Monday night, we went to Hopkins to first check in at the Hopkins CBC meeting, and then possibly do the Hopkins City Council if they got out early. Going there was not even our first choice. But when nobody was home at the Hopkins CBC meeting, we went to the City Council meeting to see what was going on. What we saw can politely be described as complete chaos.
We covered eight basketball teams this year, which is always a job. Two teams won 16 games, and one of them would have won more had their season not been shortened by the State Football Championship. One team didn’t win a game, not for lack of effort or trying on their part. None of them had the kind of chaos that we saw on display Monday night.
The last time we were at a Hopkins City Council meeting a few years ago, everybody seemed like they were on the same page about the need to tear down abandoned buildings and homes. The Mutti Hardware building and other eyesores were coming down. Meetings were being run in an orderly fashion. There was plenty of money in the bank.
Fast forward to Monday night, and something had changed. The meeting was dominated by a personality conflict between the water operator and the clerk, and the city couldn’t even do any business or pay any bills because there was not a quorum present. In addition, there were 10 citizens there to complain about what they saw as poor service and/or the rampant chaos taking place at council meetings. Three of them own three of the biggest businesses and tax revenue generators for Hopkins.
We don’t have a dog in the fight. We’re not blaming anybody. But if the infighting and chaos that we saw on display Monday is not taken care of in some way, then that is a good way to drive people and businesses out of town.
We heard some words of wisdom from Ron Houston, one of the three business people who was at the meeting Monday. He said that it’s never a good idea to lose good employees. He would know. He has grown J.L. Houston to the point where it is now employing 60 people in its 70th anniversary. Some of his people have been on board for 30+ years.
If the city loses its clerks over this, then the service problems that people have been complaining about will only get worse, since people will not be able to go to City Hall to make payments or resolve issues. The city will not be able to send out water bills, meaning they will not generate revenues. The city will have an expensive software billing system in place with nobody with the knowhow to manage it.
If the city loses its water operator over this, then unless the city can find a new water operator, then someone will have to go through the process required by DNR in order to become a water operator. They have to successfully complete a DNR approved training course, which is not always available. They then have to have six months hands-on experience. In the meantime, the city will have three choices – use PeopleService, which will drive up rates substantially, especially for its biggest customers, use the Rural Water District, which will also drive up rates, or not offer water at all, which is a frightening thought.
Here in Worth County, we have had our experience with free for all chaos. In the 1950’s, after the school house which was located where the Fire Department is located now burned down, there was rampant chaos because the rural parts of the county would not approve a bond issue to build a new school, because they were afraid it would mean the closure of Allendale, Denver, and Worth. It took the threat of the state coming in, removing the school’s accreditation, and closing the school for voters to approve a new bond issue. The Times-Tribune of that day reported that people were leaving in droves over it. Worth County’s population went from 5,100 at the start of 1950 to 3,600 at the start of 1960. Someone told us as recently as 2010 that there were still people in Worth who don’t patronize Grant City businesses over it.
The scenario repeated itself in the 1970’s. When the County Board of Education stepped in and forced the consolidation of Grant City and Sheridan in 1976, there were more hard feelings. Enrollment at Worth County dropped from over 600 in 1976-77 to the 400’s by the mid-1980’s. It has gone down slowly ever since. Even today, many Sheridan voters won’t pass school levies or bond issues over it. It is true that there were economic reasons for these declines. But a lot of it was self-inflicted.
While cities cannot conduct business when there is not a majority present, they can talk. Sue Wagner, Officer Manager of O Tax, LLC, which is located in Hopkins, presented a proposal to handle the billing and clerical duties for the city for 8-12 hours a week. It is owned by Dee O’Riley, who was the clerk at Hopkins for over 20 years. Wagner added that if citizens wanted to come to their business to make a payment or for city business, that would not be an issue. This would replace the positions of both office personnel presently employed. Total cost would be $35,000 a year, with $50 an hour extra to bring accounting up to present.
As we said, we don’t have a dog in this fight other than to say that the infighting has got to stop. One fair way to do this could involve having the present clerks presenting to all four members of the council in closed session (since this is a personnel issue) why they should stay and O Tax presenting, and then the council having a vote afterwards.
But while the demolition of the Mutti Building and the buildings on the north side of Barnard Street are welcome, many people still see Hopkins as an eyesore. Outsiders who grew up in Hopkins and who have come back are saddened by the sight it has become. The city needs to find a way to resolve this that will allow it to get back to the work of demolishing abandoned buildings and homes.
There are plenty of good ideas floating around for how to revive Hopkins. Mr. Houston talked about his ideas for helping out people who want to live and work in the area and work for one of the manufacturing plants by building up houses where the old buildings used to be. North Nodaway student Morgan Pope is doing extensive work trying to renovate the Roxy and turn it into a youth center. The Hopkins CBC is always floating ideas for making the city and the Hopkins Park look nicer. Neither ourselves nor any of the concerned citizens at the meeting Monday are in it for anyone; we’re in it for Hopkins. And speaking for ourselves, we’re in it for all the other towns we cover as well.
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