Goodbye, Charlie!

What if they gave a going away party and no one came. Including the guest of honor. I considered, seriously, if Mr. Grant would appear at his send off last week at City Hall. Maybe he'd just forget or have to take the young one to swimming lessons, both regular excuses for missing meetings in the past. Better yet, he might have chosen to just "quit" like he did when he lost his re-election campaign. He just walked out. The end.

Well, stop the speculation....if you don't already know, he actually made it to this meeting, with the Judge and kid in tow. On his way out the door he was still making promises, "I'll send you that stuff you asked for, Kathy!" (Want to place bets that he'll go two-for-two and actually follow through on that promise? Thought not.)

Thanks for the memories, Charles.

Apolgies for my smart mouth........

I understand that some people were unhappy with a blog post I made in early December saying that I'd told co-workers I had spit in the Councilors' coffee.

Understandably so. While I made it pretty clear that it was not true, I should never have said it at all.

I'm known for my smart mouth and sarcastic sense of humor, but I think this crossed the line even for me. Whether or not the incident actually happened, it was wrong to post it here.

I apologize and, yes, I intend to make apologies to each of the Councilors, as well. If I offended readers here, I apologize for that, too.

Smiling!

I haven't smiled this much in a long time (election day, maybe??)! I just returned from seeing Pat Martyn and Randy Peterson sworn in and I smiled all the way home.

Good to see many of you in the audience as well as many of Randy and Pat's friends and family members. It was nice, too, to see some future voters in the audience. I'm hoping high school seniors who are attending these meetings for class will learn something good about the political process and be ready to lead St. Helens in the years to come.

Wonder if you can smile while you sleep??

New year, new council!

Even though Charles walked out on his duties to the council right after losing the election, it hasn't really felt like a "new council." Until now. Tomorrow night, Patrick Martyn will be sworn in to fill the position Charles vacated so abruptly.

I plan to be in the audience because this is something I worked hard for and care a great deal about. Not only will we have a new perspective (and, likely, much more participation) from Pat, but we'll have a voice of reason rather than one of "agree to get along" politics. It's a great day in St. Helens!

Also set to take the oath is Mayor Peterson, proving that people in this town recognize that there's more important to the Mayor's job than just making appearances around town.

Is it appropriate to stand up and cheer when someone takes the oath? I guess I'll find out. =)

The "other" Sally

From Sally C. 12/14/08

I just happened to have read a blogspot called recall 2008-9. It was written by a part time employee of the City of St. Helens. It appears that she loves how Mayor Peterson conducts himself and hates the present City Council. I don't know her, but it is apparent that she was heavily involved in the attempt to recall Doug Morton and Phil Barlow. In her blog she makes nasty personal attacks on the people that she works for. Bill mentioned to me that she even wore a recall button when she went to work. I can understand the concept of free expression, but I think that this person's free expression borders on outright insubordination. This alone should be a good reason to dismiss her. I am curious as to why she seems to like the Mayor as much as she does. Our Mayor is never around when he is needed, he even misses City Council meetings. I wonder what sort of ties exist? Is she related, are there friends or are there finances involved?

I personally think that St. Helens has been one of the most corrupt and self serving communities around, and it was only in the last two years that the present City Council has made an attempt to clean things up. Is this person involved with the old City Council and is she financially benefiting from some of the past corruption that used to occur?

People's memories may be short, but I still remember when Mayor Randy Sabotaged the Fire Rescue boat and because of high placed friends, was promoted instead of disciplined. I also remember how the Mayor and all his friends got cell towers, and bill board sites. Only the "in people" were given this opportunity. Does anyone remember the sale of land by the river that belonged to the Mayor and former police chief. The Mayor argued the year before that it was assessed too high, and asked that his property tax be reduced. He said that it could not be built on, was subject to flooding, and was not large enough to do anything of value.

He managed to get the assessment lowered to $36,980. Imagine everyone's surprise when he sold it the very next year for $385,000 to the City of St. Helens. Nice profit, and just one of many "Good Old Boy" happenings. Do you recall when all electrical work was given to the Mayors business, all collections were made through a Councilman's collection agency, and all the insurance went to a Council Person's insurance agency? These people ran for government positions because they could find ways in which government would benefit them personally. St. Helens is a growing community, and deserves something better than a bunch of drinking buddies running it for their own benefit.

The voters of our community finally managed to enact a change, and rid the city of most of these "close friends." After two years of clean government, a number of very wealthy and well connected people seem to want to get the new councilors recalled. Now why is this the case?

I read the recall blog, and I wonder about this part time employee blogger. Why is she so defiant and insubordinate? I know that the economy is turning bad and that cuts need to be made. I think that it might be to everyone's best interests if she was one of the people that they would consider cutting. I think that the existing Councilors are just too nice. This person, through her actions is causing problems for the City and with the publics perception of the City. Getting rid of this person would save the City embarrassment, money, and create a much more healthy working environment for everyone concerned.

from the ever-amazing St. Helens Update

PS, I'm thinking of forwarding this to Mayor Peterson and asking if my bonus checks are lost in the mail or something. Anyone know who the heck Sally C is? I just wanted to congratulate her for getting all her facts straight.

Good point

A City employee told me yesterday that he/she had overheard one of the managers making inquiries about purchasing a boat for Sand Island trips this summer. He/she was concerned that the City would be spending money on a boat when it's in financial despair. Good point.

I'm sure there will be justifications....it comes from Tourism money is the one that quickly comes to mind. The Arts & Cultural Commission just lost $12,000 of their funding (general fund) due to budget cuts. How is Tourism funded?

Thanks due

Thanks are due to Chad Olsen, City Administrator in St. Helens, for his continued efforts to find solutions to the budget crisis.

Over several weeks of council indecision, Olsen presented ideas and made suggestions. The three options he brought to the table at Wednesday's special work session finally "took" and the council agreed by consensus to use one of them as a first step to bringing the budget into balance.

The chamber was nearly full with visitors, several of them employees. The agreed upon path avoids any immediate staff layoffs (for weeks, at least four people have been concerned about losing their jobs by the end of the year) and calls for "everything on the table" when the budget committee convenes in January to start work on the FY 2009-10 budget.

The decision was a good one and the work ahead will be difficult, but I don't think we'd have gotten to this point (finally) without Chad's efforts.

So, thank you, Chad.