Greenfield City Councilor Verne Sund’s letter to the editor (Greenfield ‘too big for its britches,’ Dec. 31, 2018) about why he can’t vote for a new library building forces me to comment.
Before December’s City Council meeting began, I introduced myself to Councilor Sund, reminding him I had sent him several emails. “I’ve got 1,300 emails,” he told me. Wow. I asked him how they were trending — how many were for a new library, how many against. He said “Oh, I haven’t read them.”
He hadn’t read them.
His recent letter to the editor mentioned that he had heard rumors of possible large donors to the library project, but he said “Unfortunately, if I represent the people in my district, I cannot believe in rumors, nor can I vote on an issue without having the facts before me.”
Since nobody except the authors of the emails sent to Councilor Sund has read them, he doesn’t know what the citizens who took the time to tell him about their concerns and hopes for a new library actually said. Might have been some facts, perhaps something that confirmed or quashed a rumor, certainly something about what they wanted him to do as a Greenfield councilor — if he represented the people in his district.
I’d like to read a Recorder story about how each councilor deals with email and phone calls, especially when the volume is so large. I worry that at least one doesn’t deal with email at all. Are there others?
Bob Williford
Greenfield