The gentleman who sent the email asked simply, "Does anyone know if there are any plans for dollar general or the city to put a stop sign at the exit of the store?" He proceeded to say that he was almost hit by a vehicle pulling out of the store that did not slow down or look up Summerlake drive to see if anyone was coming. He said that the issued "needs to be addressed immediately."
Within minutes police chief Ward responded to the question with the following email "That is the responsibility of the property owner, not the city."
Chief Ward didn't say he would send extra cruisers to patrol, he didn't say he would erect a temporary stop sign until a permanent one could be placed, he didn't say he would do a study or even look into the potential safety issue. No, he simply said, it's not the city's responsibility.
Another resident was quick to respond "With all due respect Mr. Ward, your response is neither "protecting" nor
"serving." A citizen brings to your attention that he was nearly
involved in an accident as he was driving along a residential street
(clearly having the right of way) and the best you have is it's not the
city's problem? That may very well be true, but your cavalier attitude
and lack of concern will certainly not go unnoticed. Have a wonderful weekend."
But police chief Ward didn't respond to that.
Who did respond was city councilman Stacey Graus who should at least get some credit for being the only city employee except chief Ward to respond. Mr Graus' email was as follows; "Ladies and gentlemen, let’s not get into an email war again. I would simply request that the Mayor and City Clerk add the request to the Agenda for Thursday’s Meeting. We can then talk about the options, perhaps approaching the owner to advise as to potential liability. I can assure everyone that no one from the City wants to see anyone injured because a traffic safety option was not pursued. The Chief simply pointed out that we cannot dictate that a stop sign be placed there or that the City can put one there."
The gentleman who sent the email reply to chief Ward was quick to respond; "Excellent damage control, Mr. Graus. What the Chief pointed out was
that it's not the city's responsibility. That is all. Had he indicated
that he would help to resolve the problem, I wouldn't be wasting my
time sending emails.
Perhaps we could also involve the P&Z commission so
that any future commercial developments that are built off of
residential streets be required to install a stop sign prior to the
store opening? Clearly no one has thought that necessary up to this
point. I'm floored that a stop sign there could be considered a
"traffic safety option" and not a requirement!"
I did send a follow up email to Mr Graus' email. My email said " We need to have the P&Z procedures put on the agenda for Thursday night. One thing I had on my list of things to discuss the night the Dollar General was approved was will there be a stop sign at the entrance/exit, and can we put speed bumps in the store's parking lot to keep people from firing out of the lot like they did to Dustin. But Mr Jewell told us we were not allowed to talk, because surely his committee had already thought of everything. Well Mr Jewell you were wrong. What needs to happen is a major overhaul of the P&Z system. Since more people are on this email than I included on my email to the mayor and John Jewell head of P&Z commision, I will copy what I sent to them that they have never bothered to reply to. " I then copied the part of my email that was posted on the blog dated February 21st, 2012 where I explained my reasoning of why the P&Z system needs a major overhaul.
It is easy to see that the people of Summerlake are fed up with the way they have been treated by most of the city's officials. Only 3 city council members, Barbara Weber, Dave Hart, and Stacey Graus, have taken time to be involved with emails that were sent to them. (Barbara Weber has taken by far the most interest in our plight and has been a tremendous help through the whole thing) Council members, Scott Fleckinger, Bob Simon and Joseph Anderson have not responded at all. The planning and zoning chairman John Jewell, who brought a lot of animosity on all by himself by refusing to let anyone speak at the final hearing on the Dollar General store has not been heard from since that meeting even though he has been copied on many of the emails. Mayor Rachford doesn't respond to emails until his name starts getting drug into the mud, and only then will he respond with the shortest of replies stating merely he has people working on things. Zoning administrator Carol Hofstetter has been very helpful and has answered all emails sent to her.
In my opinion, it is time for the mayor to become a leader and take control of what is going on around him. I understand that delegating some of the work of mayor is a necessity most of the time because one man can't do everything. But when major problems are brought up, i.e. the store opening without all of the exterior brick on, or this stop sign incident, the Mayor is no where to be found. He should be the one standing up and saying he will get things handled and assuring the residents of his city that things will be done the right way, but unfortunately that is not the case. Residents are left to wonder if he even received their emails and if he thinks they are worthy of attention or not. This must change. In the world we live in a mayor of a city of over 8,000 residents must be in touch with the people living in his town at all times. He cannot keep his communications limited to coffee with the mayor on the 1st Saturday of the month and the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month at city council meetings. He needs to be responding to EVERY email addressed to him within hours of receiving them. He needs to be a leader, not a delegator.
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John Jewell refused to let the people of Summerlake speak at the planning and zoning board meeting and has had to deal with the backlash ever since. Even on the night of the vote, 3 out of the 7 board members voted against the store, and went against John Jewell's instructions because they knew what Mr Jewell was doing was wrong. It is time for an overhaul of the system that refuses to let the people have a voice during new construction of commercial properties that are zoned properly. The city has learned the hard way once when the Speedway gas station sued them for the right to build on property that was not and still is not suitable for a gas station. They didn't learn then, and they haven't learned yet, how to write exemptions and opt out clauses into their highway commercial zoning. Planning and zoning needs to stop recklessly designating areas as highway commercial as favors to developers like Brandon Bray.
Thank you for your time.
Andy Schabell
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