Weinzierl

Jewelers

Victoria’s Corner Bar.  Nightly Specials and Menus.  952-443-9944

8 First Street in Waconia.  952-442-2885

942-443-2078

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy.  Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Huber

City of Lakes & Parks  952-443-2363

“Trees Are Our Roots”

8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990

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Notes and

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The Scoop

at City Hall

         I received a letter to the editor in mid January, from a Victoria resident, about "the continuing discord in our city government with seemingly no end in sight." 

         The letter writer used uncomplimentary adjectives in regard to the mayor (I prefer adjectives that modify issues and ideas rather than people).  The writer then added, "On the other hand, I have difficulty being fully supportive of people who repeatedly violated the Open Meeting Law."

 

         Here is my email response that I immediately sent off to the letter writer:

         "Nobody supports repeated violations of the OML, including those who repeatedly violated the OML.  The five city councilmembers hadn't read the OML and they relied on the City Attorney and the City Manager to inform and advise.

         "When the five councilmembers (yes, all five, though only four were named in the lawsuit) learned they were in violation, they immediately corrected their ways -- immediately -- and the City Attorney and City Manager resigned and left town.

         "Contrary to the unusual ruling by the District Court Judge, councilmembers did not intentionally violate the OML.  The judge ruled councilmembers intentionally violated the OML by intentionally attending the meetings.  Doesn't make sense.

         "I've had this information in the Gazette more than once, but people will believe what they want to believe."

 

         The letter writer emailed back to me:

         "Thank you for pointing out the intricacies of the OML issue to me.  I appreciate your tremendous understanding of that whole thing, which some people cannot move on from."

 

         I could have said much more in my reply to the letter writer.  I could have added something like this, for example:

         "I don't know who is most responsible for the continuing discord in our city.  Is it the resident who flooded Victoria with the unsigned, untruthful yellow flyer?  Is it the people who won't give up the ghosts from the Old Village Hall?  Is it the councilmembers who violated the Open Meeting Law?  Is it the city attorney and city manager who gave poor direction?  Is it the plaintiffs who aggressively filed a lawsuit, when a lawsuit was not needed to make the correction?  Is it their pro bono attorney who donated substantial time and effort to the unnecessary lawsuit?  Is it the defendants' attorney who spent $400,000 without satisfying anyone?  Is it the judgmental judge who shot lethal ammunition into the fray with her opinion of intentional violation?  Is it the people who sustain the unending appeals?"

 

         What do I think? I think all of the above are responsible, directly or indirectly, for the discord in Victoria, but only some of them are intentionally responsible for the discord.  And it ain't the four city councilmembers.

 

         With this being an election year, I'm anticipating more letters to the editor related to the discord, which is actually more like acrimony.  I don't look forward to it.  But I do take satisfaction in not printing everything that comes my way. 

         I report the good, the bad, and the ugly in my City Scoop pages every single month -- in greater detail and with more transparency, accuracy, and substance than anywhere else.  My Scoop pages are why many of you know what's going on in the first place.  I stand squarely (and sit comfortably) on my nearly 40 years of doing the Gazette and my nearly 50 years as a Victoria resident.

 

         I've taken the time to craft a statement in this climate of acrimony, to declare how I operate.  It is not written in stone, just here in the Gazette.

         "My intent is to inform and shine a light on truth and reality, in season and out of season, as charitably as possible.  I acknowledge no obligation to print letters, articles, statements, photos, or advertisements that are distasteful, tiresome, or wrongheaded.  I will not provide a platform for half-truths and insinuations.  I will not provide a forum to hoodwink, subvert, or undermine common sense."

 

         I am sometimes asked why I don't turn the Gazette into a weekly so I can be Victoria's "official" newspaper.  My answer is threefold:  1) a weekly is not needed, especially not in this digital age of information; 2) being "official" means very little, and 3) I couldn't do a weekly by myself — and I like depending mainly on myself for the mechanics -- and God.

From the Editor

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

the moonshine of meeting deadlines,

and the starshine of Victoria.

The Victoria GAZETTE

Sue’s Album

A symphony of photos

and fewer than a thousand words

at www.VictoriaGazette.com

February 2018