Correcting course

“A year ago, I knew we wouldn’t always agree, but I never thought so much of what happens here would happen on the other side of the wall behind us, outside council meetings and too often without council approval. I’m talking about everything from signing MOUs to ordering appraisals to writing leases, terminating leases, all the way to how every dollar of public money is approved and reported and spent.”

During the Dec. 17 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Councilmember Jon Nelson reflected on the past year and responded to previous comments made by Mayor John Zeiger, asking the mayor to “turn this ship around.”

As was reported previously (see “Appraisals and conflicts” on page 1 of the Dec. 11 Saratoga Sun), Zeiger had said he believed the council should move forward and begin working together. Those comments came following questions from Nelson as to whether the mayor had been speaking with Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC) about the appraisal of Town of Saratoga property.

“When I think back to your comments from two weeks ago—about how we need to move forward, about how we need to start working better together, about how we need to communicate—I agree with you. I want the same thing. So, let’s do that. Let’s do all that communicating right here and let’s do all the decision making right here,” said Nelson.

At the Dec. 3 meeting of the governing body, after Nelson had questioned Zeiger about communications with MHCC, he used examples of what he saw as previous issues in which the mayor had failed to communicate with all the members of the council.

Among those were the attendance of former interim MHCC Chief Executive Officer Bob Quist in May and a motion drafted by legal counsel Tom Thompson to give Health Management Services, the current lessees of the Corbett Medical Foundation, notice of intent to cancel their lease.

“There are five members on this council, each of whom share the same accountability to the residents and the same responsibility to govern this community. And, just like the citizens of this community will never agree on everything, neither will we, but that doesn’t mean we can’t function as a governing body,” Nelson said. “We may disagree, we should debate, and we should listen, not just to each other but also to everyone else in this room. That democratic process should happen right here in this room.”

Nelson added that while he previously had doubts about the council being able to move forward as Zeiger had stated, he was willing to work with the mayor and the other members of the council to do so.

“I don’t know if it was Thanksgiving or Festival of Trees or what, but something reminded me of what’s at stake,” said Nelson. “So, if working together is what you want, then you need to involve everyone on this council in the decisions. If you want to move forward, then you have to be committed to fixing the things that we know and we can see are broken and I want to help do that. We have one year down and three years left to go together. That’s 72 more council meetings and I think that’s more than enough time to turn this ship around, but you have to be willing to change the sail.”

Zeiger responded by informing Nelson that he felt there was more than one person on the council who “needs to change that sail.”

“If you can do that, then I will renew my commitment to working together with you and all the members of this council. So, as this year comes to a close, I would ask that you consider plotting a new course for this council and this community and I would remind you that I am on board,” concluded Nelson.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2020 at Saratoga Town Hall.