I was out of town when Leland held its “meeting” on 18 April.
As usual, the religious figure representative on the council, Sluggo, set the tone with a “prayer.” I am not sure she really understands what words like “mercy,” “friends,” and “wisdom” mean. People in the east would call her MUNAFIQ!
She spoke about doing God’s will. Ironic. Perhaps God’s will means to make sure all our corrupt representatives no longer be our public representatives. After all it is HIS will we are commanded to follow, yes?
Right off the bat, Sluggo1 calls for a closed session at some point in the agenda. ANOTHER ONE? As I have noted, Leland goes into closed session A LOT. Too much. No normally functioning council does this so much, so often. I smell a rat.
Budget talk 2024-2025: Hollis stumbled up to the podium about the tax increase and explained how the property tax evaluations are going up. So, keep this in mind—we have a double whammy coming. Not only do we have a higher tax rate, we have houses that have a higher assessment. So for the people, the tax increase is coming from 2 sources—the rate and then the property assessor. Both are increasing.
I am sure you feel much better now, yes? Wait, no? Good for you. The council does not care you are going to pay a lot more and have seen the rises since 2019.
Is it just me or is Hollis an overpaid clown? He speaks about cuts, but not really any cuts that matter. The town has a ton of assets it could sell. Wait for Rhonda Florian’s scorcher of a speech making that very point.
Sluggo once again ran interference for the council noting such things as, the state mandates this or that, blah blah blah. Her job is to say to the voters, “we have no choice but to rape you financially.” She’s a liar and is creating a narrative for unending tax rises. Remember, Sluggo has NEVER proposed a budget cut. She loves her some govt funded programs, which is…socialist (I mean this seriously). She thinks we cannot live without govt taxation of a world she envisions that she wants, but no one else really does. This is her philosophy: 👇
Sluggo wants us to stay deluded—no we really are free! Now give me your wallet peasant.
The entire council seems to have this same opinion: they deserve to eat, on the back of our work. Abraham Lincoln said once that that very mentality was a form of slavery—the elites rest and eat (Sluggo and Bozeman really eat and drink a lot) while the rest of us work for their privilege of doing so. This cannot stand. The only thing that really matters in this life is if we can keep the lions share of our earnings. Sluggo has forgotten the scripture that man must toil on this earth to be free; we must earn our keep to fulfill our highest Nature.
When representative government takes, it is no longer representative. It becomes something else.
Here is the video of the entire meeting.
Once again, fire and rescue was on the budget talk list. Now they want a more expensive fire truck—a quintuple one! Hollis said they need it to save our fire rating. Here is the purpose of a fire rating.
As I have noted, Leland cannot manage their fire dept. It needs to be taken over by the county. Why? Leland has purposely managed themselves into non-compliance with the State Fire Marshall. No one talks about it, but Leland has too few stations per mile. Leland did this to themselves, on purpose, or because of incompetence, or both. More on this in a later post.
The council was also astonished that red dots are used on guns for law enforcement. Good lord these people are not quick on the uptake. But the council is ready to inform us what we already know and have known for decades.
Building inspections: Believe it or not, McHugh was quick to point out that that dept is a totally self sustaining office, and that the city cannot transfer their fund to the general fund. Hollis noted that this is a matter of state law. Here’s a question for Leland—what is on their paycheck? Who PAYS the building dept? If it is Town of Leland, then this is not a self sustaining department—that would be a lie—so big a lie as to suggest our city government is corrupt, stupid, or thinks we are too stupid to figure it out. There is SOME truth to what Hollis and McHugh said—but their exuberant agenda to point out that Leland’s hands are tied obscures the fact that the town is in fact funding the dept. Evil? Perhaps not. Disingenuous? Absolutely. If the building department is self sustaining, take it off the budget line. Hollis, however, admitted, only the inspections are self sustaining. So, the rest does in fact come from us, the taxpayer.
Hollis then talked about about all the things removed from the budget. I cannot make it out as to why, but the audience broke out in laughter. This guy has no community respect, and he earned it. Note: the council never really did budget cutting—they only piecemealed the edges thinking we would be satisfied. Gosh, they are so dumb, they cannot read a room.
Public Comment!
The public is still riled up and smart enough to note that the town has not listened to them.
I have to say that even though some speakers made excellent points, they deferred too much to the council. Why do that? There is no question they hate you. The speakers should not be so deferential to them. Certainly they can exercise decorum, but to be anything less than calling them out for their corruption and malfeasance only served their purposes. Be tougher! Speak the truth and let them know you are onto their game.
In other words, dear voter, start finding replacements to run against our town clowns. Anything less, is a victory for the current council.
If the voters do not get wise, and get tough, then this town is lost.
One speaker did call out Bankrupt Bozeman. In 6 months she changed from no tax rises, to let’s call up Monty Hall and raise taxes by 100%. Why the change? I am betting a cocktail party discussion.
Another speaker—a doctor—called them morally bankrupt and stated they act contrary to representative govt. This was very smart. THAT is the heart of this entire problem. That man get’s the best speaker award from this substack. He called them dictators (as I have noted over and over here). Bravo!
Another speaker noted that the town wants high density, less driving, and a sardine packed shopping district. No kidding. It’s been in their plan for years. But he is right that the people here now do not have the same vision. He does not connect the dots though. This is the reason the town wants to build coffin apartments. Why? Because that’s just the type of voter who would approve of their crap vision for Leland.
Right after that guy spoke, another guy got up and chastised them for lecturing us, and being against free speech (that’s you Bob!). Give that man an award.
If I ever get a lecture it will be from my wife not from you (pointing at Sluggo).
Rhonda Florian takes the stand! All I can say is watch it. Seriously, she has to be a candidate for council. I hope she considers it. It was a fire, but it was also rational—sell your property, cut the town hall expansion, and that would put millions BACK into the budget. She is NOT wrong. Nothing made the point more that this council is greedy and corrupt than the fact that the town will not sell its own assets to keep the budget within means. Yes, they really hate us. They do not care about the voter.
Trudy followed soon thereafter (I did not catch the last name): she was also a fire. She noted what I did about the budget workshop. Is she reading this substack? She hit on many points we have already discussed here. But I also encourage you to watch her comments. Leland wants, still, a stadium, more town hall expansion (they’ve already spent $652,000 on the plans), etc. That is, she also knows the entire Leland town council has no intention of cutting taxes, but spending more and more. They should resign. Yep! Smart lady.
I need to say a word about some erroneous comments—the council cannot be recalled. That will take special bill from the GA of this state. So, stop saying they can be recalled, and petition the GA to grant Leland that authority. As it sits now, we cannot recall this corrupt council.
I would add one more thing: Leland voters need the authority for initiative/referendum. This would give us the authority to line item out budget items, like, town hall expansions and free lunch for all town employees.
One thing that needs to happen when these clowns are removed, is an independent audit of the town finances. I bet there’s a lot we do not know. Any candidate who runs, needs to make sure this is on their platform.
Leland has earned our ire, but they are so intoxicated on their own smoke they think we are dumb and they are wise. The people know more.
This town council, and the unelected staff, have had ample opportunity to see their mistake. They have not listened, and hence, earned our disrespect.
Boot these clowns from office.
Sluggo was nicknamed by this writer in a past post. For those new, this is Veronica Carter.