Legalectric

City of Red Wing’s budget is stalled out after having reached an agreement, which some abandoned. The vote at last meeting was 3/3, and meanwhile the Mayor is threatening a veto. SHAME!

If the budget isn’t passed, from the staff report:

Agenda and Packet: https://redwingmn.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3026/overview

My belief is that they were trying to shut down the City, hoping that if they didn’t pass the budget and get it to the County, everything would grind to a halt. There were objections, but nothing concrete offered, just NO NO NO! That doesn’t work. That is abdicating their job, which is to get to a budget, pass it, and get it to the County.

For months, I’ve been sending missives about the budget, the hare-brained ideas I’ve seen and heard, the complaining and complaining without any offerings of reasonable solutions, and so I will have to break down and go to this meeting tonight.

Meeting over. I was so wound up at the meeting that when Chair Biese motioned at me during the meeting, I jumped up and let them have it — AND IT WAS THE WRONG AGENDA ITEM! OOPS! SNORT! It was one in the Consent Agenda that I had no comment on. Oh well, Biese let me get up again later for a short rehash for 11.A. AARRRRGH!

Here’s the primary docs from the City site – READ IT before complaining – what would you do differently? What services would you cut? What revenue sources would you pick up?

During the meeting, Councilor Kliewer tried to diss those raising the notion of cutting snowplowing service, saying, “I don’t know where that idea came from” as if we were making it up. DOH! It was in the “Mayor’s” Special Meeting packet and was discussed and discussed and discussed. Councilor Norton had been at that Special Meeting and called him on that, he just shrugged, looking down, shaking his head, and he did not acknowledge that he was pushing false narrative. After the meeting I went up and also called him on it, he said “I don’t remember hearing about that” and I reminded him that it was in writing, it was the Mayor’s September 12, 2023 “Special Meeting” and I’ll send him a copy. It is not OK to misrepresent specific things, statements intended to ridicule and discredit those raising issues, and DOH!, things for which we have documentation. DOH! DOH! DOH!

This kind of thing I will not let slide. I sent this and a few photos of the inevitable West Ave demo derby after snowstorms:

Just don’t do that — odds are you’ll get caught.

And the there’s the Mayor’s Marine Museum following on the agenda. I just couldn’t… Conflict much? And he didn’t even recuse. When they got to making the decision, the Channel 6 webcast died, white screen, and when I got to the webex, they’d moved on. So later…