To the editor:
This letter is in reference to the Oct. 19 letter to the editor of Craig DeHoet related to the Woodward special election:
Craig DeHoet, once again you are misleading the citizens of Woodward and the surrounding communities with your assumptions of what you think occurred, along with some blatant lies. If you are going to “call out” citizens, it should be based on facts, not on what you “think” occurred.
Everyone who signed the petition was informed that the council intended to appoint a mayor after a resignation and that we were seeking a special election, which is granted to every citizen by city ordinance and the state code of Iowa.
I cannot say with 100 percent certainty, and unlike you will not mislead people, that everyone was told the specific costs and the length of time that remained in the mayor’s term, but they all knew there were costs involved, and most agreed this was very minimal.
When citizens knocked on my door and asked to sign the petition, I did not take the time to explain everything, because obviously they already knew.
Let’s inform everyone of the facts:
1. The other four individuals you named in your letter had nothing to do with this petition other than that they signed it. I want to point out that you “call out” only the five individuals — of the 35 who signed the petition — who routinely questioned your actions and reckless spending before you were voted off the council.
In fact, you portray that I went out and misled all these people when, of the 35 signatures on the petition, I got 10, and Jenifer got the other 25. So will you now say she misled all these people? Jenifer really hopes you do, as we will get all 25 of them to validate what was said, as she has spoken with most of them since your post and letter to the editor.
They are ready to let you know exactly what was said. You and the city leaders want community involvement and you want citizens to “step up,” but only if it matches their agenda and yours. If they don’t, this is the type of verbal harassment our citizens face.
2. After I spoke to several Woodward citizens who shared that the mayor’s position should be elected and not appointed, I went to city hall and asked for the papers to start the petition. This was done long before anyone was appointed. The city clerk asked me how I knew there should be a special election before we knew who was appointed. I advised her it made no difference who was appointed. This was never about “who.” It was about our belief that no one should be appointed to an elected position, and those who signed the petition agreed.
3. After I took out these papers, a council member informed me that if I followed through with this petition, whoever was appointed would not seek election in the special election, and two or three council members would resign. “They would show me.”
From the current appointed mayor’s Facebook post, that appears to be the case. So these leaders only want to be leaders if they can do it their way and have no one question anything. If they want to resign, be my guest. That is their choice. The city was here before they were leaders and will be long after they are gone.
4. In your letter to the editor relating to the IDNR lagoon project, you state that “this was an unplanned expense that the city had no idea was coming.” This is a straight-up, blatant lie. See the council minutes on the city’s website dated January/February 2017 or 21 months ago, where you are making motions related to this very project.
This has been on the table as a general mandate for almost 10 years and specifically for 2019 for the last three to five years. So before the citizens of Woodward voted you off the council, you were a part of the leadership that chose to borrow millions of dollars for other projects, knowing this mandate was looming.
5. You state in your letter to the editor that this would only be a 10-month appointment for mayor, which is also a blatant lie. All Woodward citizens and people from surrounding communities can check the Woodward council minutes dated Oct. 8, 2018, which states the special election would be Dec. 11.
This would allow for the elected official to be sworn in for the January 2019 meeting and complete one full-year term ending Dec. 31, 2019. The general election in November 2019 has no bearing on this term. This information is verifiable on www.woodwardia.org, and the people can determine who is not being truthful.
I assume now that you and the city leaders will make sure things are delayed just to prove your point, but the minutes speak loudly of the truth as it stood when the petition was filed.
6. You want to lecture me about wasting $3,000 for this special election. Let’s speak specifically about wasteful spending:
Before the citizens of Woodward voted you off the council, you were part of the city leadership that chose to borrow millions to build the new water treatment plant when we could have completely rebuilt the old treatment plant at a fraction of the cost.
Then this group chose to borrow millions to asphalt all the streets in Woodward when the infrastructure under the streets was and is in disrepair and failing. Before half of the streets were completed, there were three different blocks being dug up for failures under the new asphalt.
Then the citizens were placed on the hook for a $90,000 overage related to this repaving project. See council minutes dated Feb. 13, 2017. For those who do not know who is really telling the truth about this, go to the city’s website and read past council minutes, as it has been being discussed for years.
This was being discussed in early 2017, but you portray it as an “unplanned expense the city had no idea was coming.” The sewer lagoon project was alleged to only be around $3 million, but bids came in nearly double. This is partly from Woodward doing what all small communities did and waiting until the last minute. All contractors were tied up, so the costs were inflated due to supply and demand and the need to bring in sub-contractors from out of the area.
The city was given a five-year extension before any contracts were signed. I am the first to agree putting this off for five years is not the answer, as we would be in the same boat again, with higher costs for materials and labor.
It is possible the city could save $1 million to $2 million by waiting one to two years, but city leaders claim we could not get the 2 percent interest rate then, and so we needed to do this now. “They know what’s best for Woodward.” Even if interest rates went up, it would never have equaled $1 million to $2 million.
Let’s discuss the Ironwood Division project that you spearheaded and managed. The city spent over $300,000 on the project for the lots to be sold for less than half that. You will argue that TIF revenues covered some of this, but the bottom line is the city spent $300,000 to make one-half of that amount back.
Taxation will take over 10 years for repayment, and this project, too, was financed. See council minutes dated February 2017 for verification. There is a reason development is left to developers and municipalities do not participate. But the citizens were on the hook for this as well.
7. Now the contractor for the sewer lagoon says a new road needs put in at an additional several hundred thousand dollars to complete the project they bid. How did architects, engineers and all involved with the project miss this? There was a site visit by all bidders, and citizens should not be on the hook for this. There should not be a needed piece of construction equipment for this project that cannot be unloaded on 130th Street and driven down the one-mile lane to the lagoon.
So, if you think the 35 people on the petition wasted $3,000 for this special election, that is your opinion.
You can make this about anything you want. Citizens are fed up, and many are afraid of the consequences if they do speak up, just like what they have witnessed from this. Jenifer and I are not afraid. We will not be bullied, harassed or intimidated. Anyone afraid they will be treated like this and needs assistance, come visit.
If you or the current city officials think this is a “bunch of b.s.,” conduct an online survey of citizens, where they can answer honestly and anonymously, and you will get real community input. Bet that never happens and if it does, the results will never be made public!
If the currently appointed mayor chooses not to seek election and if council members want to resign over this, so be it. This is their choice. It was never about “who.” It was started long before anyone was appointed. Hopefully, they will resign their positions soon so that all council positions and the mayor position can be voted on in one special election. This will result in only one expenditure of $3,000.
A wise man recently told me, “You are only a failure when you quit.”
Steve Godwin
Woodward
