"LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN..."

Those were the words spoken by Supervisor Brian Budenski at the last Town Board meeting on December 9th. He was referring to his failed attempt last month to seek a temporary injunction against Great River Energy (GRE) so as to (at least for now) stop the installation of the rust-colored "monster poles" across the Township.

As you may recall, (See  "A Poll on the Poles" post) Budenski had volunteered his time along with assistance from Ray Kaufenberg to do the work to apply to the Public Utilities Commission for the change to galvanized poles.  Last time, Supervisor Kenny Miller (correctly) had to recuse himself due to his receiving income from GRE for its laydown yard on his property. As he explained, his voting on the matter could be argued to constitute a statutory conflict of interest, since an injunction, if approved, could prolong the project and thus increase his compensation.  Budenski and Storlie had voted for the motion, while Ceminsky and Madden had voted against it.

During the December discussion, Supervisor Ceminsky stated that he "didn't care" himself whether the poles were rust-colored or galvanized. He said he wondered whether the Township as a whole would come down on the side of galvanized poles.  He said he was concerned about the potential cost of the injunction to the Township, citing costs up to $40,000.

Budenski cleared that up by asking Township Attorney Chad Lemmons what the cost would be to file the injunction. Lemmons replied that it could cost from $2,000 up to $3,000.

Budenski assured Ceminsky that he, Budenski, has talked to the people whom this would affect most directly and he is speaking for them.

Let me editorialize for a moment:  The Town Board is elected to represent the public of Eureka.  At times, they have seemingly had no problem taking action to try to institute something like the agritourism ordinance in spite of the public's objections to the proposed language at two public hearings. Until pressed, they were not even willing to appoint a task force to explore the issue on behalf of you and other citizens. But when it comes to something which, to me, is as commonsensical as going with the less obtrusive option on the poles, now Ceminsky wants a vote by the public before acting on their behalf in a positive manner? Even though he is elected to do just that, one could argue.

Back to the vote: Once again, Supervisor Miller had to recuse himself from voting for his constituents because of his financial interest in the matter. Editorializing briefly, perhaps this is a good argument as to why a Town Board Supervisor shouldn't get himself into these situations. To my way of thinking, he is elected first and foremost to represent the citizens.  Just my opinion; enough said.

Once again, Storlie and Budenski voted "yes" to seek the injunction. This time, Supervisor Ceminsky joined them. Thus, the motion passed.

Supervisor Madden, as he is wont to do as the record shows, again voted "nay" without any explanation as to why he did so. Now understand, he is under no obligation to state for the record why he voted "nay."  However, this is an option taken by several Supervisors in the past. One of you out there might be curious as to his reasoning.

Digressing once again, after an earlier email by me to the Board quoting Ordinance language

regarding regulations on Conditional Use Permits, trying to show them the correct time frame under which the letters to adjacent property owners are to be sent, I received an email from Supervisor Madden.

His email stated : "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH." Just like that, all in caps; what some see as "shouting on the Internet!" So is he, as an elected public official, telling one of his constituents to quit communicating about Township issues, issues which can affect every one of us? How else do I take that? I'm not certain whether he was referring to my email or to this blog, but either way, REALLY?

Supervisor Madden may think "enough is enough," but I think posting on the blog to keep citizens informed and speaking up when one sees something done incorrectly, is important, of value, and I intend to continue.

stay tuned for updates on the injunction.  It is worth a shot, as we will be living with those poles for a very long time.

Thank you, Supervisor Budenski!

IS CAPX2020 DRAINING YOUR ENERGY?

Many Eureka citizens are dealing, in one way or another, with what many might see as the disfigurement of the Township by fifteen-story-high power lines.

But did you know that the Town Board had a possibility to soften the impact, at least in its early stages of the installation, but passed up the opportunity?  This is a story you would not necessarily know from the minutes, but would know if you had been in attendance at a recent Special Board Meeting.

First, you need to know that, at a Special Meeting as opposed to a regular one, the Board can discuss only those items that have been listed under the agenda in the posting of the meeting.  The post has to be up at the Town Hall bulletin board (the official posting site) in time to give citizens a three-day notice of the meeting, not counting the day of the posting and the day of the meeting.  It happens that, at the eleventh hour, "CAPX2020" was added to then already-published agenda.  This is actually okay by procedure, but requires that citizens are alert for such last minute changes if they want to be fully informed.

[If you have certain items that are of interest to you, be advised that the best way to stay on top of things is to ask to to be placed on the "alert" list that the Town Clerk maintains.  She is to send you all agendas, notices of public hearings, Special Meetings, and the like, saving you from having to check the bulletin board or the website. (The latter is NOT the official posting site.)  BE AWARE, however, as mentioned in an earlier posting, the Board can add items to a regular meeting agenda as late as at the meeting itself.  Refer to the "Housekeeping" addition of two controversial Ordinance items; Chair Storlie made these additions at the "agenda approval" time during the beginning of the June meeting that night.  Unless a person was in attendance, he would have had no idea that these items were to be discussed.]

Second, you should know that Supervisor Miller recused himself from the vote I am about to tell you of because he is being paid for the use of his property for a lay-down yard for the utility's equipment/materials needed for the installation.  It was proper that he do so, since he has a financial interest in the matter...

Third, the permit application and its representatives at the Special Meeting asked for Monday thru Friday hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with an additional half hour on each end, and Saturday hours of 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., again with one half hour on either side.

Supervisor Budenski moved to limit the hours to Monday thru Friday only, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Not one of the remaining other three Supervisors seconded Brian's motion.  Therefore, it died from the lack of a second.

Chair Storlie then proceeded to move to approve the application as presented; Supervisor Ceminsky (perhaps serving as earlier described as Storlie's "right hand man???") seconded that motion.  The motion passed, 3-1.  Supervisor Budenski was the dissenting vote, while Supervisors Madden, Ceminsky and Storlie voted in favor of the longer hours plus Saturday work as described in the Great River Energy application.

You can form your own opinions of this maneuver, but we wanted to you to know the full story as we understand it. What is required to be recorded in the minutes is all motions, seconds, and votes.  Supervisor Budenski's motion would not be listed as it died.

FYI, very few "regular citizens" were in attendance at the meeting.  



Is your property on the CAPX2020 Route?  Are you negotiating property values with them right now?

Know your rights.