WEST ELK VOTERS SAY A FIRM "NO" ON TUESDAY

[ladyD]

Wow, not a great turn out at the polls yesterday.  Out of 1728 Registered District 282 voters only 949 voted?  It was commented that it was a good number.  I don't agree. 
I believe that the "NO" voters think they have saved their buildings from being shut down.  A "NO" vote was NOT going to stop the closing of the schools. I think they believe they saved their taxes from increasing.  Taxes will increase regardless if there is a new school or not. I think they believe they saved the elementary school from being placed in Howard.  It was going to determine if we built a nice looking updated facility or sat pods on the existing campus. It is impossible to continue to maintain the 3 separate campuses.  The issue was at one time what to do with the buildings.  How to fix them, which one to fix and maintain.  We have far gone beyond that topic.  The issue at hand was to build a new school at Howard which is centrally located or not.  If we were not building a new facility we go on with option B, place pods or trailers at the high school location. 
Well, "NO" voters, you have been heard.  Thank you.  We will now move on with Plan B.  It should be an adventure moving from one trailer to another for computer classes, library, to eat in a cafeteria, and to use the high school gym occupied by Jr. High & high School kids.  I also understand that some of the students may be placed in the high school.

Now let's address those that didn't vote.  I am sure there were people who were sick or gone for various reasons that could not help not being at the polls.  I am not addressing them. I am addressing the ones who have no excuse or those that say, "It doesn't matter one way or another, so I'm not voting."  Well, by not voting you are making a decision to allow others to make a decision for you.  And I doubt truly if the issue was brought up if you would keep quiet.  You have an opinion; you just chose not to put it in the form as a vote.  I won't even get on a tangent about the right we have to vote and it being our obligation as well as a gift. 

[larryJ]

I made a comment about the numbers of the voters.  To me, 55 percent of the registered voters voted is a good number.  I am used to SoCal where if it isn't a presidential elections, you would be lucky to see 20 percent of the voters.  Businesses are required by law to allow their employees time off to vote.  But there is a great apathy towards taking the time to vote. 

Larryj

[frawin]

LadyD, according to Rudy's numbers there were 997 that voted,

[LisaT]

You all are just pathetic.  You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.  You just get on here and congratulate each other for once again stopping any and all progress towards a solution that has been needed for decades.  That's the problem with Elk County, all you regressive, uber-right quasi-anarchist Reationaries.

Did you ever think to go to a school board meeting before the bond election? No!

Did you ever think about going to the courthouse and setting in on a Commissioners meeting to see where the money goes?  No!

Have you ever gone to Topeka and set in the balcony and watch the Legislature in action, and then go talk to your representative about where the money goes?  No!

Have you ever served as a legistative intern, and watched from the inside what goes into the job of representing anal retentive butt-wipes like you?  Again, No!

Firstly I think you owe everyone and apology for this over emotional display of crap. If you can't seem to do this then here is what I have to say about that.
Where do you live and why? How many school board meetings have YOU been to? How many children do you have? How much land do you own and pay taxes on in Elk County? How many commission meetings did you attend when you weren't employed by the county? How many trips to Topeka did you make? Name calling is a bit childish and your way older than that. Where do you get off talking like that to people who still live and struggle here? 

[Lookatmeknow!!]

Ok, this has been driving me crazy all day.  It was a vote.  It didn't pass.  I am sad about it.  I wanted the bond to pass. I was upset. But some of my friends were against it, and we still get along, no name calling.  We agree to disagree end of story.  If it was meant to be, God will do it in his time, not ours.  There must be another plan for this school, and I am  not sure what it is.  But what I am sure of is that if we, all community members don't get along nothing will be accomplished. 

[Sarah]

Ok, this has been driving me crazy all day.  It was a vote.  It didn't pass.  I am sad about it.  I wanted the bond to pass. I was upset. But some of my friends were against it, and we still get along, no name calling.  We agree to disagree end of story.  If it was meant to be, God will do it in his time, not ours.  There must be another plan for this school, and I am  not sure what it is.  But what I am sure of is that if we, all community members don't get along nothing will be accomplished. 

You know, I've been thinking about this issue all day and was wondering why can't we perhaps build a smaller building that can be added on to as funds permit, or at least a cheaper building that won't hit the taxpayers so hard?  It would seem reasonable that a cheaper building could be built if it was put up for bid.  Hearsay has it that the building of this school was never put up for bid with other contractors.  Cheaper construction perhaps, or perhaps a smaller building could be designed and added on to and then everyone is happy?  I don't know.  Just throwing out ideas.

[Mom70x7]

Sarah -

I don't know all your answers, but I do know that adding on to the current building has been discussed and dismissed. It would be too expensive to retrofit the current building for safety codes, etc. with an add-on. We're allowed to leave it as is, but regulations have changed so much since it was built and an add-on would require us to meet all those regs.

[okiemon]

Larry,
I have stayed out of this too because it does not pertain to me-but---for the ones who voted no---it aint over till the chubby lady sings. We in Longton "soundly" beat a bond issue just a few short years back, but it was made smaller and put back to a vote. Again the masses said no---so it was made smaller once more and too many just threw in the towell and it passed.

I see this happening to us.
Don't move the bus barn, gravel the parking lot, have a fundraiser and let the FFA do the landscaping. Get the cost down so the $500,000 we save by closing Moline and Severy will make the majority of the bond payments.

[momof 2boys]

I am not sticking up for flint, but he has a point about the meetings. Of all the people that post on this forum, I have only seen perhaps a handful attend board meetings.

[Sarah]

Sarah -

I don't know all your answers, but I do know that adding on to the current building has been discussed and dismissed. It would be too expensive to retrofit the current building for safety codes, etc. with an add-on. We're allowed to leave it as is, but regulations have changed so much since it was built and an add-on would require us to meet all those regs.

That's not quite what I meant.  I meant perhaps building a new smaller building that could be added on to rather than a very expensive large building.  Maybe that would help?  I don't know everyone's reasons for voting no and even with the costs down I'm not sure it would go through, but it was just an idea of maybe starting with something smaller.