(May 14th, 2012) I have taken a break from attending Mountain Home City Council Meetings for about 6 months. And in those 6 months, hardly anything has changed. The biggest “non-changer” issue is water...drinking, bathing, watering the lawn but more importantly the “keep you alive” type of water. But other things were discussed at this meeting you might want to know about.
1. Numbers: City employee outnumbered “concerned citizens” by a 6:1 margin. Organizations “asking for money” outnumbered “concerned citizens” by a 4:1 margin. Total number of plain old “concerned citizen” in attendance was 3. Of those 3, Brian from the newspaper and the lady who videotapes the meeting are included.
2. Some Issues Approved During This Meeting:
- Improvement of the Cook Shack in Carl Miller Park.
- The City will use $600 of your money to help build a fence around a fire truck display in the El Rancho Parking Lot.
- Looks like we will be watched on 7 new traffic cameras being installed around the city? Total cost of installation is $5,600.
- The city will spend over $5,600 on a new computer and some AutoCAD software.
- A new police dog will be bought for a price not to exceed $11,000.
3. Water Problems: Anyone who has read my Mountain Home City Council articles knows “water is big business in this town” and that hasn't changed recently. Currently there are 3 wells the City is having problems with and this can lead to water shortages. In short, the taxpayers are on the hook for our water system and we need to find a sensible solution to this age-old problem.
In my opinion, our city, county and state leaders must address this water issue eventually. Without some serious water usage restrictions the idea that Mountain Home and/or Elmore County could support more than a few medium sized businesses will be threatened. And I suppose that is okay with our political and business leaders considering we have no vision other than “keep Mountain Home AFB open at any cost”. And I'm sure the United State Air Force will be happy to keep a base open near a community that has water shortages every summer.
4. That Time of the Year to Ask for Money
It's time to start looking at the Fiscal Year 2013 Mountain Home budget. Local organizations addressed the council last night. And for the most part these people made good arguments for the City to continue funding them. But...
But, I'm all about ROI when it comes to my tax dollars. “Return on Investment” is rarely discussed during these meeting. Yes...we get attendance records, visitor logs, volunteer hours and other non-hard statistics. But never a get stats like “we brought in 78 tourists, 15 golfers and 12 fishing groups”. And without hard numbers our ROI is really just another tug on the heartstrings and a rubber stamped “Funded” at budget time. So who asked for money?
Mountain Home Senior Center: Hard stats were presented, a history of how last year's money was spent and a plan for next year was presented. How the heck can the City turn down funding the Senior Center with the hard data and information they presented? Heck, I'd increase their funding if I was sitting on the council.
Dig-It: I had a hard time hearing this organization's sales pitch. But from what I could understand, the info was all soft data and heartstrings. Could this money be better spent? I think they were asking for $2000 but I cannot remember. I must sit up front at these meeting...
Mountain Home Visitor Center: Whoever made the sale pitch to the council did a exceptional job. I ate up each and every stat she threw at us. Excellent job woman! However, what is the real ROI the citizen get by handing them $5,000 a year? Could this money be spent in a better way? I suspect so.
The Bus Service: The guy who made the pitch to fund local bus service to a tune of $35,000 this year did a good job. I doubt the Council will approve a $4,000 funding raise but you never know.
So There You Have It
That's what I saw at the Mountain Home City Council Meeting on May 14th, 2012. I suspect there will be a few people who will have some heartache with my opinion and what I saw/heard. Leave a comment and you too can be included in a discussion of local politic...or not.
Thanks,
1. Numbers: City employee outnumbered “concerned citizens” by a 6:1 margin. Organizations “asking for money” outnumbered “concerned citizens” by a 4:1 margin. Total number of plain old “concerned citizen” in attendance was 3. Of those 3, Brian from the newspaper and the lady who videotapes the meeting are included.
2. Some Issues Approved During This Meeting:
- Improvement of the Cook Shack in Carl Miller Park.
- The City will use $600 of your money to help build a fence around a fire truck display in the El Rancho Parking Lot.
- Looks like we will be watched on 7 new traffic cameras being installed around the city? Total cost of installation is $5,600.
- The city will spend over $5,600 on a new computer and some AutoCAD software.
- A new police dog will be bought for a price not to exceed $11,000.
3. Water Problems: Anyone who has read my Mountain Home City Council articles knows “water is big business in this town” and that hasn't changed recently. Currently there are 3 wells the City is having problems with and this can lead to water shortages. In short, the taxpayers are on the hook for our water system and we need to find a sensible solution to this age-old problem.
In my opinion, our city, county and state leaders must address this water issue eventually. Without some serious water usage restrictions the idea that Mountain Home and/or Elmore County could support more than a few medium sized businesses will be threatened. And I suppose that is okay with our political and business leaders considering we have no vision other than “keep Mountain Home AFB open at any cost”. And I'm sure the United State Air Force will be happy to keep a base open near a community that has water shortages every summer.
4. That Time of the Year to Ask for Money
It's time to start looking at the Fiscal Year 2013 Mountain Home budget. Local organizations addressed the council last night. And for the most part these people made good arguments for the City to continue funding them. But...
But, I'm all about ROI when it comes to my tax dollars. “Return on Investment” is rarely discussed during these meeting. Yes...we get attendance records, visitor logs, volunteer hours and other non-hard statistics. But never a get stats like “we brought in 78 tourists, 15 golfers and 12 fishing groups”. And without hard numbers our ROI is really just another tug on the heartstrings and a rubber stamped “Funded” at budget time. So who asked for money?
Mountain Home Senior Center: Hard stats were presented, a history of how last year's money was spent and a plan for next year was presented. How the heck can the City turn down funding the Senior Center with the hard data and information they presented? Heck, I'd increase their funding if I was sitting on the council.
Dig-It: I had a hard time hearing this organization's sales pitch. But from what I could understand, the info was all soft data and heartstrings. Could this money be better spent? I think they were asking for $2000 but I cannot remember. I must sit up front at these meeting...
Mountain Home Visitor Center: Whoever made the sale pitch to the council did a exceptional job. I ate up each and every stat she threw at us. Excellent job woman! However, what is the real ROI the citizen get by handing them $5,000 a year? Could this money be spent in a better way? I suspect so.
The Bus Service: The guy who made the pitch to fund local bus service to a tune of $35,000 this year did a good job. I doubt the Council will approve a $4,000 funding raise but you never know.
So There You Have It
That's what I saw at the Mountain Home City Council Meeting on May 14th, 2012. I suspect there will be a few people who will have some heartache with my opinion and what I saw/heard. Leave a comment and you too can be included in a discussion of local politic...or not.
Thanks,
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