Being distributed door to door and via all other means---please share to all of Cherokee county citizens and there respective representatives of the county as possible HELLO FELLOW CITIZEN I/we desire to inform you as to the following regarding Galena, KS: • At last council meeting, the entire governing body appeared to be unaware of the true financial status and potential burdens that could be inflicted on the citizens of the town in regard to the proper/responsible method & associated costs to close, secure and monitor the C&D landfill. There is seemingly no plan to conduct or finance the required task. • From records there may be large sums of monies missing from landfill fee revenues. Also, per our Mayor’s statement, the revenues that have been recorded have been transferred into other accounts and used for other issues. It appears that this will result in revenue shortfalls with a potential to cause higher taxes and service fees to offset the shortfalls. • There have been contract obligations made which are in many views to be “open-ended” and appears to present a risk of un-controlled obligations which could lead to added long term tax burdens. It seems that transparency of dealings, are not being provided. • The council as a whole appears to be resistant in sharing information in public. Most members seem to be without knowledge of just what has been acted upon by the Mayor. • Multiple budget accounts are in the red (indicate negative balances) and the Governing Body has not provided a plan to overcome these shortfalls of revenue. More tax increases and additional elevates service fees could result. • City employees have been laid off while city functions remain contracted out to third party entities. Our town could be achieving the increased revenues that now benefits the third party/s. • Galena’s Governing Body, reportedly, continues to pursue the ownership of a landfill in Riverton and “island annex” the property for which it is proposed to be operated. This appears to pose many potential risks to us all, i.e. more demand on all factions of our public works, poor relations with our neighboring townspeople, overwhelming financial obligations to the proposed operations contractor, all for skeptical and non-convincing reasoning for our towns involvement in regard to “benefit”. • It appears that the Mayor of Galena has intermingled private business objectives with the objectives of “city” in regard to business and investment opportunities. It appears that revenue options which potentially and rightfully should have benefitted Galena has been diverted from the tax payers so as to privately benefit the Mayor and associates. • Our entire county is in controversy due to the implied intent of our city to “island annex” a portion of the Riverton Community and this issue is now being brought to the state level. For many citizens throughout our county, the above issues are cause for concern from varied views. One method of bringing about improved representation of the will of citizen is through public demonstrations. It has been determined by some of us, to do just that. Please visit and “like” the Face Book Event page at facebook/improvegalena to learn more about a planned demonstration, find additional information, post your own opinions and input. Afterwards, if you do not feel the need to participate simply “un-like” the page. By “liking” and then not, “un-liking” the page, your “like” will be counted as to indicate your intention to participate in the event. You may also phone 620-383-1111 for information. Thank you for your time and your consideration in this matter.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 22:59:37 +0000