IT’S ONLY 100 DOLLARS!
Where are we planning to go and how, following a plan, do we expect to get there…if we can figure out where ‘there’ is. The City of Lake Geneva is made up of a veritable nightmare of complex little pockets of concerns, unwritten rules, and nickel-and-dime charges for all sorts of things. These things are administered by the staff of the city administrator in the system of government that Lake Geneva decided upon many years ago. The ‘weak mayor’ system, where the elected officials are severely limits in what they can do. This is not well understood by the electorate.
An issue that brought all this to a head occurred last week when a city resident, a mother, came to the city front desk to get a replacement for the small beach bracelet she’d purchased for the child weeks earlier. The family had gone ot the beach and, since the Lake Geneva City Beach Bracelets are not tailored for size (other than small, medium, and large) the three children had lost a bracelet while playing, wading, and swimming at Riviera Beach. The mother asked one of the front desk clerks for a replacement and was promptly told that the charge for a replacement would be $100 (yes, that’s one hundred dollars). The charge initially for the bracelet was three dollars for a season of resident beach use. Suddenly, the charge for another bracelet, cloning what was already in place, had become a hundred dollars.
The mother brought her complaint to the Geneva Shore Report. The GSR reporters got on it and called the city front desk. They were told that the one hundred was spot on, and it was that much because residents might give or loan their bracelets and not get them back. To keep people from abusing the system, the $100 charge was necessary. When it was pointed out to the employees at the front desk that there was no ordinance requiring a fine of one hundred for losing and replacement of the cheap plastic bracelets, the city staff went into a defense mode and said that it was too bad and that the charge was required by the director of piers and harbors.
The city may not fine people a hundred dollars for anything without city council approval, and they may not do it by using some sort of device to get around that either, like telling residents that they simply can’t get a bracelet replaced without paying a hundred dollars for a non-resident pass. The city administrator is directly responsible for this irresponsible behavior on the part of his employees. The city administrator is also directly responsible for the public works department, which has the glaring and dangerous potholes on Highway 50 repaired. The city administrator is directly responsible for not having Channel 25 operational after all this time. The city leadership chose this man. Did they choose right?
The Geneva Shore Report should not have to be the entity almost solely looking after the residents of Lake Geneva. The GSR wants to report what’s happening or being planned to happen, not direct the course of the results. As this last national election graphically displayed, elections have consequences. All of what’s going on right now at the city management pinnacle of power must be considered seriously when the next elections come around. The leadership needs to first show up, then do the job, and then let everyone know that the jobs are being done, and that last part should be cheerfully presented right across the municipal building’s front counter. That’s not happening these days.
However, half the residents of Lake Geneva are working hard, and a hundred bucks is a big deal to them. The GSR is not going to let this bracelet issue go. Those are our people, and they should be yours too. By the way, most of the people who work at City Hall are not residents at all!
Go in and be their boss!
