Home Page

Opinion

Response to administratorís comments

To the editor:
I am responding to Jim Thoreenís commentary on the countyís two projects. I have a lot of respect for both Jim Thoreen and Steve Mork. The conclusions they draw are consistent with the reasons that Mr. Thoreen has stated. The problem, however, begins in the second paragraph where Mr. Thoreen states the projects will be constructed on the cityís west side south of Highway 95 like it is a done deal.
He goes on to say it is based on extensive staff research, staff research that in my opinion fails to meet the test of public hearings. A number of people, including myself, have raised serious questions about some of the assumptions made in the analysis and the potential long-term negative consequences to the project, the environment and taxpayers.
In the end this project will be a better project if these questions are addressed before rather than after when the problems may be more costly to fix or canít be changed.
Further, in my opinion, the statement that the project will not ìcostî the taxpayer any money is very misleading.
To begin with, the countyís proposal to sell a 105-acre site to purchase a 20-acre site is akin to saying you can buy a small city lot in exchange for your 105-acre country lot with water, sewer and a functional building on it or that you could have my brown van for your Lexus SUV without any additional payment. But that is only the beginning. There are so many unanswered questions, for example, the appropriateness of combining a county nursing home with selected providers, excluding others, or even whether it still makes sense for the county to own a nursing home. After all, why did most counties sell their nursing homes? And why canít the existing nursing home be remodeled for county offices, similar to what Carlton County and other counties have done in retro-fitting existing buildings for county facilities.
So I am asking why isnít the county inviting public input through public hearings as is usually done on such large capital projects. The county shouldnít take offense to its citizens asking questions, but see it as an opportunity to building consensus and improve the project.
Rick Olseen
Harris

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com