EDITOR: I am writing you as a concerned Morgan Hill resident. I
have been following the news about the City Hall flap. So far it
has not be very clear with any specifics, and I wonder why it was
even printed? The one thing that does stand out is that of one of
our council member
’s name is slathered all over the article very unbecomingly.
EDITOR:
I am writing you as a concerned Morgan Hill resident. I have been following the news about the City Hall flap. So far it has not be very clear with any specifics, and I wonder why it was even printed? The one thing that does stand out is that of one of our council member’s name is slathered all over the article very unbecomingly.
Unmentioned in the articles, or even investigated, is why is it that the one and only female Asian member being hammered on hearsay? Are we to expect discrimination in our local city government? Is it going to end up being a white male city hall? Who is going to represent the minorities who live here and pay their taxes? Who authorized this expenditure? Why did the Morgan Hill Times give them the time and front page coverage without asking all these other pertinent questions? Shouldn’t a newspaper get both sides of the story before sending it to print? In my observation, responsible news reporting obtains more facts before printing hearsay.
Myself, as others, give of our time to volunteer in fundraising activities to better our community, not to provide funds for some unspecified government activity. Where is the accountability of the funds that were raised? I have not been told how much was raised for the first Mayor’s Ball in which I gave much of my time. Has your paper ever asked these kinds of questions? When covering and printing all about our fundraising activities, why are they not followed up with accountability as to what amount was raised and where it is being spent?
Is all our hard volunteering work for giving city officials money to do with as they please without the consent of the public who voted them in place? Is that money from the hard work of volunteers? Myself and many other residents want to know. I would rather see it spent on our schools, helping peoples who need food and shelter, improving our roads, have more than three police officers on duty per shift. With the growth of our city, we do need more peace-keeping efforts; police officers.
There are more important and pressing places where our money should be spent, not on some very expensive investigator, attorney fees, a lawsuit, etc., than on something so trivial and embarrassing to me as a resident that our council members are having a spat. It doesn’t give me much confidence in their ability to run our city when they have so much ardent focus on something that doesn’t benefit our community. It’s almost as though they really don’t care about our community, only about their own pet peeves, but they use “our” monies.
Here is my question to Councilman Greg Sellers and Mayor Dennis Kennedy, and the one reply.
Hi Greg and Dennis,
I see that dirty laundry is being aired publicly. I have to be honest and say that I don’t agree with that kind of a public scene of our city government for all to read a headline that says “Morgan Hill city officials at war.” I mean no disrespect and hope that my opinion doesn’t mar our acquaintance.
I believe that it should just be let go of. Is it really that important to “be right”? Many of us have volunteered to help with raising funds for our community. To read that $50,000 has already been spent on some expensive investigator, and then to read that even more is going to be spent on a lawsuit, brings into question that if the city has that much money to throw around, then why are so many of us working so hard to raise funds?
The publicly aired laundry gives the impression that it is all hearsay. Spending that money on improvements of our streets, making sure our schools have what they need to provide our children with a good education, lowering our water bills, etc., would be better spent. John Fry has his golf course. I don’t remember any public mention of his friendships with some of our city officials, or any kind of investigation. There is an old saying, “You shouldn’t throw rocks if you live in a glass house.”
Rosalinda:
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree this isn’t the kind of public scene any of us wants, but sometimes doing the right thing means we don’t have a choice. Trying to sweep this ugly mess under the rug would have cost us a lot more.
I’m glad to hear you’ll be there – hopefully we conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our community and put this behind us so we can again focus on the things that make Morgan Hill such a great place.
Greg Sellers, mayor pro tem
I believe that as a public official you are accountable to the public, and any investigation of any alleged collusion within our city government warrants an investigation.
I really hope that I am wrong. It is coming across as a witch hunt. These past two weeks have raised many questions.
Rosalinda Bush, Morgan Hill
