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POUTING ON INTO THE FUTURE
Many committee and commission meetings in Lake Geneva have been repeatedly canceled since the mayoral appointees were voted down at the reorganizational city council meeting on April 18, 2023. Some of the council members did not feel the alderpersons were evenly represented on the different committees. After a month of no standing, or non-standing, committees and commissions meeting the city council revisited the Mayor Mayor’s amended list of appointees and now, the council rather reluctantly going along with Mayor Mayor, the meetings will resume.
Not all the council members were happy with the revised list and believe the mayor has still left new alderpersons Frame and Esposito off a majority of the standing committees, and said she’d done so intentionally. Alderperson Frame questioned Mayor Mayor about her reasons for the unfair divide. Mayor Mayor stood by her decision to not appoint chairpersons and offered a general defense, stating that a lot goes into the appointee list, including experience, seniority, expertise, and scheduling being some of those factors. Lake Geneva’s Mayor Mayor was also called out on the length of time it took to resolve the issue and get meetings back on the calendar. Mayor Mayor stated that she was disappointed that the alderpersons that were unhappy with her choices did not visit her to ask questions and offer suggestions, as if that was the motivation factor for Mayor Mayor’s pouting resort not to appoint chairpersons.
Frame quickly responded to her comment, going ‘on the record’ about the fact that she approached Mayor Mayor several times regarding the choices, as well as the fact that Mayor Mayor was refusing to act in a way that only she could act. Mayor Mayor stated, each time encountered, that she didn’t want to talk about it. A lot more back and forth discussion about Mayor Mayor’s stubborn unwillingness to act went on but the end result was for the city council to finally approve of Mayor Mayor’s slate of alderpersons in positions of commanding committee authority.
The standing committees include:
Finance, Licenses, and Regulations, with Howell as chairperson, and committee members of Yunker, Fesenmaier, Yager, and Dunn on the committee;
Personnel committee chairman will be Dunn as chair, with Frame, Howell, Yunker, and Straube as members.
Piers, Harbors, and Lakefront has Yunker as chairperson, with members of Straube, Howell, Espisito, and Dunn.
Public works has Straube as chair, with Howell, Yager, Dunn, and Yunker as members.
The non-standing committee appointees are more evenly dispersed, and the council members were less disturbed with the appointee choices. The one unanimous mindset amongst the divided city council gave every appearance of concluding that the meetings and committees needed to get back to work, meet, and get the job done.
Nobody can explain how Joan Yunker might be able to sit on just about every committee the city has, or that she appears to be the delightful toy of Mayor Mayor, while Mayor Mayor’s least favorite, by far, alderperson has to be Mary Jo Fesenmaier, as she was assigned, appropriately enough in the Mayor Mayor’s intention, to be chairperson of the Cemetery committee.
Where the city may be going on into the future will have a lot to do with the current selection of alderpersons and Mayor Mayor, being able to function together to meet the needs of the Lake Geneva public while trying to control and instruct the six-figure salaried city employees who now sit quietly by the side of road they are paid to be so extremely comfy and happy to be on.
As someone from Illinois who visits Lake Geneva often, I am stunned the area has any money problems when you are surrounded by multi-million dollar vacation homes. Don’t you collect substantial property taxes from these home owners?
Mayor Klein, be aware residents of Lake Geneva are intelligent and taking notice of your lack of leadership and residents demand improved performance. Additionally, city management should also take notice. These are not patronage careers and it you do not provide professional management for all residents, you can and will be replaced. Now is the time to decide. The assumption is you are well educated and the reason you became involved in city government is because you have a yearning for service. Take this Memorial Day weekend to determine if you want to be part of making Lake Geneva a great small city or choose another form of service or career. Lake Geneva demands and deserves better. Thank you.