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COLOSSAL INCOMPETENCE
Goodbye path and bridge grant, applied for from the state, in the first attempt of the city to do something with the fallow grounds of Hillmoor. Mayor Mayor submitted the grant proposal to the DNR for its agreement, but the DNR sent it back for a one-year reconsideration, or delay for Lake Geneva ‘get its act together.’ Next year the city can reapply again. The DNR may make some bad decisions (like allowing piers to be extended out beyond the normal 100-foot limit or putting their ‘Greenpeace’ sort of mean and equipment on South Lake Shore Drive to ticket speeders) but analytically, the outfit still has its act together.
What did Lake Geneva’s semi-disabled Mayor Mayor do wrong in signing the submission? Well, it turns out that she submitted a proposal that had a signed resolution from the city council with respect to funding part of the project. That fact got questioned as (someone in local city government apparently ‘dropped a dime,’ to use a Joanie the Diner parlance) Mayor Mayor signed a resolution that was an example resolution. No resolution for the grant, in the original paperwork for the application, was ever put before the council and therefore was never approved by that council. Mayor Mayor has very limited powers, when it comes to committing the city to any kind of funding. That’s the power invested in the city council members.
Mayor Mayor probably signed the document without even realizing that the resolution was bogus. No paths. No bridges across the White River. Now, one has to wonder how the archeological survey (based on another grant application providing funding) is going to go if it is to go at all. Just what did the paperwork look like when Mayor Mayor tried to drift down the ‘yellow brick road’ between the city and the DNR? How about her title: “Example Applicant Resolution For Outdoor Recreation Grant Application?” That’s correct, Mayor Mayor actually sent the DNR an example, as she had no resolution from the city council whatsoever. She signed a document that states: “I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly adopted by ‘City of Lake Geneva’ at a legal meeting on 10th day of April 2023.” She then signed her full name. She also wrote that “the City of Lake Geneva hereby authorizes Charlene Klein, Mayor, to act on behalf of the City of Lake Geneva to…” basically submit everything and take whatever action she sees fit with the money. Just how does one go about accommodating this kind of information.
The form submitted to the DNR is now in the possession of the editorial staff of the Geneva Shore Report and it, plus the proper form that should have been submitted is available as a free copy to anyone that might want to request it at antaresproductions@charter.net.
The malfeasance here may not apply as the definition by Webster indicates that the primary word describing it is ‘wrongdoing.’ What was done here, costing the city a year of progress is trying to do anything at all with the property appears to have no ill will in it, but the word incompetence sure seems to apply. At the same time, the Friends of Hillmoor attempted to fund and implement a plant to clear the fallen trees and clean the existent paths through the property so citizens might begin using it again. They also applied to have Yerkes run one of their Spot Light functions on the property. Mayor Mayor axed that request from the get-go. It is sure hoped, for Mayor Mayor’s sake that she has at least thought to wear her red sequin shoes to allow her to return to whatever small farm she originated from in Kansas.
