Soon, new people will be filling the chairs at the council table. The biggest change will be Bookmeyer’s departure….and with him the pettiness that he brought, the man is vindictive, and it shows. In many cases his obsession cost this city tens of thousands of dollars. Under his tenure we experienced the largest number of libel suits of any city administration in the history of this community. And all were settled “out of court”; want to know why?
It is the city’s insurer who has the final say if the suit will be tried in court or settled outside. In every case the insurer decided the city’s exposure was unwindable and trying the case before a judge or jury could have proved financially catastrophic.
A favorite of the Dark Price were “Boards & Committees.” These positions were “appointed positions” so when the term was up for re-appointment he would simply not reappoint the current member and appoint one of “his own”
people to that position. Why? So he could control the Board or Committee whichever the case might be. He did it every chance he got. This was the action of a control freak, it was petty and mundane and it exposed him for what he really was; egomaniacal and incompetent to function in the best interest of the city.
Recently, a motion was brought forth to rename the council chambers in memory of Alex Kuhn, there was and still is….great public support for this measure. But the “Library Board” set an unrealistic amount of $500,000.00 for the right to rename the council chamber. This was orchestrated by the Dark Prince who controls the Library Board; he hates the Kuhn family with a passion and his vindictiveness mirrors that of a child who lives with never ending tantrums.
As a parting gift, Bookmeyer wants the saddle this city with major debt…..a hotel and a skating rink, neither of which we need. The mere thought of it is diabolical, I think the Dark Prince wants to blame the people of this city for his erotic, sadistic behavior during his tenure in our small town. He can be assured he will never be forgotten….but for all the wrong reasons.
Early on, the Dark Prince had a council that voted unanimously without one no vote on every issue brought before them. These involved issues that Bookmeyer gave the nod to. You see, on a 6 seated council you only need 3 votes to control every motion laid before the council. On a 3 to 3 vote the Mayor can, in certain circumstances, vote…..understand?
After Tornquist returned to the city for a visit he confessed that the pressure he suffered under the Dark Prince was so overbearing he contemplated the worst. He went on to say it was the underlying reason he moved his family out of the city. How many others have fled our great community because of the Dark Prince? Take a minute and count them up.
Then there were the cardboard cutouts…Hicky, Solberg, and Schoneman locked into place all without a voice of their own. The Dark Prince became the worlds greatest ventriloquist throwing his voice to all the above mentioned flawlessly. Hickey turned his back on those who elected him in the Second Ward to vote in favor of the hospital concerning the “loading dock” debacle. Why? Because the Dark Princes’s wife is a doctor and doctors were attributed to providing the majority of his political contributions. Listen, we know the doctor’s wives like the busy body own East State Street who helped get him elected, buying drinks for voters, throwing sick little parties, introducing Eric like a grown-up Opee Taylor, when really he was just disguised as Opee, and underneath was a twisted man bent on creating a legacy. Those living in the second Ward are lucky it wasn’t a life or death situation, for if it were they’d all be dead now.
Janet Solberg; this gift just keeps on giving. This woman self-professed to driving to a neighboring county, the trip that she claimed took eight hours. Her reason for going….simply to roll her window down and take a deep breath to see if she could smell pig shit! Apparently her destination were some CAFO’s. Proudly announcing she failed to smell pig shit, she then proceeded voting in favor of destroying our community and voted in favor of Prestige. This poor soul was grabbing at straws trying to convince the public she had a solid foundation for the death sentence she cast. Remember these council meeting were televised, these tapes can still be rescued and preserved to be used in political science classes. She isn’t running for re-election because the Dark Prince is jumping ship meaning she will have lost her voice, she has no thought process of her own. There needs to be measures put in place as to why a I Q test should be required before anyone can run for city council in any town populated by more than 25 people.
Harry Truman said; “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” I say this, if you want a seat at the table where you are paid and your decisions carry effects; be ready to deal with the truth……..
So now we hit the refresh button on our screen and magically a new council appears; I say be careful what you wish for….
What John Skipper wrote today was true, I know because I was there and I remember all of it. The question here is why are we hiring a search firm to fill these positions? Why don’t we go on social media and advertise what our needs are? Let’s look back….. during the past eight years we have survived with a dysfunctional mayor and virtually half of a city council that was cognizant. What exactly does that tell you…..it tells you the bar is set pathetically low in this community. Listen up; we don’t have shortage of hotel rooms, and we have ice west of town….why then would you vote to blow $38,000,000.00…in a building we don’t own? You voted down the .67 cent tax, vote no!!
Peter Children
Mason City, Iowa
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