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In response to Mr. Lilyquist's letter in the March 19 Pine Cone Press-Citizen, my first question to Mr. Lilyquist would be if you were so concerned about the possibility of your taxes being raised and the Police Department going away, why were you not in attendance at the Council meeting to get these issues resolved? If I were that concerned of a citizen I would have made every effort to attend the City Council to voice my opinions.

The city is not trying to abolish the Police Department, we are trying to work out either better coverage or the possibility of a full-time officer.

Longville has a City Administrator/City Clerk/Treasurer, not a City Clerk as does Backus, Remer and Hackensack.

Mr. Lilyquist stated he asked the City Administrator for information on the payroll of employees of Longville, he asked for their W2's which cannot be given out because of the nature of the information contained in them. He also stated that the Administrator told him it would take two weeks to obtain the information, this happened on a Thursday. The Administrator in fact told him that she was in the midst of job interviews and could have it for him the next week. The Mayor was in attendance and heard the conversation. Mr. Lilyquist then stated he contacted the Cities of Backus, Remer and Hackensack and asked for the same information.

I traveled to Backus, Remer and Hackensack and talked to the City Clerks of those Cities. Mr. Lilyquist asked for the Clerk's salary and not for other employee information in Backus. Backus has only one (1) full time employee, the clerk, and one (1) part time employee who empties the cities one garbage dumpster once a week. The Backus office is only open Monday through Thursday. Backus has an airport with a grass runway that is just mowed, all other departments in Backus are out sourced to Pine River, water, sewer and city maintenance. Backus does not have a on or off sale store. Backus does not have a Police Department.

The Clerk at Hackensack said that Mr. Lilyquist nor anyone else called or talked to her about salaries. Hackensack has four (4) full time employees and fifteen (15) part timers. Hacksensack has a cemetery, on and off sale liquor, water, sewer and planning and zoning, but no airport. The Clerk also told me that Hackensack abolished their Police Department because the cost was way out of hand nearing one hundred thousand dollars (100,000.00).

The Clerk at Remer said Mr. Lilyquist talked to the Mayor, not the Clerk. Remer has a airport with a grass runway that is mowed in the summer, they do not sell fuel. Remer has four (4) full time and three (3) part-time employees. They have a cemetery, water, sewer and on and off sale liquor and maintenance. Remer is also a city that dropped their Police Department because of cost.

The Longville City Administrator/City Clerk/ Treasurer manages eight (8) departments, and eight (8) full time and fifteen (15) part-time employees, even though all the other cities are larger than Longville, we have more employees.

Mr. Lilyquist also stated that because Longville purchased a building for the new City Offices that his property taxes would be increased to pay for it. The City purchased the building because it is against FAA regulations for us to be on airport property.

The Mayor and City Council have not raised taxes since Mayor Kline was elected in 2009, nor do they intend to in the near future. As a matter of fact, since 2009, Mayor Kline has saved the City of Longville several thousand dollars. When he took over the City had a debt of about $1,750,000.00. Since 2009 the City has paid the debt down to under $700,000.00 and is still in the black. If you check the city audits (public information) you will find that Mayor Kline, for the past three years, has spent $8,531.00 total for the Mayor and City Council. During the pervious ten years the Mayor and City Council cost were $161,088.00, plus the airport manager position at about $11,000.00 per year equalling $99,000.00. The airport manager now falls under the City Administrator, who also does the bookkeeping since our bookkeeper moved on to a new job. This has a grand total of $260,088.00. In addition to a full time and part time clerk. Why didn't he question those costs at that time?

Longville does have a City Administrator/ City Clerk/ Treasurer and a part time Clerk. About a month ago Mr. Lilyquist sent an e-mail to some of the pilots asking them why the City was using the airport front end loader to remove snow from the Docksider parking lot? In fact, the airport does not have a front end loader, it has a farm tractor with arms and a dump bucket. The front end loader he was referring to belonged to JJ Welk Excavating, who was hired to remove the snow. Just because they were both painted yellow does not mean they are the same piece of equipment.

It's fine for citizens to have concerns about the Mayor and City Council for their town, but one should have the facts and bring them to the attention of the Mayor and City Council at an open meeting to discuss them.[[In-content Ad]]

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