City needs open, honest government
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Editor,
It was a year ago that citizens raised the issue about the poor services of Polson city attorney James Raymond. His self-written contract would expire in July 2013 and required a one-year notice and should have been on the agenda, but was not. Crossett polled the city commission in secret and his contract was renewed for at least another year. The public was told by Crossett, as advised by Raymond, that we were not privy to who voted which way.
As Berl Tiskus reported in the Valley Journal on July 18, 2012, Mayor DeVries said she wanted the city manager to advertise for the City Attorney position and also wanted the renewal of Raymond’s contract on the agenda. Commissioner Fred Funke agreed the commission should review Raymond’s contract. He explained, “Not just Raymond’s contract, but all contracts need to be brought up and not just automatically reviewed.”
Fast forward one year later. When asked when the contract for the City Attorney will be voted on again, so that the public could express their growing list of complaints, we were again informed by our new temporary city manager, Karen Sargeant, that the issue was already taken care of (in secret) and James Raymond, who was just dismissed of his position in Ronan, had a renewed contract.
It seems with Karen Sargeant and our Polson government, the status quo remains. It is time to sweep house and establish an open, honest, and responsible representative government.
Andrew Speer
Polson
