Communication Concerns Aired by Menahga Council

BY MATTHEW JOHNSON

     Communication.
     It’s a topic the Menahga City Council has been wrestling with lately, particularly how to improve it. The council visited the topic of improving communication throughout the course of its Monday, May 12, regular meeting. To begin with, said Menahga Mayor Donna Anderson, egos should be “left at the door” before a meeting begins.
     “We´re going to have to work together to get the best use of our (tax) dollars,” Anderson said.
     She said she recently gathered useful information about effective communication while attending a mayor´s conference at Alexandria.
     “It couldn´t have come at a better time for me, after last month´s meeting,” Anderson said, referring to the heated discussion April 14 before fire contracts with the townships were signed.
     She handed letters to everyone at the council meeting containing a list of issues the council needs to “deal with.” She said it´s not city Clerk/Treasurer/Administrator Teri Osterman´s responsibility to make the decisions and to “get things done.”
     “If we have a lawsuit, we´re in trouble,” Anderson said.
     In response to an admonition to work with Osterman, Councilmember Loren Tolkkinen said he stops in once a week to talk with Osterman for about 20 minutes, so he is kept abreast on important city matters.
     Osterman said she agrees with Anderson – that egos should be left at the door before a meeting begins. And she indicated that some communication is appropriate, and necessary, outside of the meetings. She specifically expressed a desire for a better working relationship with Anderson.
     “Donna, I want you in here (City Hall) once a week. You need to be in here. If you don´t like me, that´s fine. You can still work with me,” Osterman said.
     Anderson tried to explain why she rarely visits Osterman at City Hall.
     “I don´t come in here (City Hall) very often, because when I do, apparently it causes problems. There are allegations out there,” she said.
     The mayor said making decisions based on what´s best for the city of Menahga is important, but that officials should also be concerned about “the community at large.”
Fire Committee Conflict
     Reflecting back on the April 14 meeting, city resident and volunteer fireman Nick Ylitalo told the council Monday, “It seemed like there was this desire to bicker.”
     Ylitalo explained that firefighters are concerned with the City´s initial lack of support for agreements reached during a March 14 Fire Committee meeting with township representatives. The council, before approving it, did not initially support the transfer of $20,450 of fire call money to the 4-M Fire Equipment Fund at its Monday, April 14, meeting.
     Tolkkinen, who is on the Fire Committee, made the initial motion, but Councilmember Dennis Komulainen, who is also on the fire committee, voted with Councilmember Joel Mickelson and Mayor Anderson to defeat it.
     Later in that meeting, after several comments from firefighters expressing their frustration over the council’s apparent lack of support, Tolkkinen again made the motion, and it passed unanimously.
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