The way I see it ...

Dear Editor,

I attended McCook City Council meeting Tuesday evening and was pleased to note that the present council operates in a more relaxed atmosphere than my past experience. Possibly the voter's recent removal of a long term irascible member will have positive lasting effect in how the council receives input from the public.

I also noticed that one new council member announced his personal agenda; the burr under his saddle that probably spurred him to run for election. Lonnie asked the city manager to look into the city employees' pay system and make improvement at budget time. Then he 'fessed up that he retired from the city police force (common knowledge) and that he had not gotten a merit pay raise in the past seven years before he retired.

He didn't mention anything about the results of his annual appraisal from the chief of police during that time frame nor was there mention of not being able to remove corroded cartridges from the cylinder of his service revolver during a formal inspection, or of shooting his cruiser five times during a shoot-out with a prowler or of being seen sleeping in his cruiser under the guise of monitoring traffic. 

Duh, merit raises are given only for efforts made for professional improvement, not just for showing up to work; that is called a longevity increase.

Now in my opinion Councilman Anderson is one of the nicest guys in the world but the council chambers in an open public meeting is not the place to air past personal grievances, as the sword cuts both ways.

The other item of frustration registered by almost all present was Craig A. Carner's (not present at the meeting) letter to the McCook Gazette Editor.

City employees had been working long and hard at snow removal and a whiny letter from a citizen who wanted his street scraped clean to the dry surface all the way from his place of work to home or any other place that whim directed him to drive was definitely not appreciated. 

I remember in my days of county commissioner having over 4,000 taxpaying citizens as my boss, every one of whom knew how to remove snow better than I did. The criticism, no matter how ill-advised comes with the territory.

From one with a little experience in action, I think the city and county did a super job of keeping roads and streets passable until the sun comes out and it all melts to run off in the form of water.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail

McCook