An Open Letter to the Schulenburg City Council
To the Editor:
What is going on with our city government? No one from the city government is communicating with the citizens. A lot of rumors are floating around. I would like answers.
Whose idea was it to allow citizens to speak for a maximum of three minutes in the public comments portion of the city council meetings? I concede that when there are a lot of people signed up to speak, there has to be a limit. The normal meeting may have one or two people signing up to speak. What is the harm in letting each person speak for a longer time? You supposedly encourage people to speak up about city issues. They just have to talk fast. I have decided to ask my questions in this format versus at a council meeting. I’ve got a lot more than three minutes to say. I don’t want someone to yell at me that my time is up.
There has been a mass exodus of employees for some reason. When you lose over 30% of your employees, something is definitely wrong. We lost loyal employees who had dedicated years of their lives to the City of Schulenburg but felt they couldn’t work in the current environment. A couple of years ago the council was told that we had to give our employees three extra paid holidays for a total of 15 paid holidays because our employees were quitting and going to the county because they had 15 paid holidays. Apparently that’s not working because employees are still quitting. (The US Post Office has 10 paid holidays.) It’s hard to believe that our employees would be quitting in such large numbers if there isn’t a serious internal problem. A city employee has full medical insurance paid, 12-20 paid vacation days depending on years of service, 15 paid holidays, 10 paid sick days and 7% employee retirement contribution matched with a 14% city contribution. There is no other business that even comes close to this kind of employee compensation package in this area. A lot of the employees that quit were long-time dedicated employees who were good at their jobs. Don’t try to sum this up as “getting rid of a few bad apples.” Talking to former employees, it’s obvious that the morale among the employees is very low. The city council needs to step up and make the changes necessary to correct this. This does not mean throwing more money to the employees. It means holding the people who are responsible, accountable. If you don’t have the stomach for that, maybe you shouldn’t be on the council.
Is there a street rebuilding program in place? It appears that instead of rebuilding the streets, we’re patching. Are the streets that had sewer lines replaced considered complete? Is it true that Keuper Street will have the curbs replaced or added and the street patched? What is the current policy on curb replacement? Is the city now paying for all new curbing, even properties that currently don’t have curbing? Is there anyone on city staff that can operate our street building equipment? We have high-priced equipment sitting idle for over a year. Go drive the streets around town. Are you proud of their condition?
What is the situation regarding the electrical department? Do we have our own electrical department? The only electrical work being done is by contractors. Is a contractor being utilized to cover outages at night and on weekends? Should citizens be prepared to expect long delays in getting electrical service restored? If that is the case, we should be told.
Who gets to use the council chambers to conduct meetings? The council chambers are not listed as being available for use by the general public. However, if you happen to be in an organization that certain people from the city are involved with, it’s available for your use. That is clearly an abuse of position.
Why are people from other towns using the council chambers to conduct Concealed Carry Permit classes, but the citizens aren’t allowed to rent the council chambers? Were the out-of-town folks charged to use the council chambers? If so, who received the funds? Why were these same out-of-town folks allowed to use the city shooting range at the leaf and limb drop-off facility to qualify for their Concealed Carry Permit, but citizens are not allowed to use the shooting range? The Leaf & Limb facility was shut down early to the citizens of Schulenburg, so out-of-town folks could use the shooting range. That just isn’t right. Another abuse of position. What is the use policy for the shooting range? Who gets to use it? The shooting range was set up for officer training. It is on the edge of a residential neighborhood. Why can’t the city establish a policy that the range can only be used by officers for official training, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.? This is ample time to allow officers to train. No more sighting in deer rifles and pistols.
Why is the City of Schulenburg in the roll-off dumpster business? City government should not be competing with the private sector. We even have an ordinance that prevents people from using another dumpster provider within the city limits. My understanding is that when the city got into the dumpster business, there weren’t any dumpster businesses around. Now there are plenty of roll-off dumpster businesses close by that can provide excellent service. Cut our losses. Get out of the dumpster business.
It appears code enforcement is non-existent in our city. When is the last time a city councilperson drove around town and looked at all of the violations? We used to have a beautiful little town. That is no longer the case.
Is it true city employees were told they were not allowed to speak to city council members? I question the legality of a policy like that. At the least, it is intimidation.
Why do the city administrator and police chief refuse to identify their vehicles as City of Schulenburg vehicles? Are they ashamed to work for the City of Schulenburg? They should be proud to advertise for the City of Schulenburg when they go on out-of-town trips. Folks may say it is a trivial matter. I think it is indicative of the attitude of the people in charge.
Why doesn’t the city live stream all their meetings? Why aren’t the council packets posted along with the meeting notice? Most cities that are transparent are already doing it.
Someone from the city should be communicating with the citizens on a regular basis. Everyone wants to take credit when something positive happens, but nothing is ever said when negative things occur. And there have been a lot of negative things.
City Council - This is on you. Don’t allow the degradation of Schulenburg to be your legacy. Engage your constituents. I assure you that I am not the only person asking questions. Please take action before we reach a point of no return.
If any of the statements I have made are inaccurate, I will retract them.
Roland Kalina
Schulenburg