The citizens of Albert Lea are at the top of every organizational flow chart I have seen.  Then it is the City Council, which we have entrusted with making our voices heard and are accountable to us. Then it is the city manager, who was hired by the council and is accountable to it, and ultimately to all of the taxpayers of this community.

An idea, just based on who put it together and how long it took them to do it, does not make it a good idea. The idea of restructuring city departments and severance packages is just that, a bad idea that is ill-conceived and counterproductive.

One of the city manager’s first attempts to restructure a city department to save money was to have an all-volunteer fire department, instead of a full-time force. Another bad idea. When the citizens of Albert Lea spoke up and said that’s not what we want in our community, it was thrown out. That full-time fire department has given us a safer community, lower insurance rates and a possible incentive when trying to entice new businesses to come to our city.

I have a sign on my desk that reads “Doing nothing achieves nothing, take action.”

Now is that time! Our voices are not being heard, and efforts to do the right thing are dismissed as being based on emotions and not the issues. I do not know how you can separate the two.

I believe these proposals and the use of fear and intimidation to control city employees has put the morale at the lowest it has probably ever been. Sure there are a lot of things that need to change and improvements that need to be made, but it needs to start at the top. Change and technology alone is not a plan. Good leaders produce dedicated employees who work together, and in the long run make the city function more efficiently and saves the taxpayers money.

Respect is a two-way street. Currently that is not happening. Ask any city employee affected by this proposal, or the employee from the Finance Department who left the city after 40 years of service and what dignity there was in how she was treated, and how all those dedicated years of service were not recognized. Unless you are willing to condone this type of behavior, it is time to put a stop to it.

My hope for those pushing and favoring these proposals is that their children and grandchildren’s generation treat them with more respect and honor for their service to the community than they are currently giving the generation of long-serving, dedicated city employees who preceded them.

 

Gary Hagen

Albert Lea