wasting wheelbarrow loads of money on the downtown parking lot area. I suppose the project will need the expertise of STS Consultants, too. If that's not enough, they're even talking about covering the road across the pit. Marvelous. I'll bet all the employees of the Niagara paper mill are cheering and sleeping better already, knowing how much this will do to generate real jobs with benefits, like the ones they just lost. Pay no attention to your pothole-filled streets. Pay no attention to those degraded alleys. Pay no attention to that fire hydrant on your street that doesn't work. Pay no attention to that high water bill. Pay no attention to higher property insurance rates and safety fines. Pay no attention to what your Old Guard city council is doing; they'll take care of everything for you. Oh, and you'll be just fine if you don't have a house fire. Everything's just peachy in Iron Mountain, ʽcause our downtown is gonna be purty. 1-23-2008-05
Maybe I should just keep quiet and let Robin
Tchokreff resign. If there’s any truth to that rumor, we’d all be
better off with one less of the Marquart puppets. Still, I just
can’t see letting people stew and raise their blood pressure over
the thought of such an action.
I really see no need to be concerned about the
Tchokreff /Tousignant rumor.
First of all, if they are stupid enough to even try
that after the voters made it clear they wanted Kenny out, the
supporters of such a stunt would risk almost certain recall.
Secondly, how do they expect to pull it off? It
takes a vote of the council to fill an empty seat until the next
election. The nominations and vote could not take place until
after the current council-person has resigned, thus no longer
being a voting member of the council. So, they’re left with a 3-3
vote, at best.
1-23-2008-04
It would be beneficial to see regular
city council meetings broadcast live (or within the week) on
the Iron Mountain School Channel or the Charter Community Channel.
How to proceed in seeing this
through? It's been done before and is done in other communities.
With such a controversial past year, and it doesn't seem to be
waning anytime soon based on the continued anger I am reading on
this forum.
I believe the public would have great
interest in being able to view meetings from home. It can do no
harm, and only do a positive service for the residents of our
town.
1-23-2008-03
Why is it that none of the media
reported on the "outburst" at the end of the last council
meeting? We had council member Rosen trying to ask a question of
a citizen at the podium, and the mayor tried to silence him. Mr.
Rosen responded that he wants to see something in writing that
prohibits the council from interacting with citizens at council
meetings. Then council member Tchokreff piped in with threats
that he would stop any such attempts to communicate with the
citizens in the future.
You got that, people? A majority of our city council still wants to keep you in the dark. What's more, since it was a council member asking a question, it appears that the majority of the council even wants itsʼ own members to be kept in the dark, with all information spoon-fed to them by the city manager. They also, with Doug Rigoni's help, drove that point home on the Millie Hill development issue. They made an issue out of the fact that the new members did not ask Marquart for information on the development, but failed to mention that the new members DID receive information directly from the developer himself. How can Marquart continue to control the vote of the council if members are going to be informing themselves beyond what he spoon-feeds them, after all? I am shocked that they were so blatant about how they want to continue to make decisions based solely on what Marquart tells them about an issue. Haven't they learned yet how screwed up this city has become because of doing that for four years already? Or, don't they care? I'm afraid a recall is definitely in order. 1-23-2008-02
RE: 1-18-2008-08:
Right, lets ask the FIRE CHIEF about
insurance costs....kind of like asking an
insurance sales man about fire fighting.....maybe we should ask
our insurance people how our insurance may be affected!
1-23-2008-01 Our new mayor, Jeff Van
Laanen, tried to silence recently elected new member Bruce Rosen
from asking a question of a speaker during the Public Comment
period. 1-22-2008-02 Here is the answer to email 1-22-08-01: a) Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, any vacancy occurring in any elective office shall be filled, by the concurring vote of at least four (4) members of the Council, within thirty (30) days after such vacancy shall have occurred. The person appointed by the Council shall serve until the next general city election. This information comes directly from our city charter, chapter 4, section 4.8 Vacancies. It looks like we protected from a person simply “taking” a city council seat. 1-22-2008-01
Response to
1-20-2008-01
If a vacancy should
occur, it shall be filled in accordance of Sec 4.8 of the city
charter, that is it will take a conccuring vote of at least 4
members of the Council.
1-22-2008-02
The Carpetbagger, Part III
(Part I is post 2-8-2007-07, Part II is post 10-20-2007-01)
. . . The ride back to town was
relatively uneventful. His throat was raw and sore from dealing
with the foul gulp of tonic, and his eyes a little red and
glazed. The lurching wagon was not doing any favors for his
tender stomach, either. Still, it did not occur to him to have
sympathy for all the people he had sold his abominable mixture
to in the past.
Several attempts to engage posse
members in conversation were met with stoic silence and feigned
indifference. They had been tipped off about his silver-tongued
abilities, and had orders to be wary.
"I don’t have to worry yet," he
mused to himself, "I still have the right friends in the right
places.
He held his head up proudly and
defiantly on re-entering the town. Despite the fact that he was
escorted by fifteen deadly serious-looking men, he knew the
importance of appearing larger than life. The boardwalks were
filled with the usual number of townsfolk going about their
daily business. An old woman looked up from her sweeping and met
his gaze with a stony glare. Gradually, he realized there was
scarcely a face that was not turned toward him, all watching in
poignant silence as he passed by. He struggled to retain the
bright, self-assured look on his face, and succeeded, for the
most part.
"These yokels mean nothing," he
thinks. "They aren’t capable of thinking for themselves. Even
the best of them don’t measure up. I still have support where it
counts. They are too stupid to realize they can’t win; I’m too
good for that to happen. They think they have me. Fools."
He is distracted by the sound of
hammering, and then he catches the smell of fresh lumber.
"I see someone in this two-bit dump
finally mustered the ambition to do something productive," he
remarks snidely to the taciturn rider closest to him.
His remark is met with silence, but,
he notices that the normally grim man has obviously found some
humor in his words, which greatly puzzles him until they round a
corner and approach the town square. The sight of the nearly
completed gallows is almost too much. He wins a valiant effort
to appear unaffected by it. It must be a coincidence is all he
can think. He cannot accept that things may have finally caught
up with him. Nonetheless, his stomach lurches violently again.
With an inward sigh of relief, he
sees a small knot of his influential friends waiting near the
jail. Amid the warm greetings, it is made known that they
strongly support him, and that any attempt to discredit or
punish him will have to be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt.
He acknowledges to himself that things might get a bit rough
this time, but, in the end, he’ll still be walking tall. He
knows they control the evidence, and he silently congratulates
himself for cultivating the right people in the right places,
with the right favors and the right secrets. Due to the number
of fine, upstanding citizens willing to vouch for him, the
sheriff has even agreed to allow him to stay in the hotel rather
than the jail.
"And they’re the biggest fools of
all," he unconsciously says out loud.
To be continued . . .
1-22-2008-01 Rumor has it that Robin Tchokreff is going to resign from the City Council and that Ken Tousignant will take his seat. I have no idea how this seat will be filled but the thought of Ken returning to the City Council scares me. 1-20-2008-01
Citizens and voters of Iron Mountain:
1-18-2008-01
Response to 1-16-2008-04:
I don't buy what you are saying and
question what "site" your info was from.
Also, if there wasn't an impact to
the residents if the ISO rating changed, why did our City
Manager keep them out for 2 years? Why did he lie to the public
about his mostly non-correspondence with ISO and also give them
(and us) innacurate information on our City's protection levels?
If you want to know the truth about
how ISO ratings affect the average residents, commercial
interests, and at what point the publishing of the
class rating would happen: Do some more research, ask our Fire
Chief (who knows this info inside and out), and/or try and
contact the ISO agency itself. Put the whole story out there,
not just some figure you cherry-picked....we've had enough
cherry-picking.
But I do agree that it is about more
than ratings, fines, or insurance. However the residents feel,
they should make those concerns loud and strong to the council
members so this City can start putting a viable plan together
that satisfies safety, budget,
and Agency regulations. There are
solutions...let's dig in and get them in place before
irreversible tragedies strike. Irreversible monetary penalties
have already done damage to our budget and we still have
not made the necessary changes to avoid more.
Residents actually have the power
now to truly be heard. Everything is now
open for discussion at a City Council Meeting. Council
members were elected by residents, to serve the residents; it is
their sworn duty to provide the highest level of safety
to citizens and employees, in an economically responsible way.
1-17-2008-01
Response to post 1-16-2008-04
With the possible exception of the
homeowners insurance rates not being affected by a move from
class 4 to class 6, which I believe to be true, the rest of your
figuring is flawed. I guess you will have to wait and see, just
like me. It will cost the businesses, as you said, but the real
point is that you and I and everyone else in town were all but
promised that our current fire protection setup is better than
it used to be. The change in the ISO rating, along with the MIOSHA
fines proves that to be completely false, with no room for
argument. And determined by outside, unbiased sources to boot.
Isn't it the least bit important to you that you were
seriously misled by your government?
On that note, we all owe a debt of
gratitude to all those who spoke up on many issues, whether it
was on this website, at a council meeting, or in a court room,
to let everyone else know what was really happening. Those who
have written in recently to call you losers are out to lunch.
1-16-2008-04
Well,
I'll bring out my "can opener" and a
fresh...(or maybe old) can of worms, so here goes. I was
thinking about the recent writing about the possible changes in
the ISO fire/rating. So I did a very quick search for ISO rating
on the wonderful Net. Here's what I found. Not every insurance
company EVEN USES the ISO and when it comes to residential
property there are NO changes in premiums for the homeowner
whether there is a class 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1. So...with the
rumored change from a four to six the residents of Iron Mountain
would see NO change in their rates... The difference is
commercial. In the chart I saw, based on a $1,000,000 building
the change from 7 to 1 is negligible, about $280 dollars a year.
So you see the rhetoric about the ISO rating is just that
RHETORIC, there are certainly stronger arguments out there
for maintaining adequate fire protection...ISO is just not one
of them.
1-16-2008-03 A few of the vitiolic
posts of late read very close to the writing style of the TRUTH
website. 1-16-2008-02 Regarding the NewPage Niagara and other mills: Is anyone really surprised? Why? Haven't you been paying attention? Expect more of the same, sooner or later. Traditional manufacturing is dying in this country, way too expensive, especially in remote, outlying areas like the sticks in which we live. If we're to survive and prosper, we have to get on top of things, get connected, with the times, get ahead of the times and focus on modern manufacturing and services such as in the health industry, for instance, and jump at tech manufacturing and services like those of the Chicago outfit the city of Iron Mountain ignored and botched a couple years ago. It's a damn shame what's happened in Niagara, but it'll be much, much worse if people and their leaders in this area don't wake up, stop waiting complacently for stuff like this to happen, get pro-active, and get ahead of the curve. We're among those rural areas in this country losing our critical mass, folks. The area can't simply hope and wish and wait for prosperity to come here, can't ignore opportunities that knock, can't expect money and jobs to simply be attracted out of the blue or by a bunch of puny and silly civic projects to our area among a hundred jillion other remote rural areas. We have to stop rueing and whining what has happened and what might happen and instead go out, now, and actively pursue and get the businesses that will make us viable and prosperous. Wake up, people! Get off your butts and start getting it done! 1-16-2008-01 Sad day at Niagara Paper Mill. The mill will be permanently closed by the end of this April. 320 good jobs in this area will be lost. 1-15-2008-03 If you think that you are getting a real picture of how things are going in Iron Mountain from this website, you may want to rethink your viewpoint. This site is so packed with information straight from the same people who attend every council meeting and hilariously try to disguise their letters as being from a "non-resident" or whatever else suits the purpose. The last time I wrote a comment I was threatened and that sort of thing will continue until you stop allowing anonymous posts. But without that anonymity how can all the rumors keep running wildly about - casinos that aren't really happening, frightening land deal schemes coming out of Arizona, horrifying chlorinated water, mean coucil people stealing your money to pay off unknown people. Get a life and try contributing something useful to your world and community instead of spreading rumors and foolish scare tactics. I think you already won - anyone who had interest in bringing this town back from years of do-nothing-but-protect-their-own interest government is over it. You've got your town back - for what it's worth. 1-15-2008-02
that I have a Bachelor's degree and
no longer live in Iron Mountain due to idiots like yourself.
Maybe classes are in order for y'all (trying to use words that
aren't too large for you to understand.
If you are that interested in how
taxpayer's money has been spent - look at what the council has
done over the past 4 years without making up bogus numbers of
your own (excuse me of Corumb's and believe me I could care less
if I spell that idiot's name correct, and learn a little. The
city was going in the right direction. Luckily there are still
stand up people on that council willing to put up with idiots
like yourselves. I could drill the facts into your head and you
still wouldn't understand, so carry on your hate brigade and
it'll all come back to you in the way in which you deserve.
No more time for foolishnees or
games with people that are as about as ignorant as they come.
1-15-2008-01 I can’t help but respond to post 1-14-2008-02. I, for one, am not a “hate filled inbiciles” nor am I a hate-filled imbecile or a miserable sap. I’m a citizen of this community that pays taxes. I am very interested in how that tax money is spent! Do you understand why I would be interested in that? It’s because I feel as if I am being bled by user fees, taxes and every other way the council has discovered to suck money out of us. I drive on crappy roads; there’s not an alley I’d risk taking my car through; our very expensive water isn’t something I’d like to actually drink; it’s nearly impossible to sell a home (and we know there’s an abundance of homes that are for sale) and there are no jobs available so we can actually *pay* these taxes/fees. Lastly, it’s because of this website that we are *not* ignorant of what happens in this city. I’d like to make a suggestion to the author of that post. We have a new college in town. Perhaps you may be interested in attending and learning how to actually *spell* so that your vitriol isn’t as painful to read. 1-14-2008-02
it's inconceivable to think what all
of you "ignoramus's" (as per phantom writer of a few entries
ago) actually do all day. Obviously there is not much
constructive real work being done by any of you hate filled
inbiciles. You all must to live such putrid unhappy and
unfilling lives, since all you live for is to try and ruin the
lives of intelligent, well intended individuals. Guess what?
It's not working. You'll all remain miserable saps for the rest
of your useless lives.
Getting rid of Marqaurt-and the past
and present good city council people (that does not
include puppets Rosen, Farraugh or Peterson) that actually have
a brain is all that you stand for. I'm sure in two years you'll
still be arguing about some inconsequential issue or trying your
pathetic recall efforts - for what?
To be THE BIGGEST LOSERS OF ALL?
Why don't you all just SHUT up , get
a life, and most importantly do what's best for the city instead
of fighting your own petty little war against people you don't
like.
I would have never believed Iron Mtn
had people so low and ignorant before this website bs. but here
is the proof.
Read it (if y'all can read) and
weep......
1-14-2008-01
On top of the costly lawsuits we
already know about, there are two items on the December, 2006
vendor report that are described as lawsuit settlements.
They are items 15 and 107. Does anyone know what those were for?
I never heard anything in a public meeting about any lawsuit
settlements in that time period. Why don’t we ever know what our
own government was/is getting sued for unless someone else lets
the cat out of the bag? I want to know why our tax money was
paid out in these two lawsuits and why we were again kept in the
dark.
1-12-2008-01
1-11-2008-01
I think the key issue on all that
money spent on STS Consultants is that other engineering firms
were never given the chance to bid. Mr. Marquart said that STS
gives the city a rate well below other firms, but how do we know
that if no one ever gets to compete for the projects? Did he
ask them? That's what the required bidding process is all
about! On top of that, another big issue with this is: should
the city be spending that kind of money on engineering, some of
which was just money down the drain, when so many other city
issues need urgent attention, and are just being ignored?
They can say professional services
don't have to go through the bidding process until they are blue
in the face, and it won't change the fact that a ton of money
was wasted doing it their way, while more important matters were
pushed aside.
1-10-2008-03 Judging by the questions
I heard the newly elected council members ask at their first
meeting, I think the grilling will be getting hot and heavy. 1-10-2008-02
Based on Monday’s council meeting,
am I to believe that the last council spent over $600,000.00
of OUR tax money on STS Consultants in a year and a half?! Even
worse, that this money was spent WITHOUT a vote of approval from
the council?! All okayed by Mr. Marquart?!
I agree with the previous poster in
that John Marquart has to go. Along with him, the people who
thought spending our money like drunken sailors have to go, too.
I’m curious, was the council instructed/coached to approve the
STS amounts on vendor reports during those pre-meetings Ms.
Caudell mentioned? They must have been, because they sure as
hell never questioned one penny in an open meeting!
I would imagine that Marquart & Co.
are not at all happy with the informative handouts prepared by
Mr. Rosen. It makes it much more difficult to keep us all in the
dark, relying on Mr. Marquart’s word on everything. Mr. Rosen,
thank you for the subtle acknowledgment that us common folk are
not morons, and that, hey, we might even deserve to know what’s
going on in our government. That doesn’t make you a very good
politician, but I think I like you all the more for it.
1-10-2008-01
Why is it that with the obvious
planned retirement and subsequent actual retirement of a police
Lt. and the subsequent promotion of our school liaison officer
has no one b | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||