MASON CITY – On Tuesday morning’s regular agenda for the Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors, an agenda item that required a vote by the board was placed under the designated agenda item where the public is allowed to address the board.
Under the board’s agenda item “Correspondence & Communication” the public has been allowed to address the board, ask questions and receive feedback.
At Tuesday’s meeting, a sub-item was added to the agenda under “Correspondence & Communication.” The agenda item, “Sexual Assault Awareness Month Proclamation” required a vote by the board.
As the agenda item “Correspondence & Communication” was called next on the agenda by Board Chairman Jay Urdahl, he noticed NorthIowaToday.com Publisher Matt Marquardt with his arm raised, waiting to be recognized.
Urdahl recognized Marquardt to address the board.
“I would like to talk about your lunch last week at downtown Mason City,” Marquardt said, referring to an incident last Tuesday where Urdahl and Supervisor Phil Dougherty accepted gift meals from a man and left the eatery without re-imbursing the donor. NIT has since learned that Dougherty sent $20.00 to the donor to cover his share of the meal, which cost well over $80.00 including the tip.
Urdahl immediately proclaimed “that’s not on the agenda” and then called on the “Sexual Assault Awareness Month Proclamation” agenda item. Sheriff Kevin Pals immediately began to speak and describe the program to the board.
Marquardt objected but the board and the Sheriff continued discussing the item for a number of minutes.
As their discussion waned, Urdahl joked to Sheriff Pals about Pals retiring as Sheriff as Marquardt again raised his arm and waited to be recognized.
Urdahl, for a second time, recognized Marquardt to to address the board.
Marquardt re-iterated his request to discuss the gift meal issue and Urdahl told Marquardt that he was interrupting the other “presentation.”
“How much more do the people of North Iowa owe you, Mr. Urdahl?” Marquardt asked. “Free mileage re-imbursement. Cell phone re-imbursement. $45,000 salary.”
Urdahl then called on Sheriff Pals to begin speaking for a second time, and Pals pointed out a sexual assault proclamation document, which Urdahl then spent the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds reading.
When Urdahl was done reading, the board voted to approve the proclamation.
Marquardt again had his arm raised and waited for the board to recognize him.
Urdahl, for a third time, recognized Marquardt to address the board.
“Mr. Urdahl, you asked the Sheriff when he was going to step down, when are you going to step down? You’ve taken free meals without re-imbursing, sir. Maybe you should resign.”
As Marquardt finished his sentence, Supervisor Phil Dougherty called for the meeting to adjourn, and Supervisor Bob Amosson seconded the motion, with Urdahl concurring.
“Excuse me I would like an answer. How many more free lunches are you set for this week, sir?” Marquardt asked, as the three Supervisors laughed.
“What about you?” Marquardt asked Amosson. Amosson consumed a free gift lunch purchased for him by Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer on Wednesday, March 27th at the Mason City Public Library. Urdahl ate the same free lunch that day.
“It was a good lunch!” Amosson proclaimed, in answer to Marquardt’s question.
“Was it a gift from the Mayor?” Marquardt asked.
“I hope so, it was a gift from the Mayor, he said he was gonna take care of it,” Amosson said.
“Are you going to pay back?” Marquardt asked Amosson.
“No I am not,” Amosson declared. “It wasn’t anything that had to do with this,” he said, motioning around himself to the courthouse.
“It was on the agenda, sir, for the county courthouse,” Marquardt said.
“So?” Amosson said. “It wasn’t an open meeting. It wasn’t an open meeting.”
Watch video of entire dialogue:
North Iowa Today changed the very landscape of this entire area. It is only natural that the status quo is upset and angry….how dare this brash young man insist on opening doors and exposing coruption that has been ingrained in the system for decades.
Our council is a bad joke, the city hall is infected with gross incompetence, and the supervisors are pissed because NIT found out where they meet for what used to be 15 minutes. Nit deserves a standing ovation.
Matt: I read NIT do not buy the glob. I appreciate what you do and why you do it. Keep up the good work in keeping local taxpayers informed on were our tax money is spent and the abuse by both city and county. Hang all the dirty sob’s. Thank Again
don’t they realize all these videos will be looked at by someone in DSM. Each little video is just another shovel of dirt that makes the hole deeper
Alot to do about nothing Matt. Move on. Get a hair cut and get a real job
Urdahl won’t resign, he probably already called up his Republitard master Gary Blodgett and ask doc to write out a big check for Jay’s legal defense fund. I bet old doc wrote out one to since his nazi son is guilty as Jay, he paid.
I’ve observed that people laugh during disagreements for two reasons, either they are caught lying and afraid to face the truth or else they don’t have the intellect to comprehend what is being discussed. If the state does some investigating these guys are found guilty I bet they won’t have such a smug smile on their faces.
It’s really hard to tell what this article is supposed to be about. Crying about someone getting a free lunch or crying about not getting treated with respect. It certainly was not about reporting anything of value.
I thought that this article was about the powers that be, and free lunches…OH, I must have spaced off, or something…
Matt, maybe if somebody bought you lunch, you would give it up. Enough already.
Kevin Pals SHOULD retire. For years he indoctrinated children to drugs through a misguided DARE program. Yes, he can say he was just doing his job and so can the German soldiers in WW2. At some point he should have realized how wrong and toxic this was. Kevin does not and will never realize this and for that reason he needs to go. He’s still telling lies about cannabis.
I find it very odd that pals is a advocate for sexual assault.
Hopefully he does retire soon.
Talk about self-incrimination by an arrogant politician. Small wonder Bob isn’t running again.
Good questions Matt, but, as you can see they have no intention of giving you an answer. They are playing games, but, at least with you drawing attention to them people might just wake up during the next election and get rid of them.