Editor:
I wish to apologize with regard to a recent Aspen Daily News letter I wrote about the mayor and city council in Glenwood Springs. I am sorry that Councilman Jonathan Godes makes only up to $8,000 a month in his second government job. I am also very sorry our mayor is a real estate agent. And I am very sorry that self-dealing and greed have infiltrated our council as they ruin Glenwood Springs.
I’m sorry our streets are choked with traffic, sorry that endless construction ruins our quiet enjoyment and sorry that short-sighted “leaders” permit greedy builders and developers to pillage Glenwood.
I’m sorry the council is wasting money — not their money, your money. For example, the city recently hired and quickly fired a city manager. She was employed about four months. A Colorado Open Records Act request shows her salary was $215,000 a year with a $2,000-per-month housing allowance. When she left, she was paid $89,000 in “severance.” In the short time she was here she received another $40,000 in salary and the aforementioned housing allowance (another $11,000). Also, during council’s search for a new city manager, a search firm was paid over $30,000.
That is about $170,000 of public funds, your money, thrown away. Not Mayor Real Estate’s money, your money. And now, GWS has no city manager. Why did she leave? Was she fired? The speculation is that she spilled the proverbial beans on the council’s secret housing plans, and they can’t let that happen. If the council told you what they were building and planning on public land, your land, there would be another revolt similar to what happened with the recent West Glenwood proposal.
No, this council prefers to engage in endless construction, trying to fix a problem that can’t be fixed (affordable housing) while lining the pockets of builders and developers, all in secret, because Glenwood has no newspaper like this one to hold our elected officials accountable to the people.
Regrettably, we have a thrice-weekly newsletter beholden to business interests that refuses to criticize or investigate this waste of public funds and disregard for the people’s will. While Glenwood suffers, council imposes rules and dictates policies that are ruining why people live there.
This is not leadership. Leadership is crafting policy for the benefit of your citizens. It also is building consensus, not alienating people. It is not dictating their garbage service, overcharging them for utilities, taxing them unfairly, wasting their tax dollars and paving over paradise with their unfettered growth plans.
Tony Hershey
Glenwood Springs
