Editorial by Matt Marquardt –
The ghost of CES has already arrived at City Hall.
He is roaming the halls, shaking his chains and moaning.
Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer and his right hand man Scott Tornquist are now running from this ghost. They have painted this town into a corner with one of our vital partners, the North Iowa Landfill.
When the Mayor appointed Tornquist to the Landfill Board, they formulated a plan. “Educate” the board, tell them what is best, and do it in a hurry. Get the CES garbage to gas plant passed at all costs; a decades-long deal to be passed in a matter of weeks. Tornquist was his choice to do this dirty work, and boy was it dirty.
The duo failed miserably, as CES was thrown out like household trash, kicked to the curb by level-headed people who sorted the truth from the ruse and could not be duped.
Now, the Mayor’s failure has manifested itself in the fear and distrust that Tornquist and the City instilled in the board with it’s bullying.
This fear was born out of the City’s overwhelming power over the landfill with its weighted vote. The City gets, I believe, 19 votes on any matter before the board, and only 33 are needed to pass anything. It was the arrogance and condescension of Tornquist, along with the City’s powerful vote, that now has the landfill board investigating how to do away with the weighted vote, thus stripping Mason City of its power over the landfill. In doing so, all the millions in investment the City has made there over decades of use would be watered down, and smaller towns could gain an even say.
Really, can you blame the small towns represented on the board for their fear of Mason City? They now see a much bigger town with a lot of power that is prone to going on the rampage against the landfill. They now have their guard up and are looking to protect the landfill from the Mayor and Tornquist. For Mason City’s sake, let’s hope there is no payback involved in their thinking.
I wrote yesterday that the City would be trying to digest this predicament at last night’s work session.
The City is in big trouble because it would not take a weighted vote to change the all-important 28E agreement that binds all 29 member communities to the landfill. It would only take 75% approval from all the governing councils or boards of each town or county, each with one overall vote, to pass an amended 28E agreement. A new 28E agreement could include no weighted vote at all. One vote per community, perhaps. Hello Hanlontown, you get 1 vote, so does Mason City. The document is 40 years old, never really been touched… until now.
Tornquist said last night that the City must “negotiate from a position of strength.” He said the City could pull out of the landfill and take with it millions in cash that the landfill would owe the City as an exiting member.
It is doubtful that the Iowa DNR would ever approve such a move by the City. So in reality the City has no bargaining power. It is now at the mercy of a pissed off landfill board that has zero trust in the City.
In my view, there is only one way out of this predicament, and it is not more posturing and bullying from the City.
If law allows it, the Mayor should immediately remove Scott Tornquist as Mason City’s representative on the Landfill Board and replace him with either Travis Hickey or John Lee. A fresh start with the landfill is critical, and these two men exhibit the humility needed to navigate this debacle.
The new representative would immediately set a tone of respect and cooperation with the landfill and plead the City’s case as to why it deserves to keep its powerful say in the affairs of the landfill (there are obvious and compelling reasons for this.)
Lastly, Bookmeyer should appear before the Landfill Board and apologize for the behavior of Tornquist and the City and assure the board that Mason City, in the spirit of regionalism, is now looking out for what is best for the landfill as a whole.
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Watch the entire City Council discussion:
Tournquist is a joke. It’s takes 2 months to get meeting notes out. The only thing sincible that came out of his mouth is that the Mason CITY TAX PAYERS are the ones who have paid for everything. & why does he say he thinks…by this time…why are there not any positives
Show me how smart you are, not how stupid you are. Is it sinking in yet?
I SAID, “There are FIXED COSTS that are NOT BASED on volume. Your attitude shows a lack of knowledge of the issues.”
Thank you for showing me how smart you are.
The reserves are an estamate of cost? Maybe perscribed by law?
You clearly lack the knowledge and understanding to to discuss competent solutions.
Reply to reggie could this be moved to the correct area please. THANK YOU.
LNI has been ripping us off for years.
I really don’t think you know how it was going to work .You keep implying how smart you are and how stupid I am but you are really are not saying anything to back this up.I get it, fixed costs, but the LNI was STILL going to get the $30 ton without doing anything.And SHERLOCK I guess you are still smarter than me because you say so!!!!!
Asking the same question, expecting a different answer because you don’t like the 5 billion previous same answers is frustrating.
Did you go to the LNI /CES contract meeting or at least listen to the video? Do you understed the Bear situation? How about it’s implications for the future? Ces was going to get the “GOOD GARBAGE” for free and send the worst to the landfill. Ect. ect.
If you were paying attention at the time…..there should be no need to rehash wrongheaded ideas.
If you really need it spelled out for you go out to the landfill and ask them to explain the big picture to you.
Considering options is fine. But you are living in a fantasy world. Might have been’s, maybe’s, and what if’s. Try to be realistic. I would trust LNI staff and board members beyound reproach. Trust the BWTT heads? Don’t be foolish.
Considering financial risk/reward and unforeseen events….CES was NOT in the best interest of LNI. Get over it.
CES was going to process 83% of the volume and send about 17% to the LNI. The LNI was going to get the tipping fee of $30 for the whole 100%. Money for nothing.Ask the LNI staff? I think they could see the writing on the wall. If this went through their power and control would have been eroded.
Money for nothing….seems too good to be true. RME
Still haven’t gone to the source to find out the facts? Figures.
Reggie, Reggie, dear Reggie, stop while you are behind. Every time you post, it lowers your IQ.
2007 tipping fee survey: LNI vs Central Disposal.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/InsideDNR/RegulatoryLand/SolidWaste/TonnageData.aspx
Do your research, DNR, LNI, CD.
Please, please, please Reggie, stop showing how smart you are. I can’t take much more. LMAO
Refer to previous posts. Ditto, ditto, ditto ditto…..
VOTE!
Sherlock, nothing in this post refutes anything that I said in my posts.Nice try!!!!
Sherlock in another blog you said “challenge opinions but be polite”Is calling names polite where you come from?
Yes I have done something I wish I would have done different and that was voting for Bookmeyer. A mistake I will not make again.
I kind of set that up for you didn’t I. Well played!
Regie was this your committee member assignment and do you get merrit badges for trying to defend drunkmeyer. They screwed up.
They tried,it didn’t pass.Did they go about it the wrong way?In hindsight,yes.Have you ever done something you wished you would of done different?To answer your last question, I’m not defending or attacking just trying to get some of the facts straight.
Actually Matt the headline should have read”LNI in big trouble with Mason City”. After watching the video it appears to me that Mason City holds the best cards.If Mason City pulls out of the LNI,and I said if, the rates for the other members probably would go up.Someone said the DNR wouldn’t allow it but maybe, and I said maybe ,they would.
The weighted vote issue has been an issue since before the CES “Garbage grab” incident. The votes reflected usage through population, I believe. The population ratio has changed. Mason City is dying, I mean declining in population. Industrial jobs are leaving like rats on a sinking ship.
Please take a look at the Main street, Coridor EDC, Chamber, and all of the Job creation web sites. Look at the labor studies for available work force skills.
The first thing I see is that the web sites are a JOKE and that reflects on the staff and the organization. The studies tell me the truth of Mason City’s fate. Look at the reports. THE TYPE OF SKILLS WE POSSES AS A REAGION ARE GOING OVERSEAS. DECLINING NATION WIDE. The wages paid are poverty level.
I have fully realised we have elected fools to represent us. They have hired fools to work for themselves ($65,000 to $150,000 city jobs, that’s before benefits and overly generous IPERS), because they certainly are not working for you and I. A $200,000 City Manager bringing $10/hr jobs to Mason City. Are they even full time jobs? (YOU #+@$*^) Let me tell you how I really feel.
As a region we need to get the few manufaturing jobs left in the country. Longer term we need to watch the trends in needed sevices. Rebuild our education infrastucture to RETRAIN for high tech/ HIGH PAY JOBS.
NOT $10/ hour Harley jobs. “YOU #=@%!#& idiots” HOW CAN WE TALK ABOUT JOB CREATION AND VOTE FOR THIS WITH A STRAIGHT FACE. That may sound slightly familiar…it’s ment to be a mis quote. BY WHOM?
When CES came a calling, our leadership dropped the ball. CES wanted to build a plant and steal our garbage and perhaps put the Landfill at risk. OUR leadership faled to see the bigger picture….Manufacturing jobs for all the new gabage plants CES would be building after the “SUCCESSFUL OPERATION OF THE MASON CITY PLANT. ALL the bits and pieces certainly could have been built within the region.
“CES JOE” came from a software/secuirity company…..how about hightech/high pay programing jobs for the area as part of the package for CES to BE ALLOWED into the area.
Mason City lost all of these opportunities not because of a “GRUOP ” of protestors, not because of Max, not because of NIT, NOT because of LNI, but because we have elected fools to represent us.
VOTE!
Amazing post. Might be the best one I ever read on NIT. When is the election???
Not soon enough!!!
Wasn’t the North Iowa landfill the Cerro Gordo County landfill at one time?
Other landfills closed, like the one near Hansell and it became the North Iowa landfill with our one bag free limit and skyrocketing fee increases over the years.
Tornquist is not all wrong. And in the past I have not been one of his supporters.
How was CES going to steal our garbage?Actually the LNI could have LOWERED our rates because they weren’t going to have to do anything with it .Bill Rowland said they could take the $30 ton that LNI gets and build a Methane extraction system and provide MORE energy.Again they were going to get money for NOTHING.The LNI would have been stronger and more profitable than ever.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again until it sinks in. Show me how smart you are, not the alternative. You did not listen to the information provided at the time. There are fixed costs that are not based on volume. Your attitude shows a lack of knowledge of the issues.
The enviromental issues involved with the landfill are very complex. The Governmental regulations concerning the landfill are very complex. The fiduciary responsibility of the landfill is very complex.
To get the right answers, you have to ask the right questions. The level of professionalism is of the highest order at the landfill….Excluding Tournquist’s behavior.
The landfill takes seriously the responsibility of safely storing your garbage far into the future. Mason City BWTT heads do not. Mason City BWTTT heads have another agenda. The landfill will, I believe, adopt technology as it is proven to safely handle your garbage witout endangering the longterm viability of the “existing fill”. Tornquist is a newby to the board, his nieve attitudes do not show the level of professionalism and responsibility that is required for the job. Whatever enviromental dangers CES posed, they were similar yet different from the dangers posed by irrisposible “dumb ideas” from the BWTT heads as to the handling of your garbage. Keep in mind none of them were here when the original agreement was made. And, I dare say when their “dumb ideas” turn to shit, they will be down the road to their next farce.
The moneys The landfill holds in reserve are in trust for the continued servicing into the future of the garbage from the past. Just how much money Mason City can steal from your future landfill protections are as of yet unclear.
I am sorry for my terrible spelling. I’m having a bout of lexdisia. (-;
You said there are fixed costs based on volume,which I’m sure is correct but the volume of money won’t change.The volume of TRASH will.There will be less of it to dispose of with the same money coming in.So you say there are a lot of things that are complex?What,beyond all other human understanding EXCEPT the LNI management?You talk about the City stealing money from our future landfill protection,did you not watch the video? They said they would NOT touch the reserves that were set up to close the LNI.
Should have said “Not based on volume”
I totally agree with everything you have said; but the problem, or if you prefer, the main issue here is the same all over the country. No one goes to vote. These people know and count on that fact, they count on you staying home that day, especially if its raining, heaven forbid you’d get wet. In addition not enough smart people run for office, and the results of that are very evident in this city.
There are mistakes and then there are colossal mistakes; Turncoat, Solberg, Bookmeyer are the top three, close by are all the rest except those people who drive the city buses, they’re OK. I truly think we need to conduct a mass impeachment.
Peter you have never been almost run over by the city bus drivers?Walk by Central Park when they leave. They are on a schedule you know.Just kidding they do a great job.
I still don’t get why the city didn’t take their ces plans to the landfill first? Does anyone know why they went to them right at the end instead of the beginning?
They didn’t go to LNI first because it should been a slam dunk.They had all the hurdles to jump first and they did it.The LNI was going to get money for nothing. In other words they were going to get $30 ton and NOT have to dispose of it.If someone came to you and offered to pay you what you make now but do nothing would you take it?Of course you would.
this was not a slam dunk for us and we are lucky other communities had the sense to say no to this. Nobody new the health impact this plant would have on those of us living close to it and for some reason out city leaders did not want any questions asked about it. Where is ces now havent heard anymore about them. Anyone with any sense can tell you that it would cost Mason City alot more if they left the LNI and tried to start their own landfill.
By slam dunk I meant IF the LNI only looked at how it would affect their operations ie money for nothing,it should have been a no brainer.Health and other issues should have been decided by another agency. Mason City is not going to start their own landfill but they might ship the garbage to Lake Mills.The city could have a collection station,like a lot of the smaller towns affiliated with LNI do, and take the garbage to Lake Mills in large trucks.
There was no new jobs coming to MC by having this ces plant here, it was just moving the jobs from the landfill to this plant at a reduced wage and benefit package with no cost savings to the average mason city resident. The way this was handled from the start was a huge mistake by our mayor and so called city administrator to try to ram this plant down everyones throat. I never voted for tornquist to negotiate anything for me so hopefully our council will tell him to shut up. Council think about it all this came about because of the attitude of Scott Tornquist and Eric Bookmeyer dont let them screw anything else up.
wtf the landfill sux theres a huge mountain of garbage thats only gettin bigger. the CES would have help eliminate that, provided jobs and energy to our area. oh but took a little bit of the profit away for the landfill so the landfill did not want to do it
And the beermeyer/ Turncoat saga continues. For the way turncoat spoke to the LNI how could you trust MC, and the puppet master is to arrogant to learn a lesson so expect the worst. I do think they would have made good garbage sorters at the waste plant.
Do you really think Mayor Drunkmier would appologize to anyone. Not his style at all. He would try to bully and intimidate them and cause more damage. The only way out is to impeach this idiot and vote out his henchman.
A APOLOGY WOULD BE NICE !
Gosh I hope I have a place to dump my trash. I wastched the video and this guy is ready to dump our landfill. We would be banned and my trash pile up to the sky. This town is going to hell fast! I think someone needs to call the state or somethig to get control of this before real damage is done.
What a croc, these two bullys should be tarred and feathered and run out of town with the trash. I’ve lived in this town all my life and don’t remember ever having trouble getting rid of our garbage. With the mentality, or not, of these two, it could sure happen. Open up your pocket books Mason City, and let those moths out, higher grabage fees could be around the corner…
Do these people ever learn that bullying gets you nowhere? He is right back at it!
Thats right. That darned Max!
Anyone that has ever had to try and deal with Torny soon realizes what an ass he really is.
This is all Weaver’s fault. If he hadn’t been so respectful of the board when he was there, they wouldn’t be expecting dignified treatment from Torny.