Gerry,
Isn't true that all but one city council member and the mayor and other city officials did have private meetings with a Wal Mart rep last month? Isn't it also true that these meetings, according to past rulings by the MN State Supreme Court, violated the open meeting laws by being serial meeting specifically set up so they didn't have to be open to the public? i.e. the members broke into groups and had separate meetings so a quorum would not be in the same room at the same time. The timing of this was unusual as within 2 days the mayor announced a special meeting without 10 days notice to the public, circumventing that by calling it a meeting instead of a hearing, with the sole purpose of overriding the Planning Commission's vote to deny Menard's plat at Riverbend Industrail (now "retail") Park.
If the city council wants to appear to conduct all busniess above the board care should be taken with these types of situation. As far as listening to all citizens, as a constituant and as a contact person for Winona First Coalition, over the last 3 months I have written 15 emails to city council members and the mayor, and was the contact person for a 3 page formal list of concerns mailed to the members. I have yet to hear back from ANY of these contacts. The city council also turned down requests for any members or city official to take part in a forum on Wal Mart and the development in Winona that was being sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the WSU Political Science Club and Winona First. Consequently that forum was cancelled.
The news today about the city being repremanded for a conflict of interest in the Riverbend area and circumventing the Wetlands law leaves be very skeptical about how this city runs and the claim that things are above the board.
Sarah Dixen
From: "Gerry Krage" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Kathy Seifert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Winona] Wal-Mart Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 10:43:24 -0500
Kathy and everyone,
The statement "I missed those meetings" was an attempt at humor and "civil discourse" in response to Dean's sharp accusation of dishonest and illegal activities of the Council. There were NO "back room deals being cut". Wal-mart has become a sensitive issue. But I can assure everyone that with Wal-Mart, as with all of our business, the City is run a bit more boring that some would like to think. There are no cigar smoke filled back rooms where deals are cut, no white envelopes full of cash passing in the alleyways and no one is hiding behind any grassy knoll. Just honest above the board business. We listen to the constituents, check the facts and make decisions. Some you may agree with, others you may not. Thank you
Gerry Krage
----- Original Message -----
From: Kathy Seifert
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 8:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Winona] Wal-Mart
Yes, Spencer, it certainly appears to be one. I also notice that Gerry Krage's response stating he "missed" those meetings could be construed to be a confirmation that such meetings actually took place. Neither message seeks to discern fact from fiction. I invite both parties to clarify the facts as the discussion unfolds.
You'll notice that in spite of the content, the messages have been posted to WOD. I'm not sure of his intent, but Dean's message seems to imply that posts are somehow screened before being sent to the list. This is not true. The moderators do not "censor" subscribers' messages. Our role is to promote a healthy dialogue and we do that by posting messages such as this one to the entire list or sometimes to individuals privately. We also may choose to drop an individual from the list, but only as a last resort.
I hope this helps to clarify the facts regarding the process of moderating the discussion. We can all have a better understanding of issues if we sort out facts from opinions and values. We are free to have and state our opinions, but it seems essential to be discerning when writing and reading our messages. I think this helps achieve our goal of "civil discourse."
Kathy Seifert WOD Co-Moderator
----- Original Message ----- From: Spencer Madsen To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 4:43 PM Subject: Re: [Winona] Wal-Mart
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
(snip)
Further, if Wal-mart is so innocent in this matter why were the feds investigating their corporate offices?
I trust other members of the WOD are not so quick to assume that if a party is being investigated then said party MUST be guilty of something.
[I would make a reference here to the back-room deals our City Council no doubt cut with Wal-Mart recently, but if I did it would probably not be posted on WOD.]
Isn't that a reference right there?
-Spencer Madsen
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