A Bubble Off Plumb

Well, let me rail about a few things that are really starting to get under my skin.

First off is the garbage starting to reappear on the streets. For crying out loud! The city just did us all a giant favor. It placed roll offs on the old lumber yard site and everyone could bring their stuff and drop it off. It went into the containers, and it was hauled off, free of charge to the residents. More than 470,000 pounds of broken chairs, dead coolers, appliances and the like were gathered up and done away with.

Like that wasn’t enough, the old city garbage truck was rolled out and the city crew went street to street picking up the junk the residents were too weak or too lazy to take to the lumberyard site and drop off. That was sheer goodness on the part of the city.

But now those same places are starting to fill up with derelict couches, busted dressers and dead freezers. News flash, folks! They aren’t going to get picked up. That trash is going to sit next to your driveway until the end of time, or until you start getting ticketed, which could be pretty soon. Seems the city and its residents are fed up with this stupid behavior and are no longer going to tolerate it. So gather up your worn out mattresses and take them to the freaking dump. It will be free if you show your power bill stub, at least through the end of June. Don’t be that guy. And those tickets aren’t cheap, either.

Next is the town of Geary, who doesn’t seem to find it necessary to post their meeting agenda online – which isn’t required – or make public notifications if their meetings change, which is required. A town or city cannot just cancel a meeting and call one for the next day or the next week. It has to wait 10 days before holding another meeting. And if it is outside the meeting calendar required by law by the end of December each year, it has to be a special meeting. Those require public notice 48 hours prior to the meeting time.

Recently I showed up at the designated time and place, only to find no meeting. The city attorney was there too, and while I was only out the time and gas to go to Geary, I bet the drive time for the attorney was billable hours. What did that cost the town? The same town that is struggling with its budget?

Come to find out that the city did hold its meeting on the budget the next week, on Monday, at noon. How many members of the public can get to a meeting at noon on a Monday?

Not only that, but it looks bad. It looks like the council is trying to operate on the QT and has no intention of being transparent. There is already a trust issue in that town, and this kind of stunt only makes it worse.

The city webpage is a joke. Nothing has been posted since 2019. 2019. Someone took the time to go in and change the names of the mayor and council members, but not an agenda or minutes. Again, a very bad look. Makes you wonder just exactly what they are trying to hide.

Other towns post agendas, minutes, job openings, and the city budget. Not Geary. And until someone down there straightens up and flies right, no progress is going to be made. There is so much potential there, but it will never come to fruit until leadership operates in an open and above-board manner.