AUBURN, IOWA – MAY 10, 2010
In what some residents see as a victory for openness, and what others seem to feel is just a pain, the city of Auburn has been successfully petitioned to have a governmental audit performed.
The debate for how to pay for it grew heated at one point with council people trading zingers like, “You are discouraging them to have a voice… you guys are just trying to whip a few people that signed the [petition]” and “We don’t give the council an opportunity to act on it, we just run and tattle.” And “They put us in a pinch, so now we need to put them in a pinch.” (Watch videos for the full debate)
The total cost of the audit will be $6,750.00.
After the debate, the council decided to table the discussion until the June meeting to allow the absent council people and Mayor to be present for the discussion. They did decide to have the state perform the audit and not put out a request for proposals to private firms.
Copyright (c)2007-2010 Curtis Bloes All Rights Reserved
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteI guess what disturbs me most about this video is that Councilperson Janelle King is so angry about this financial audit as to make such a remark about the citizens "They put us in a pinch so we need to put them in a pinch". If that isn't a statement regarding retalitation in some form, I don't know what is. Sounds to me she wants to make the people that signed the petition "pay" in one way or another. Kudos to Councilman Potthoff for standing up for a majority of the citizens. It's too bad more people sitting up there don't have the same intergity consistently. Also, Ms. Lisa Zimmerman, the person who initiated the petition, followed the procedure set out by the State Auditor. So, when the City Clerk states she tattled to the State, she just followed procedure by sending a copy of the petition to the State. Sounds like a bunch of cry babies up there...wahhh wahh wahhh, and stamp your feet. An audit was requested 2 years ago by the newly elected Mayor and it was shot down by the council due to "not enough money". Half the time this council makes their own messes with the aftermath of their decisions. THINK people (more than about yourselves) before you ACT (on behalf of the citizens) ((supposably)).
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