Public input move fails at Magdalena Village meeting

A motion to move public input from the end of the agenda up before action items failed in a three to one split vote at the twenty minute Village of Magdalena meeting last week. Trustees Jim Nelson, Clark Brown and Michael Thompson voted against the motion and Donna Dawson voted for it.

During the public input, Magdalena resident Terri Winchester said after reviewing the 50 page budget she believed there was a need for an independent review of the marshal training and spending.

“The budget is based on decreasing revenue for the village, but police travel and training was increased 56% and law enforcement protection fund increased at 14% for a total of over $14,000 for the upcoming year.” Winchester said.

She reported that she looked into requirements for the marshals office and spoke to the deputy director of training and was concerned that they were attending unnecessary trainings. She noted that officers attending training simultaneously, left the village unprotected.

“The other thing that I noticed was that the date given was a Saturday before the training starting on Monday. The drive is only eight hours, so it appears that our officers vacation on Sunday at the village’s expense.” Winchester said.

She said she requested information from the village and was repeatedly sent unrelated information.

“The more I was refused, the more I wondered, what are they hiding?” Winchester said.

Mayor Richard Rumpf said that Winchester had some of her figures wrong and he would have the financial officer look over it and address her concerns.

Athena Gassoumis asked about a strong, potentially hazardous smells from the lagoons over the weekend. Rumpf said the lagoons were being monitored and he didn’t believe the recent smell was coming from the lagoons but from construction.

Sally Rogers raised issues with the library bathroom renovations and said the sinks were not ADA height compliant and the plunger rod was improperly installed. Rogers asked about the librarian position advertisement and inquired about library keys.

Rumpf said the bathroom was done by a licensed contractor and he would have someone look at it, the library job is posted with two people interested and they will have new locks installed in the library.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 23.