Editor,
I attended the April 9th Springtown City Council meeting. To preface the meeting, Mayor Paul Lemke stated that a sinkhole had occurred on private property and it was alleged to have been caused by road work.
He stated that "there are people present here today who were also at the last [monthly] meeting and those people knew about the sinkhole and didn't tell him about it." He said this lack of knowledge led him to be "lambasted" in a surprise attack of media attention.
Sometime ago, Mayor Lemke introduced a resolution to limit public participation at city council meetings. According to this resolution, members of community must a) limit their comments to agenda items b) submit a request to speak prior to the meeting start time and c) limit any comments to three minutes. No opportunity is provided for citizens to speak.
If Mayor Lemke desires an open communication with town citizens, he should cultivate an environment to enhance that communication rather than decrease it. Mayor Lemke also stated that it was time to "go to court"about the grant money FEMA has requested be repaid. Not a single council member asked why FEMA demanded return of the money, why the town would pursue a law suit against the federal agency or how much such a law suit would cost the town.
This leads me to believe that they are having these discussions outside the meeting (in violation of public law) or they just don't care. Neither is acceptable.
I have attended nearly every city council meeting for three years, no one on the council has ever discussed the FEMA money in a public forum. The town states in its letter of appeal (to FEMA to keep the money) that I influenced FEMA and/or ADEM resulting in the demand for repayment.
I am an outspoken tax payer with many opinions on the subject of the bridge funding, but certainly cannot influence a federal agency to demand repayment of grant funding. I'm good, but not that good. It is the actions of Lemke and the town council that resulted in the demand for repayment.
The town also states they would like the opportunity to refute my claims of mismanagement. They have had this opportunity each month at the council meetings and have not taken it. Mayor Lemke stated some time ago that "he didn't know why they [the town] had been singled out" by FEMA.
I think that has been clearly stated by the agency but if he wants my opinion, all he has to do is ask.
Terri Glenn Springtown
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Editor,
Gravette Upper Elementary staff is proud to announce that 98 percent of the total student population had parents who were contacted during the 2013 Spring Parent-Teacher Conference Day! Good communication between a parent and the teacher is essential for any child’s success in school.
Research indicates that the more actively involved a parent is in his or her child’s school life, the more the child succeeds.
At Gravette Upper Elementary, our goal is to have parents and teachers who work together as a team to do what is best for the students. We wish to extend a huge “thank you” to all the parents who make this day such a huge success!
Dorothy Hadley, Parent Involvement Facilitator
Opinion, Pages 6 on 04/24/2013