MASON CITY – A source Wednesday morning indicated that the Globe Gazette is making phone calls to business owners that are participating in the Micro-Enterprise program.
To date, only a handful of businesses have participated in the program, which was unanimously approved by the City Council early in 2012. The program was highly-touted by Mayor Eric Bookmeyer and all six council members.
NorthIowaToday.com has already reported that funds from the program may have been misused by one participating business – Roller City, owned by Tyler Anderson – who purchased t-shirts, candy bars and junk food (inventory) for re-sell and also spent hundreds of dollars with a Forest City business, which is a violation of the terms of the Micro-Enterprise agreement. Mr. Anderson refused comment on the matter, despite attempts by NIT to contact him.
Now, Wednesday morning, a local business owner who has taken Micro-Enterprise dollars called the NIT newsroom and indicated that a Globe Gazette reporter named John had called and started asking questions like “how do you like the Micro-Enterprise program?” The business’s owner indicated (they) wanted no part of the Globe’s story and asked advice on what to tell the Globe reporter.
The Micro-Enterprise program is funded with taxpayer dollars from the citizens of Mason City as a partnership with NIACC’s Pappajohn Center. Some say it is “extremely unfair” for the taxpayers to literally, in some cases, pay for or fund their own competition, as many Mason City citizens own their own businesses and pay out of their own pockets for the goods or other items they sell to customers.
One Mason City business owner said “I’d like the people of Mason City to buy my inventory and stuff I got for sale, too, but I don’t qualify for Micro-Enterprise. Why am I paying for someone else’s inventory?”
NorthIowaToday.com sought feedback from Mayor Bookmeyer and all six City Council members on the Micro-Enterprise program weeks ago. NIT’s questions were almost entirely ignored by these elected officials. Council members Travis Hickey and Alex Kuhn promised to look into the matter when told in person about the questionable use of taxpayer dollars. They never responded nor offered any feedback of any kind.
Council member John Lee told NIT that he asked for “a special presentation of the MicroEnterprise program at a council (meeting) in August. I asked for specifics to whom is involved in the program, how much each have received, etc. I will let you know if I hear back about it and when it may be on the council meeting.”
The item was not on the August 6th council agenda; there is only one more meeting in August. Lee has not yet responded with any other feedback.
NIT has learned that another business which took Micro-Enterprise dollars spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on a new sidewalk and driveway for her business, only to quit a few months later and put the property up for sale.
A political insider told NIT Wednesday that the Globe Gazette wants to “undo what NIT did, which is begin to prove how unfair the Micro-Enterprise is to the rest of the taxpayers, that it does absolutely nothing to improve the economic climate in the city, and that on top of that, the funds are being used in a questionable way. The Globe wants to protect Bookmeyer and the council by finding something positive and spinning it.”
More to come on this developing story.
This was a failed concept from the beginning. It is one of the reasons Nelson, Marsters & Weaver walked out. These three men saw that it would never work and that it had no beginning and no ending….I read it and at best it was very vague. I believe the concept might have been well meaning but it was poorly constructed from the start, and doomed to fail.
I agree with Watch Dog that something needs to be done. I personally will contact the state auditor’s office and find out what needs to be done and how it needs to be done.
@Peter Children-I certainly agree with your comments. Don, Jeff and Max all knew it was nothing more than a tool that could be used to create favors and could easily be used for corruption. That is why they would not support it. If it is monitored by N.I.A.C.C. it should be funded by them. Not the city.
If you want an accounting, a formal request to the State Auditor’s office needs to be made by responsible parties.
I don’t know if a group of citizens armed with sufficient data showing suspected “wrong doing” on the part of the City and/or Mirco Enterprise participants would trigger a audit by the State Auditor. ???
It’s worth a try if some Mason City Citizens want to form a committee with a common voice and make a request for a formal audit of the Mirco Enterprise program.
Specifically we should know how the funds are being disbursed and how our tax money is being used. The request should also include verbiage asking what the Micro Enterprise rules are, as set out the Contract with participants.
This is well worth looking to.
@watchdog-I completely agree with you. It is our tax dollars and we have a right to know how they are being used.
Are you telling me that we paid for an upgrade to a business property so they could just flip the property? What the hell is going on?? Was that business owner a realtor?
Potential answers: Yes, who knows, and yes.
I want a full accounting from all participating businesses. This should easy to get– they have receipts and must be accountable to someone, right???? One would hope so. Now, what about his business that took the money and made improvements and went out of business right away??? Is there a payback clause?? There should be– they are using taxpayer dollars….
Does the Pappajohn Center or the City monitor the MicroEnterprise funds????
With taxpayer funding, that has to be public record– so it should not be like pulling teeth to get the information.. Like with any award or grant, the general policy is for a report on when, how and on what is the money spent???
This is just one more reason to clean house in November — with the Mayor and City Council!!!