Now those living here will pay a heavy price for not voting, you will have lost the check and balance at that table; you have an incompetent mayor and an administrator who can’t do his job because this sorry excuse of a mayor won’t let him. I predict Bookmeyer will move to rid Trout of his position and return to a strong mayoral form of government…and this puppet council will jump at the chance to accommodate him. The reason I believe this will happen is because this ego driven individual is at what is probably the apex of his life and the most surprised by this is himself. In addition his salary will increase to somewhere in the $60,000.00 range
I am of the opinion that Eric suffers some form of acute paranoia brought on by the thought people will come to the conclusion he is totally clueless about what he is doing….but there are several others at that council table who can lay claim to that discripition as well.
There is word on the street that our lets pretend mayor wants to blow upwards of a hundred thousand or more to remodel City Hall to his liking. Listen up, this pretender can now do any damn thing he wants….he’s got the votes dummies, you gave him the votes by staying home and not voting. Next question is this; Will Henkel get the contract? Undue influence comes into play here with Khun at that table, but my money says Henkel will end up doing it.
This year is going to be one hellva sleigh ride given the fact there is no snow….and you, well you’ll be the horses pulling this train wreck. Get your wallet out.
Peter Children
Where was the downstairs huge renovation at City Hall in the budget? Where was that on the agenda for the public to voice opinions. I’ve heard $100 thousand for this project???
Not surprised that city hall is next for plush new offices. Henkelburton will definitley get the job unless they are to busy and in that case Larson will get the job. Kimt will show up and do a story on the city hall renovation and they will say local contractors twenty times in that two minute span Just like they did for the chamber of commerce and their new palace uptown and then you will drive by and see all the contractors trucks from Minnesota and oklahoma. Thank you for shopping local.
What next? If you were a record the grooves would have worn through the vinyl.
You are so bi-assed. Once again all you can do is speculate and try to create controversy.
2-4-6-8 Try to find something to appreciate.
The problem here as I see it, that along with what my snitches inside City Hall tell is is that Bookmeyer is a total control freak; he infringes on Trout’s job discription, tells Trout what to do and how to do it. Bookmeyer may not have a vote at the table unless there is a tie, and then only in specified issues. But he has 6 people sitting there that will jump whenever he says to. He doesn’t need to vote. He bought Hickey for the price of a glass of beer after the meeting, just to give you an idea. Oh, and Mr. Children signs his real name, think about that.
I don’t know Trout except for his CES backing, but I kind of like what I know (little) of his negotiations w/Alliant Energy. As far as the CES deal, if they want to spend $35M for what is basically a strawman scheme I guess that’s okay as long you don’t don’t work for the lanfill. What concerns me most is after the landfill goes down and CES wants to amend the agreement and start hauling in raw pyrolysis material to stay profitable and protect the jobs they’ve “created” for the good of Mason City. Time will tell…
Another rant by Peter Children, surprise, surprise…he is ranting against the mayor. I disagree with the theory that our Mayor will try to get rid of Trout. There is a simple reason that will never happen. Trout is in a thankless job with a lot of responsibility and many hours of work. Our Mayor doesn’t want that job. He would be crazy to try to get that workload and have to work more. In terms of city administrators in Iowa, compare Trout to others. He is a pretty smart guy with experience int he role. To replace him would cost good money. If we paid less, we would get less. You make the call.
All this doom and gloom from Peter (off his meds again?). It isn’t even February and council hasn’t done anything yet. Wait until they do something before you get your briefs in a bundle
Specific complaints? Are you kidding us? Your comments are a complaint. Your head is completely stuck up the chimney, and what’s a predecessor have to do with ANY of it. That’s your only recourse bring up the past because there is not one bit of slander in anything PC writes period. What you think the mayor isnt a drunk? Look at him…1st clue. Go ahead and be on the stuffy uncool side, this group of people who could care less about you. Go ahead but you still can’t dispute the obvious and the TRUTH. Time always tells. I can’t wait.
The money paid to a lot of city staff is outrageous, but the administrator is soooo out of line. I now live in a city of 165,000, and the adminstrator here doesn’t make as much as Trout. Totally screwed up. What would be worse? Putting Bookmeyer in charge!
I keep reading opinion after opinion from Peter Children on one subject: how Bookmeyer is terrible. He’s called him a drunk, which I wouldn’t appologize for if it wasn’t for the fact that his predecessor drank, and continues to drink himself to death. Does a former Mayor’s mistakes not reflect poorly on a community in the same way? Why aren’t we hearing about that Peter?
Also, can I make a suggestion? How would you feel about trying to write an article with a positive message? No attacks, no slander, just a good positive message. Although we are still waiting for the snow to fall, this is still a long winter, and a little positive goes a long way.
So what are your specific complaints here Peter? What decisions has he made that have produced specific outcomes which you believe are sinking our town? (Keep in mind that Bookmeyer typically doesn’t have a vote on issues, and backroom deals, while possible, are heresay) Also, do you try to organize people to comment on your articles? concernedcitizen, are you lazy or something? You write the same thing on every single article.
If you get bad service from your Internet provider you can switch companies. Let’s pretend Bookmeyer is our current Internet provider; we could do what the good people in Wis. are doing, they are currently in the process of a recall to remove their Gov. Why aren’t we doing that here with this mayor?
Betty, this isn’t Wisconsin. It’s Iowa. Iowa law does not include provisions for recall. A better comparison would be Alliant. They have a monopoly and you can’t get rid of them.
Like always Peter you described this porkified excuse for an individual right on the money. I remember a few years back seeing a memo sent out by one council member to the self appointed elite of MC which contained the line ” Its time we take back our city.” There is a group now in control that thinks everyone else is simply here to pay for what they want.
I like the idea of a strong Mayor and no City Administrator. It’s a worthless position anyway.
Let’s set the Mayor’s salary at $85,000.00/year and make him the CEO. A lot of good candidates show up and run.
Bookmeyer would not stand a chance.
Best part is, you can bet your wallet on the fact that the voters will get out and vote for a Mayor and Council they are paying that kind of money and if the Mayor raises taxes and don’t do what the people feel is best they will throw him out of office for someone that will.
As it is right now the people think the Mayor is weak and don’t have any power because we have an administrator. That was a political move years ago to isolate the council and Mayor from being seen as making political decisions. You and I know that is false but the voters in general don’t, thanks to the Globe Gazette propaganda.
I believe its time for Trout to go. I don’t think Mason City needs to pay someone 140,000+ a year.
$140,000 is extortion of the tax payers. Fire that loser quick.
It’s almost scary watching it all unfold. Time will tell, and it’s gonna get interesting.
You are right on the money as always, Mr. Children. We will see how this fiasco plays out!
I talked about the Kuhn/Henkel connection from the very beginning, so any prophesies that come true…I get the credit.