MASON CITY – Thousands of dollars were spent on the Mayor’s Bike Ride event in Mason City, which 17 people participated in.
According to City officials, in 2012 a Youth Action Team State Farm grant was obtained by the City of Mason City in the amount of $47,438.00. The Mason City Youth Task Force received dollars from the City of Mason City to fund the Mayor’s Bike Ride, and they claim those dollars came out of those grant dollars. City officials previously confirmed that the Mason City Youth Task Force annually receives $25,000 to $30,000 in total funding from the City, which the City may obtain from various sources.
The Mayor’s Bike Ride, held August 22nd, was set up to obtain fees for registering for the event and a donation of $900.00, to place bike racks in the city. A total of 17 persons participated in the event; a head count by multiple persons confirmed this number, as did the City’s website which showed 17 people registered (not all of them paid the $5 fee because they were children). The Globe Gazette, a strong Eric Bookmeyer supporter, wrote that “just over two dozen people participated in the first Mayor’s Bike Ride.” A Youth Task Force staff member wrote in an email that “about 30 people” participated, and also stated that “none of the funds from registrations went to the Mayor.”
The costs to obtain the $900.00 donation and about $80 in registrations are as follows:
– The Youth Task Force purchased two billboards at a cost of $1,120.
– The Youth Task Force purchased 492 t-shirts for the event at a cost of $2,440.
– Unknown City staff time and resources
There was no word from City Hall on what the remainder of the $47,438.00 State Farm grant has been spent on. NIT placed a phone call asking for more information and the call was never returned.
NorthIowaToday.com also discovered that the two billboards contained misleading information. The billboards, featuring a large photo of Eric Bookmeyer, directed citizens to get more information about the event at the website YouthTaskForce.org. That website serves The Holyoke, Virginia Youth Task Force.
Fourth Ward City Council candidate Matt Marquardt weighed in on the matter Tuesday, saying “This was a debacle from the start. Where is the $47K grant and the remaining funds from that? What will or were those funds spent on? Where are the other 475 t-shirts? Why were the billboards wrong? I’ve asked more questions of City Hall, but they appear to be stonewalling. Now, at tonight’s Council meeting, they may enact a policy where City Hall charges a fee to hand out public information or even answer questions. This is all part of Eric Bookmeyer‘s scheme to shut out the people of Mason City, dumb them out of the process, cover up his mistakes and shroud City Hall in secrecy. He wants us all kept in the dark so he can somehow protect his battered reputation.”
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?docid=33467
The money was donated to Mason City Youth Task Force not the City of Mason. See above for the revenue that MCYTF brought in and also all the projects that they are working.
Again people are saying things against Mayor
Bookmeyer. Since I’m retired and stay pretty much to myself, whoever gets voted in as mayor doesn’t really matter to me. But for all the people who complain about him, there hasn’t been a significant number of people lining up to run against him. His personal life is his own. But if people feel he isn’t doing the job he was voted to do, don’t just write about it, get active. Posted words on a blog site will not vote him out of office. To remove him from office means someone has to be voted into the position. I’m sure there are some good candidates out there. Let’s hear from them.
This is going to be another disaster like Obama getting re-elected and our country going to Hell our town will too.
Its all about control. The bookmeyer camp who only represent the self proclaimed special people does not want to lose even one seat to someone who might actually ask some questions on behalf of the rest of our community. Expect the attacks to worsen and more of his wannabe cronies to come on line before the election. Matt for council.
Though this fundraiser was poorly planned, the bigger issue to me is the design of the bike racks. They are much more for design than function. Standard style bike racks that you can line up bikes and they hold them up would work much better. Oh yeah, CARL GROVER FOR MAYOR!!!
Matt your antagonistic attitude toward the Mayor and the council is dripping with hate. For awhile you were playing it pretty cool in regards to differing points of view. Now it’s back to the attack mode. I was thinking about voting for you because I thought you had dialed back your rhetoric . I think you are turning level headed people against you by all this attacking but I could be wrong. The election will prove one of us right.
@Reggie,
The thing is, the mayor is utterly* beatable in the election. I don’t know anyone who thinks highly of this city council, if they think of it at all. Voter apathy is what’s going to keep people in office and to an extent, a population that doesn’t vote gets what it deserves. Incumbents, whether student council or President of the United States, get reelected about 80% of the time.
But this website has completely shot itself in the foot. There are a dozen issues that it could take on (low paying jobs, rising violent crime and drug rates, an aging population and fleeing young people, our schools, and another easy dozen subjects) but for whatever reasons, this site has decided to run a second* article on a poorly attended bike ride. Rather than publish an occasional well researched and hard hitting article on something of substance, it has completely saturated itself with a barrage criticisms that bleed together into an increasingly non-credible blare of, well….whining.
Nobody likes the city council less than me. There are obvious criticisms to be made and I was really hoping this site would expose them. But now it’s Obama’s equivalent of Fox News. Even if something worthy does come up, people look at the source and assume it’s skewed instead of factual. It’s a shame. I suppose I’m just happy Matt found the journalistic integrity this time to hold back from calling the Mayor fat again.
Or does that make me a crony too?
well, I think it’s OK that this was tried once, even though it failed. Had Mayor Bookmeyer not been willing to do it, he would have been criticized for not trying hard enough to raise funds by taking advantage of grant money from State Farm as mayors in other cities do with this type of activity. It’s a shame that it was a failure because it was for a good cause. Could the balance of the bike ride grant money be used for youth causes in the community? What were the stipulations of the State Farm grant?
Not sure the criticism is that Eric tried; any mayor should “try”. It is that he failed so miserably. Thousands of dollars spent to raise less than $1,000. A ceremony with a handshake and the check exchanging hands might have worked better. Now, if our mayor was a beloved and accepted figure that people felt comfortable around, this bike ride might have worked, and without the billboards and t-shirts needed. I’m still wondering where all the cronies were that day. I only saw one. Fair-weather cronies just don’t cut it.
Here’s something you’ll find funny. I was at the doggy dip last night with our dog. The mayor had his dog there. It pooped in someones shoes while they waded with their dog. He apologized for 30 minutes and then left.
Someone explain to me like im 8 years old why NIT says and proves that 17 people rode with the mayor, then the Globe says 24 rode, then the task force says 30. What’s up with that and who is lying and why?
@Free-the glob has been known to misrepresent many times when it was in their favor. They support the mayor and are not going to say anything bad about him, even if it is true.
Why are there so many shirts??!
Fantastic sensational tabloid garbage! Great reading material while standing in the check out line at Fareway. Is this an Op Ed, news, investigative journalism or just diarrhea?
@Anonymous-If you don’t like it, don’t read it and don’t comment on it. You must like it as you keep coming back and commenting.
Larry. If you don’t like what Im saying then don’t read my opinions and don’t comment on them.
Glad you found this story entertaining enough to read. All the facts in the story are 100% true. Why don’t you explain what part(s) you find misleading or wrong? Are you smart enough to articulate your position or just another anonymous mudslinger?
Why don’t you antagonize people some more Marquart? I’m far from anonymous, every post I’ve ever made on this site has been under my own name. If you want to be a journalist you have to have thick skin. Some people are going to try to smear you and whatever you write. That’s why a writer needs to make him/herself bulletproof by clearly defining the nature of the article.
YOU can’t be part of the story!! It doesn’t work that way chief. If it’s newsworthy and you’re part of it then don’t write about it. Someone else will pick it up. If you want to stir the pot that’s fine, just make sure you’re not in the broth.
@Matt Rezab-I think you were looking at the wrong post when you made your comments. Look at the arrow.
Obviously I’m missing something Larry. Can you elaborate?
@Matt Rezab-I think he was refering to Anonymous who had made another one of his snarky post.
I am so sick and tired of the Mayor getting away with his behavior, antics, projects like this…
It is a travesty and the citizens of Mason City have about had it….
The sad thing is that there is no one out there that is willing or is able to run for the office of Mayor.
Willing and able would be ideal. I know one person that would like to run and is credible and likable. But this person has a work schedule that would not allow for the time required. That is the sad thing. This Mayor can do anything he wants since he does not have to work. Roger Bang was a good Mayor and although he was still employed, he was part owner of the business and could run his own schedule….
I think all of this above and more should be looked into. IF the Globe Gazette had any balls, they would be doing the job. Instead, anyone who dares to ask questions is considered a radical and that is just not true. The money is the taxpayer’s and we should have an accounting of every penny!!
Oh, did fourth ward candidate Matt Marquart have an opinion? Can you please choose to write things in the first person or give a by-line to whoever actually wrote the article. You seem to want this site to be respected as a valid news outlet, yet over and over again I see articles presumably written by Mr. Marquart with no by-line and direct quotes from MM. If you want to be taken seriously start letting people know who’s actually writing these articles.
I feel very comfortable with the respect level of NIT in the community. Seems every door I knock at, people know about NIT, read it, and are behind it. Until I hear otherwise, NIT will continue as-is.
That’s not an answer. Keep writing supposed news stories while quoting yourself. There is a difference between opinion and straight news. The sad thing is I actually appreciate a portion of your coverage. Some of it is unique and informative. Just be honest with your readers and don’t try to blur the line between real news and your personal opinion.
Matt, I appreciate your comments. If you feel this strongly, why don’t you buy me out and run NIT? You seem to know what it takes to run a successful news organization. Let’s talk over coffee sometime.
I’d be happy to, in fact I’d love to hear your opinion on a wide range of issues. I’m a grad student at ISU in Journalism and Mass Communication so I won’t be back in MC until the end of the month. But I will surly contact you and would love to have a sit down. I really do like alternative news sources, especially local ones. I just don’t like people misrepresenting opinion pieces as straight news.
I’ll look forward to chatting with you, Matt.
It’s a date. See how technology brings people together. Shangra-La is not a dream!!!
SURELY they teach proof reading at ISU?
IMO…most days I feel that Bookmeyer and the MC Council have taken this site hostage. Their antics are all we ever hear about anymore. NIT seems to be obsessed with micro managing Mason City politics and is missing the far bigger picture of North Iowa. I was so looking forward to witnessing the development of a legitimate alternative news source. Clear Lake, Garner, Northwood, Hampton, Charles City …… knock knock, is anybody home?
I dont care where the money came from. It coulda have been spent so many ways, only to be wasted on this deal? The $$$ could have served us all better than this.
I don’t know about anyone else but I find it very disturbing that city hall will not give answers to questions by N.I.T. He is one of the news media here in town and it seems to me that he has the right to ask about the use of city funds. It does not matter that it was a grant from State Farm. Once it was given to the city to use it becomes public money and therefore we have a right to know what it is being used for. It kind of makes you wonder if it is being used for cronyism,
Haha news out yea right…I hope if matt gets elected he writes a vicous attack article on himself to be fair. You think its bad now just wait for that bum to destroy what is left.
So right about that. Don’t care if city workers found the money in a knapsack in the park. Once its teh city’s money it’s all our money and bookmyer blew it plain and simple. Makes me wonder what else they are screwing up. Janet was right this guys a snake!