Seagull Musings Column for March 7, 2004
Priority, dollars, image, and class – Branson Board of Aldermen style!
During their public meeting on the night of February 23, the Branson Board of Aldermen gave their constituents, and the community at large, a chance to see something seldom been seen before in public.It was a rare glimpse into their deliberative process which is normally hidden by “executive sessions” and the formal structure of their normal meetings.
According to reports, it was a 20 minute plus public display of the board’s collective logic, intelligence, attitude, sensitivity, ability to prioritize, and management style, all brought to bear on a single issue that they originated. Surely it was an issue of significant importance to the community; wasn’t it?Just what issue did they originate for discussion?
Was it how much interest the City has paid on the debt incurred thus far for Branson Landing? You know the interest on the $5 million dollar “aussie” settlement, $30 to $40 million dollars for land, and who knows how many more millions spent in consulting and other fees. Was it a discussion on how many millions of dollars total that the city has invested in Branson Landing to date or a date certain when the financial hemorrhaging will stop? Not even close.
Did they invest even a minute discussing the number of “world class” tenants that have signed on for Branson Landing?Whoops sorry, that wouldn’t take five seconds because, as of February 23, there had been no public announcements of any tenants. Come to think of it, has anyone seen a public announcement that the City has signed a lease with its developer?
Well then, did they discuss why, almost three years into the process, potential world class tenants don’t seem to be fighting each other to get space in Branson Landing? Did they at least discuss what they mean when they use the term “world class” in connection with Branson Landing being a “world class” project? Even though it would have added a little “class” to their discussion these topics did not come up.
Was the “mystery” of how the Branson Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce’s web site suddenly became the property of the City of Branson discussed? The fact that, until a couple of months ago, the chamber claimed ownership of the site and kept its income even while spending hundreds of thousands of City of Branson Tourism Tax dollars developing, promoting and maintaining the site? How about the impact of the site ownership on the RFP process that just awarded the City’s multi million dollar marketing contract to the chamber?
Was the time invested in discussing how the City’s failure to put out the RFP for the City’s multi million dollar marketing contract in a timely manner virtually guaranteed that the Chamber would get the contract? Surely a public discussion on how it happened and, more importantly, the steps being taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again, relative to something as important to our community as its marketing, would have been worth while. Maybe so maybe not but it wasn’t the topic of discussion either.
Did they discuss the action that has been taken to remedy any of the problems pointed out in the State Auditors Audit Report presented months ago? The relative merits of awarding multi million dollar contracts for the performance of city services without a requirement that the contractor adhere to the same procurement and other policies that the city would have to follow were they doing the same work? Not of concern that night.
“OK Seagull, we give up. If not those issues, what was important enough for the Branson Board of Aldermen to originate and discuss in a public meeting?” Believe it or not, with all the issues facing our community, the Branson Board of Aldermen chose to spend that time publicly berating and chastising a local editorial cartoonist over a cartoon they didn’t like!
Gary Groman, a.k.a. “The Ole Seagull,” is an independent columnist and the editor of the Branson Courier. He may be reached by clicking here or by calling 417-339-4000.
