Kalinyaprak’s tenacity exposes boondoggles
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Editor,
Murat Kalinyaprak is tenacious in demanding facts and uncovering information. I am in the process of posting on www.supportresponsiblegov.com the details of some of the decisions that quietly went away because Murat brought information to the table the city could not minimize, or ignored.
Nov.16, 2009 City Attorney James Raymond presented an agenda item to the commission in which a private citizen offered to sell his half interest in a .61 acre lot directly across the street south of the golf course club house for $16,000. The city owned the other half of the lot. Without any discussion the commission voted to exchange a triangular lot, directly north and adjacent to the club house lot, instead. State statutes say the agenda is suppose to notice decision that will be voted on at a commission meetings. The agenda noticed the seller offered $16,000, not a possible exchange of land. Murat’s complaints concerning the issue brought the issue back Dec. 7, 2010 to officially vote on making the offer to the seller. The agenda noticed the value of the triangle lot was $88,482 (county records say $151,000) and the 50 foot lot $71,070 (county records says $84,000). The commission voted to offer the triangle lot, worth $88,482, in exchange for half interest in the 50-foot lot, which according to city’s calculations was worth $35,535. In this deal the citizen, who offered to sell his half interest for $16,000, would walk away with $72,482 profit.
State statues say exchanges must be of equal value. Here again the city attorney brought an issue to the table that was in violation of state statutes. Unless citizens consistently go to commission meetings they have no chance of detecting such deals. So few people participate in government the city seems oblivious to the possible consequences of disclosure. They just ignore opposition. The city needs to elect people who have the capacity to see through boondoggles and do the right thing. Because Murat was persistent in demanding a response to his questions, the “deal” quietly went away.
Margie Hendricks
Polson
