I believe this community has a serious illness that needs to be addressed and cured. The symptoms are arrogance, inflated egos and greed for power and control. I believe the treatment is a healthy dose of common sense and good judgment with supplements of being respectful, honest, trustworthy and civil. I believe if the people who serve our community in any capacity would be humble enough to recognize they have been given an opportunity by the taxpayers to do good and a lot of it, we could survive the diseased thought process that exists in our community.

The city manager has often compared all the outside consultants that are used by the city and paid for by the taxpayers as being similar to a specialist that a patient would go see if they were ill. No matter if these consultants are licensed, accredited or just have self-proclaimed titles, they all have a number of things in common. They do not live, work or pay taxes here and do not have a vested interest in our community beyond the money they are paid for their advice.

I believe we have many very smart and innovative business owners and taxpayers right here in our community who should be consulted and asked, “How can we better serve you and spend your tax dollars to help your business and our community grow and prosper”?

Local government is not rocket science. It just takes good people working together for the betterment of the majority being served.

I believe some of the current building, street and collaboration discussions being had are not in the best interest of our community. There is little respect or regard for property owners or taxpayers who will be saddled with a mountain of tax debt and assessments long after the current officials have been replaced through elections or the hiring process.

This is Albert Lea, not a California beach community, not a city on the East Coast or an international city. We live in the Midwest. We do not need to imitate any other community. We know best what we need. We just need to utilize our talents and be true unto ourselves and we will succeed. Success to me is believing in yourself enough to make your dreams come true. We as a community can do that.

There is a silent majority out there that is not being heard from. They have busy lives and for them, there is just not enough time to go around. They are disgusted with local government and the way they are being served. When this group comes together, they will be a force to be reckoned with. I look forward to that time.

Democracy should work best at the local level and you can make your voice heard. And with all that is going on in our community I believe the truth will prevail and the lies being told will be the teller’s demise.

 

Gary Hagen

Albert Lea