To the editor:

I am writing this letter to bring attention to a concern about the current city council and some recent actions this council has taken. Look at their current and former employers. Almost all of them either work or have worked for the City of New Ulm, New Ulm Public Utilities, or Brown County. Who do you think they are representing, certainly not the taxpayers who elected them and who they are supposed to represent.

In the past few months they have fast tracked a certain apartment project with no notice or input from affected surrounding property owners. This project will greatly change the scope of this neighborhood and possibly the whole community. I feel this has been done to appease a special interest group who occupy the very same building.

Why were there no notices to surrounding property owners? If this is the policy, then it needs to change. Any major neighborhood project should be subject to comments and suggestions, not forced upon them. To expect affected property owners to try to figure out when and where meetings are held on these types of projects is unacceptable. We should not have to hear about these meeting through word of mouth or in the Journal after they have already taken place. Most of these meetings are held during normal working hours, which should also change. This will give interested parties the ability to sit in on these meeting and have their voices heard since it doesn’t appear that the council are watching out for them anymore.

Yet another recent project had reportedly 50 signatures in opposition yet this council still voted it through to appease another business. Another concern is that these same councilors can serve on multiple boards which vote on the same projects. This seems wrong to be able to have multiple votes on the same project.

These councilors were elected to represent us the taxpayers and if they are not going to do that, then they need to be voted out when their term comes up.

It’s not that I am not for progress, but I am against progress without being able to have our input heard and listened to.

Daniel Buechner

New Ulm