To the editor: I find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with Mr. Barby and Mr. McLoone. At the last council meeting, the newspaper quotes Mr. Barby as saying “We need an audit.” There was pretty obvious “budgetary confusion.” Oddly enough, there is NO MENTION of an audit on this agenda. There was no audit done between Ketty's departure and Cyndi taking over the clerk duties, and I am betting there has been no audit, nor one scheduled for the time between Cyndi departing and Donelle taking over. All feelings about these three women aside, and I do not know Donelle at all, an audit would have protected both the city and these ladies from being held accountable for someone else's misdeeds if they occurred.

Mr. McLoone cites violations of open meeting laws. He is not the only one that has noticed these things. The lack of transparency needs to stop. If things here are being run open and above board, let the taxpayers know it. There have been several issues over the years with the city council. If the mayor and the council really want to show that they want to do things right that needs to change. So far, I do not see that happening. The comment about the agenda being posted on the website leads me to the following response. Not everyone has access to the Internet, this has also been a concern for the school as virtual learning has been needed during the pandemic. I am indeed a subscriber, and I receive the agendas via email. I have to question the sudden change that was made. While the committee as a whole agenda was provided, I had to click on a link and go to the website to look at the agenda. Why? If your new clerk doesn't know how to provide more than one, well, maybe she needs to learn that, or the regular council meeting agenda should be attached where actual VOTES can be taken. The way it was done has the feeling of things being hidden.

Last but not least the appointments by the mayor to the library board. I will not comment on personal preferences, these appointments are his to make, and I am pretty sure he is already aware of my feelings about them. I do however, have a couple of clarifications to make.

The appointment of Mr. Carlson is not the mayor's to make. He is the school representative and is appointed by the school district administrator.

I noticed on the agenda that the officer position of the library board member (if any) is included in the appointment. I have no way of knowing if the mayor was thinking he was reappointing them to that position or if the inclusion of the position was just a formality. For the future, know that the officers are chosen by the board itself, the mayor does not do so. I hope that things change here. I will continue to hope, but I am also a realist.

Thank you for your time Lori Klonowski Cooley