I have lived in Clintonville for almost 10 years. I have always enjoyed my time here. I have been proud of my community, I have been proud of how this city has grown in my time here.
I have seen the expansion of: Clintonville Elevator, Jepson Trucking, Klein Chevrolet, Walker Forge, and now Clintonville Motors. I have seen the developments of: Klein Coatings, Cobblestone Inn, Kwik Trip, Walgreens, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and various other developments.
I have seen: Creative Converting choose to stay in Clintonville instead of relocating to the Valley, growth and improvements in the city’s infrastructure, growth in the Industrial Park, the expansion of South Main Street, with North Main Street right around the corner.
All these things have made our community stronger, has increased our tax base, and allowed all of us the opportunity to be more successful as residents of the city of Clintonville. These developments took countless hours, and almost as many participants to accomplish; from various business owners, developers, city, county, and state officials, but there was one person who was involved in each and every project. The one person working to accomplish all of these goals was our City Administrator Lisa Kotter. She has always worked hard for the betterment of our community. No matter what she has done, it was always for the betterment of Clintonville.
Now, our council wants to throw that all away because of some petty differences. Be it because she is a woman, or head-strong, or maybe because she wasn’t born in Clintonville, or it could be because somewhere along the way she ruffled someone’s feathers. Because of these or a number of other petty and inconsequential reasons, our council has decided we no longer want growth in our community.
Instead, what this city gets is sadly, backroom, Chicago-style politics. Some say we no longer need transparency in government. We no longer need moral standards, political ethics, or a need to do the right thing.
Well, I disagree.
What we need is to do what is in the best interest of this fine city. We need to stand up and demand transparency and ethics from our council. We need a city administrator that works hard every day to do the right thing to improve our city. We need to end the nepotism of this council. We need to end this witch hunt and get back to the business of improving our city.
Brad Rokus
Clintonville