In addition to the number of people who have contacted him there are four basic issues that John Magunson felt needed to be addressed:
First being the mayor’s cavalier attitude toward the 1,034 signers of the streetscape petition has been appalling. The mayor has publicly impugned, denigrated and belittled the opponents to his beloved streetscape. He has stated that it didn’t matter to him if some of those businesses closed. If you look at Main Street it appears he has gotten his wish with empty buildings.
The second issue revolves around one of his self-aggrandizing remarks made in his announcement for reelection, the sale of the Sundstrom Building to the City, which he negotiated. What he failed to mention was that the City paid over $250,000 for this empty building and took the funds from the Electric Fund. Accounting practices define that these types of funds are to be run similar to private utilities, not slush funds for the mayor to play with as he sees fit. Mr. Magnuson stated that if there is so much money in these funds that the mayor feels they are not needed why not give the citizens a break and reduce the utility bills. Don’t use those funds for pet projects that have little bearing to the mission of that fund which is to provide electricity to the citizenry.
The third issue deals with another petition that purportedly had a couple of dozen signatures. The mayor while not paying any attention to the 1,034 signatures has gloated about how he kept the city from receiving over $100,000 in rent payments from Alltel for having a buried doghouse under the water tower and an antenna on top of the water tower. Because he lives next to the water tower the citizens were deprived of $100,000.
The fourth item is the European family vacation for which the mayor charged the city $6,910. To this Mr. Magnuson says “Mr. Mayor, pay back that money!”
In the mayor’s announcement for reelection he states, “I realize that I’m not indispensable, but some of the things I’ve started I’d like to see through.”
Mr. Magnuson does not think the city can afford to have the mayor see these through after all how many more vacations are included in these things and how long will the citizens be overcharged on their utility bills so the mayor can have a slush fund as his own toy.
Marsha Howe, Chairperson
Paul Train, Treasurer
Posted as a public service. No endorsement express or implied.