The Truth is out there some where.

• Please note I will take a position on this on this issue on the blog.  I am going to give you the information that I learn about as a journalist.  

So the Duluth School Board meet tonight for a regular meeting.  This was the first meeting after the board put forth a resolution to investigate member Art Johnston on June 10th, by a 5-2 vote. With members Welty and Johnston voting no to investigate.

There was not a lot said about the issue at the meeting tonight at least by the board members. Member Johnston did make a comment when it came to approving the minutes of the June 10th meeting.  He said that board chair Mike Miernicki should not have voted as he is one of the people making allegations against him.  Miernicki did not over see the meeting because of that reason but he did vote for the investigation.  That said member Johnston also voted on this issue now he is the one being investigated maybe he should not have voted either, just cause he is involved in this issue.  I don't know   but it's just a thought that maybe no one involved should have voted on the issue.


When it came time for public comment a number of people did speak on behalf of Art Johnston.  The first speaker brought a sign with him, it said fire Gonseth who is the superintendent.  Paul King of Duluth brought up what I think is a great point, if there was in fact an assault why where the police not called?  He said that this issue could have been dealt with local with the PD instead of a length and costly investigation.  He also asked to have Gonseth removed and said he should not be sitting where the board members are as he is not an elected person.  Many of the other speakers brought up these same points.  The other rally cry was that he represents the  4th district and should be allowed to do so.

Now there was a resolution tonight to approve a civility code of conduct it had nine points they are as followers:

• pay attention
• Listen
• Be inclusive
• Not gossip
• Show respect
• Be agreeable
• Apologize
• Give constructive criticism
• Take responsibility.     
• 
  

Member Johnston said that this a joke for the board to be approving when they don't follow, it is just a piece of paper he said.   Johnston said with the things done to him and others over the years is prove that the board does not follow these rules, so why approve them?

A reminder what this is about from both sides.  The superintendent and board members position is that member Johnston said there was an assault , also race comments where made.

Member Johnston says that this is an attack on him and his family because of stand against the administration over the years he has been on the board.

The truth is out there some where and this blog will report what we learn, I will not share my opinion on here but I will on my radio show on blog talk radio.  

Don't forget to the check the radio show.

I have am just getting started with the radio show but check it out.  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/duluthpolitics2 

I will have another show tonight talking about the school board investigation Art Johnston.

Art Johnston to be investigated. (introduction story)

Okay all I don't know a lot about this issue.  I do however want to get it out there, and will continue to work to find facts on this.

I heard about this today and rushed to the board meeting, after hearing about it.  Art Johnston is being investigated by the district.  It passed the board today by a 5-2 vote, with members Johnston and Welty voting no on the investigation.

Not knowing much about the issue I wanted to talk to Art Johnston first to get his stand on it, I then talked to member Welty.  I was going to talk with others but they where gone by the time I had a chance to get to them.

Now both Mr. Johnston and Mr. Welty said that this personal hunt against Art and his family because of his stands and tough questions on the red plan and other finical issues.  Mr. Johnston said that his wife was kicked out of East high school and not allowed in her room and has not been back.

The attorney that is going to do the investigation I thought was very closed on what is going to take place in the investigation.  He said that this investigation may never go public even after the it concluded.  That is wrong the public should always have the right to know what is going on.  Bot h during and after.

I like that Mr. Johnston wants to this to be an open investigation and he will be letting people know what is going on in the investigation.

This is investigation is going to cost a lot of money and maybe we should be concerned about spending our money on the children was another  thing that Mr. Johnston brought up and I agree with that.

The water cooler talk around this has been on going today and I will have more on this as it comes in for sure.

Just to be clear I hold no position on this investigation as of yet.

When thinking of city council

Hey everyone just was thinking about this and had a great conversation today with a friend.

If you ever do think of running for political office here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Can you raise money council money needed to be competitive district seat 5,000 at large 10,000 
• Can you develop a good group of workers from the ground up. This includes a manger, treasure, and volunteers. 
• Will your view point be one that can be excepted? 
• Do you have thick skin?   

Just some things to think about? If you want to run for local office.

A couple of other things last night.

Last night council president Linda Krug said that people are only allowed to speak once, which I don't ever remember being the case in my 21 years involved in Duluth politics. I can't even count how many times I have signed up to speak on more then one resolution at meetings and it has never been issue.  With that said I think it does need to be with in reason but is a person wants to speak on two or three resolutions they should have that right.  A citizens voice should never be silenced.

The person was allowed to speak, for a second time after that comment. Funny thing nothing was when I spoke for a second time, nor should it have been.  If there is a case that you are allowed to speak at the council meeting once then that needs to be removed now.

This statement also goes for city councilors because president Krug also likes to only allow people who agree with what she wants.  As a conversation goes on and councilors want to say something or add to what they have said, if you don't agree she will say we will move to a vote or use another cop out.

The other thing I found interesting is apparently the council no longer excepts friendly amendments, not sure when that happened.  My question is why not?

Happy and not not happy at the same time.

Wow what a city council meeting that happened Monday night.  I am pleased as could be on one point and not happy with another.

The two major issues brought on a huge crowd to the council chambers.  I am happy with one of the issues and that is rank choice voting, the other one that I am not happy with is the street fee issue.

First lets talk about about the good, rank choice voting failed tonight by a 5-4 councilors Hanson, Foslie , Filipovich, Julsrud, Russ. Those that voted for it was Larson, Sipress, Krug, Gardner.

Now there where about 15 people that spoke on this issue 8 of them tied with fair vote Minnesota, the others against the resolution.

I was supper impressed by councilors Julsrud and Filipovich there knowledge of the issue and question why we are rushing tiring RCV.  Also councilor Hanson was very impressive tonight he held his ground and would not let the council president Krug run him over.

Now this issue is far from over regardless of council president Krug says.  She went on a tantrum about the council closing the talk about RCV.  That is not true this issue can be brought up again.  This issue is far from over, the Charter commission is on the clock and in the sights of fair vote Minnesota.

There is a lot more on this issue but we will talk about on the Duluth Politics radio show.

Now on to why I am not and this will be simple too.  The street fee was not voted on tonight.  You might say well that is a good think possible right?  I say no because I think there where the votes tonight to vote down the street fee, but third district councilor Sharla Gardner but and end to that.

Gardner introducted an amendment to the ordinance now it made a big change to the ordinance meaning that it was the first so it had to be tabled tell the next meeting.  Now with this amendment I think that it could possible pass with this amendment.  I like the amendment but still hate the ordinance of impolimenting a street fee.

More on the on the radio show as well.  Tune in to blog talk radio Tuesday night time not sure but I will let know here and on face book when that is out.  I want to line up some guest if possible.

A couple of other interesting things going on at the meeting tonight.

So we all know about the two big issues at the council meeting tonight at 7pm.  Here are a couple of other things I found interesting at the meeting tonight.

First the city of Duluth is doubling the contract amount for hot mix street fill. The old amount is 325,859.60 the new amount we buy would be 717,069.60.  Now many of you may say well no big deal this is the stuff we use to fill pot holes so it is a good thing.

Well here is my problem with it, as we fill pot holes we don't properly pack this hot mix into the hole.  Well we do use a hand held roller to attempt to pack the hot mix in it does not work.  So cars run over the hot mix before it has a chance to settle in and it gets pushed out by the car tires and with in a couple of weeks we are back fixing the same pot hole because the hot mix is no longer there.

What is the point it we are back filling the same hole in a couple weeks.  I like the hot mix because it works well when used correctly. It is our procedure that fails not the workers that do this, they do great with what they have. We must look at have a better system to pack the hot mix down or it will be a continued waste of money.  Even a light motorised  roller would work okay to pack it in.

Second is spirit mountain. They are asking for the line of credit from the city to be increased from 900,000 to 1,200,00 which is an increase of 300,000 for this year.  Why well if you ask city administrator David Mongromery just because there is new head coming into spirit mountain and he does not want them to have any short fails to deal with.  Plus the last couple of seasons have been rough because of cold weather for the skiing season.

I don't know I have some real reserve in just handing out money like this.