The Lebanon City Council received a barrage of criticism from dissatisfied residents at its meeting on Monday of last week.
During the council’s time for public comments, speakers complained for an hour about a host of issues including a proposed data center, money loaned to the now defunct Ice Cream Factory, a proposed city rebranding and the job performance of City Administrator Troy Schulte.
Tricia Grunwald described a "profound, undeniable sense of unrest across our town.” Grunwald accused city leadership of operating behind closed doors and ignoring public opposition regarding several major projects, including the city's recent rebranding campaign, the deployment of Flock safety surveillance cameras, and preliminary plans for a local data center.
"Public service requires public trust, and right now that trust is broken," Grunwald said.
A proposed data center development, drew heavy criticism from speakers who cited concerns over its potential environmental, health, and economic impacts.
Brian Anthony, who identified himself as a former city councilman, proposed term limits for council members and pointed to what he saw as problems in the city.
“I think we are slipping back into the late 1990s, early 2000s with stuff being pushed through with no thinking,” he said.
He said the city should not be in the rental business including the Ice Cream Factory building, the site of the former H.D. Lee building and the building housing Mercy ambulances.
He also said city council members were not getting all the information needed to make decisions from the city administrator.
“Researching the owner of the Ice Cream Factory, half the citizens of Lebanon were able to look up her bankruptcies and everything, but yet he didn’t.”
Tim Decker, owner of the Spring Holler wedding venue, told the council that the city had made a careless mistake by naming its new municipal course the "Spring Hollow Golf Course.”
Becker, who noted his business has regularly donated to the Lebanon Police Department and is easily found on regional tourism directories, argued that the nearly identical names are causing immediate confusion for clients trying to locate his property. He requested that the council bring the matter back to a vote to change the golf course's name.
Multiple residents stepped forward to defend the standard of operations at the Lebanon YMCA amidst ongoing contract discussions with the city.
Victoria Lloyd, a specialist with JustServe, provided a positive note to the comments with an update on local volunteer efforts. She announced that the JustServe Million Meals initiative has already collected over 3,000 pounds of food for local pantries, including a recent 34,000-pound donation delivered in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lloyd presented the council with a nomination for Lebanon's next community "JustServe Hero" for formal approval.
Mendy Haley mentioned several topics, including the city’s controversial purchase of the golf course at 16744 Highway 64.
“We’re paying for the golf course, let’s be real. It’s not an economic driver. If it was, one of you would have bought it because you would have made that money off of it,” she said.
Michael Sachs talked about the need for animal control facilities.
During council comments, Councilman Dan Mizell took issue with speakers who insinuated that “the people on this board are bought and paid for.”
“If they come in front of me and say that we are doing something wrong, you can disagree. But if you say we're doing something illegal, or that we're doing something improper and taking money, that is never happening,” he said.
Mizell added, “There is never going to be a situation where anyone here is being bought off to do anything, and if you think that this job is super lucrative, it's not,” he said.
Mizzell also said tries to be responsive and answers his emails and talked to a constituent that day in his office. “All I want is for the city to be a better place. I have no agenda,” he said.
Council Jaret Scharnhorst thanked people for coming out to comment publicly, saying it took courage to come out and not just comment on Facebook.
Councilman Joe Berkich said the council is listening.
Councilman Randy Wall said the citizen comments contained a lot of misinformation and said the council and City Administrator Schulte have worked hard try to inform citizens. He wondered if there is another way for the city to get information out other than newspaper and social media.
“What other ways are there to communicate to be more transparent?” he asked. “I think we’re doing all we can do.”
