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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

East Bethel - drama, and admission to the show is free.

First a Crabgrasser [aka developer] shakes a lawyer at the good city, this link. Comments to the post indicate a citizenry of mixed minds, as with the city council being likewise inclined to mix minds, at one another.

[East Bethel Mayor] Lawrence thought Municipal Builders would sue Boyer and Voss if the contract would not go forward. The mayor referenced correspondence from Municipal Builders, Inc., but did not read the e-mail.

When Councilmember Heidi Moegerle asked Vierling if the e-mail was attorney-client privilege, Boyer said, “You’re not playing that game with me. Give me the letter. I’ll read it. I watched what you did to Doug Sell you bastards.”

Vierling suggested the council adjourn for a short recess. After returning, Lawrence apologized for his statements because the city, not Boyer and Voss, would be liable for any Municipal Builders litigation, so the incumbent councilmembers would not have a personal vested interest in seeing the water treatment plant move forward.

Boyer and Voss did not accept Lawrence’s apology.

“You publicly accused myself of being unethical, having a conflict of interest in the Bolton and Menk contract and in making sure this goes forward,” Voss said to the mayor. “You can apologize all you want, but you can’t take back what you said.”

There's been the last election soap box; the ballot box; and now threats of the jury box. What's left is the cartridge box.

Getting out of Dodge before the gun play erupts; let Jack do it; this link?

If Jack does not work out to everyone's satisfaction in East Bethel, Ramsey's former city administrator has severed ties with City of Albert Lea and likely is available.

___________UPDATEE____________
There is a distrubing undercurrent in the East Bethel story. The implication that one has to be credentialed in having studied or worked in city administration to administer a city.

That is a crock. Nobody says you have to have studied IT administration to be CEO of IBM.

And nobody says that, because it would be very stupid to say so as if believed.

So what's special about running a city? Zippo, really. You deal with subordinates and scoundrels, and there always might be overlap. So what? Is Boeing or GE any different? Bigger, yes, so you pay well beyond what governors earn. But has anyone jumped either Pawlenty or Dayton because they have no degree in governorship, nor did one of the two begin an executive term with prior experinence in governmental administration.

That's a total red herring, and those dragging it across scent pathways in East Bethel should stop.