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WHAT ARE THEY UP TO NOW?
There’s a new move afoot, like the game being afoot but a little more subtle, although not likely less dangerous. Out of nowhere, at the very end of a busy summer, some member who’s qualified to put things on agenda menus put before the finance committee for recommendation to the city council (maybe Ken Howell), comes a supposedly new idea.
The new four-year elective office position. Currently, all elective offices held in the City of Lake Geneva are for two years. A new election is held every year, really, with the two-year intervals being voted for alternately (in other words, there are eight city council members with four of them being voted on for two-year terms every year). That’s a lot of elections, when you consider the time and trouble it takes to mount these elections accurately, timely and fairly. There’s a lot of discussion about the accuracy of election results these days, as well, not simply the cost of putting them on.
There’s also the question of how long it takes for a new council member to actually ‘learn the ropes.’ How long does it take to figure things out, with issues coming right at new members involving stuff so complicated that an extraordinary agenda packet can be thicker than 200 pages? And let’s say that the person serving as a brand-new city council person has come in from a landscaper, plumber, or hair styling career…and then is placed in a very serious decision-making position over something like a hundred-million-dollar residential real estate development project.
What about stuff like that? There are no credentials necessary to run for office in Lake Geneva. No felony conviction and being a resident of Lake Geneva city proper…and that’s it. No education requirements. Like, not even a grade school certificate or document of any kind. Certainly, no college required. Residency, but no time specified.
Like, maybe, day one in Lake Geneva and then run for office? How about the really lousy pay? Why is the city not paying for expenses, at least? By a minimum estimate of hours worked in meetings and at home or in offices, we believe, at the GSR, that the council members make about seventy cents per hour, and sometimes less. Some people feel that these jobs should be done only by those totally willing to give up everything and basically volunteer their time and efforts, not to mention take the heat for decisions that might be or become unpopular.
In reality, most everyone in and around Geneva Lake has to respond to the necessary requirements to have a certain amount of money to be able to comfortably operate. How is the city to get those retired people who’ve come here with education and experience but who might have to have some kind of supplement to social security or pension payments to really accomplish the mission of doing great for the community without feeling like he or she’s ‘stealing’ from others at home or otherwise related?
If a four-year term was instituted for elected positions, then what kind of terminal expectations might be worked in…like one or two four-year terms, and that’s it? There are a tremendous number of complex issues to be discussed and considered before the current system, long established because it has worked so well, is torn apart, and rebuilt.
Some parts of what’s resurrected, if the old structure is torn down, can look like the entry and fountain area of the Riviera after it was redone, which look great. However, some can also give the appearance of being ugly as hell, like the roof of that structure. The city, and residents, and visitors are all stuck with the results, both good and bad. When choosing the leadership of the community (commonly called politics) responsibility can be shrugged off and ignored…but usually to everyone’s detriment. This very real consideration issue must be brought out into the open for public discussion if the Finance committee is to recommend its implementation to the city council next week.
