Misplaced Priorities

The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then get elected and prove it.

P.J. O’ROURKE, Holidays in Hell

The Village Board in Cottage Grove has been making some news lately, besides the probable privatizing of our Emergency Medical Services. There is also the ongoing discussions between the Village and town of Cottage Grove on if we should merge or not(FWIW: I am still undecided). We are currently paying a firm thousands of dollars of our tax money to project what the effect will be on the taxes of the township if we merge. In the meantime we share services, not only the EMS, but also the police department. The township though, is having a problem because the Village has a hard time billing the township for the services on time.

To be fair, we are currently without a full-time village administrator to do this billing. Our previous VA left and instead of making a priority of filling the position, the village board decided to hire a search firm (MSA Professional Services) to give Duane Gau a few more thousand dollars of village taxpayer money!

(side note: interestingly enough Gau was with GRAEF when the Village picked them to become our new city planners, and switched jobs and found a willing new client(my money). Gau is a “conservative” Supervisor on the Dane County board who is against big government and wasteful spending(unless the money is going into his pocket((see also Jim Troupis)). Gau, along with our very own DCS David Wiganowsky, was also behind the Village of Cottage Grove putting the ridiculous, waste of money, fake train referendum on the spring ballot. But I digress-).

The majority of the Village Board made a priority of stacking the board directly against the will of the voters of the village, instead of actually governing. In case you are wondering this is not an isolated incident as streets are being sealed now in the village and were given a no bid contract to do that work(no time to bid it out).

According to the new columnist for the Herald-Independent, lack of governing is not all they are known for:

I did hear from a few people in the township who are quite opposed to the notion. What is first apparent is their very strong negative view of village politics and particularly the “in your face” attitude by some of our village officials, past and present. As I’ve said before, I am, and I think voters in general are really getting tired of this.

You may not like each other but you do need to work together within the village and outside of the village. There ought to be at least some level of respect and it is clear the village has a reputation. Knock off the power trip and bullying. Furthermore, collaboration and compromise needs to be a part of ANY effective government. (I hope and believe that with some recent village board personnel changes things may have gotten better.)

The concerns I’ve had expressed to me are pretty explicit, with the resounding question being “WHY?” Why would the people of the town want to pay higher taxes? Why doesn’t the town simply establish boundary agreements with the village and city of Madison? Why would the people of the town want to take on the village debt? Why would the people of the town want to give up their voice in how they’re governed?

To quote one reply: “Towns are governed by the people, unlike the village. Town voters discuss and vote policies at the annual town meeting. If the people of the town think they will have an equal voice after the merger, they better think again.” This seems to be a big, big deal!

The Village Board has some work to do to prove that the village is “governed by the people” and yet I have not seen any steps in that direction. A good first step would be to make an ordinance stating EXACTLY how open board positions will be filled in the future so there is consistency, but I am not holding my breath.

A few postscripts:

PS: At the first board meeting new elected trustee Ken Dahl, pointed out that the Village Board had become so toxic that we had a reputation and that people had noticed and it had affected the village. He was then subject to great scorn by not only a couple bitter members of the audience, but also trustee Micah Zielke, who very unprofessionally let Mr. Dahl know he disagreed. It turns out that Mr. Dahl was correct and I think Micah Zielke owes Mr. Dahl a public apology(again not holding my breath).

PSS: There is talk of hiring, amongst the shared police department, a “village only” police officer. More on that coming soon.

PSSS: Rumor has it that there has been some kind of transaction between door creek pharmacy and the soon to be constructed CVS Pharmacy. It appears that instead of competing in the free market they decided to use their size and purchase the competition. Who could have seen that coming???

It appears, the personal and professional service that the community has grown accustomed to from Door Creek pharmacy will soon be thing of the past, like Fired Up Pottery before them(another gem that we lost). Our village board has turned a small town feeling Village that stands out in the area to a few faceless names on the Marquee that can be found in Anytown USA. More details on this as they become available.

PSSSS: One last thing, If your going to elect fiscal conservatives, hold on to your wallets!