Fill the Ballot Initiative
The following email was sent to all members of the Superior City Council on January 12, 2011:
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RE:Â Fill the ballot initiative
I respectfully submit this request for consideration by the Superior City Council:
Before the official April spring ballot is set there will be an estimated 48 inches of unused ballot column space. Â Rather than go unused, this ballot space should be fully utilized and contain non-binding advisory questions to better help the City Council and our next Mayor in representing the needs and wants of the people of Superior.
I would like to request that the City Council set a committee of volunteers to handle questions submitted by the people of Superior and to choose from the pool of questions those that are most popular by number and those that are most beneficial to the City of Superior and to include them on the April 2011 ballot. It is noted, that in discussions with the City Clerk, this request is not expected to materially raise the cost of ballots, if any at all.
Thank you for your consideration,
Don Raihala
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In looking at the city expenditures in recent years, I would have to come to the conclusion that many of these projects are nothing more than our local government satisfying the ‘squeaky wheel’.  Not only are many of these projects unnecessary, but many will not even be used by the vast majority of Superiorities. So why wouldn’t the decision makers want to get the most input possible on how our money is being spent.
For example, I ask how do Superiorities benefit from the spending of $300,000 to renovate Center City Park? I’m assuming you’re just like me, that we’ll never use it and your saying to yourself “come again, $300,000 for what?â€Â Maybe the $200,000 that was used just across the street will get your attention. It was given to a private company to refurbish the building into luxurious apartments. The list goes on and on and it equates to an increase in your property taxes.Â
Ballot initiatives are not a new idea, but it is something that, at the city level, only the city council can initiate (not the mayor) barring the use of direct legislation by the electors of the city. This is nothing more than another tool that could be used by local government to gauge the needs and wants of the people of Superior. I fully understand that any expenditure or project can have many different view points and reasoning, but rather than rely on 10 councilor’s input and just a handful of people that show up at meetings, wouldn’t it be better to get the most input from the most people possible? Non-binding advisory questions are the way to get that quantity of input.
I implore you to call or email your city councilor, even if you never have, and simply state “my name is________ , I live in your district and I would like you to consider the filling the ballot initiative, thank you.â€Â
| Â | ||||
| Councilor | Address | Telephone | District | Term Ends |
| Dan Olson   | 6001 Cumming Avenue | 715-399-0189 |    1st | 04/12 |
| Tom Bridge | 3808 East 3rd Street | 218-391-4834 |    2nd | 04/11 |
| Warren Bender | 2428 Ogden Avenue | 715-394-7453 |    3rd | 04/12 |
| Greg Mertzig | 2229 E. 5th Street #A | 715-441-1502 |    4th | 04/11 |
| Denise McDonald | 705 3rd Avenue East | 218-348-0986 |    5th | 04/12 |
| Chuck Hendry | 1527 Grand Avenue | 715-395-7753 |    6th | 04/11 |
| Bob Finsland | 901 North 21st Street | 715-392-4263 |    7th | 04/12 |
| Mike Herrick | 2706 N 22nd Street | 715-394-4560 |    8th | 04/11 |
| Mick MacKenzie | 2353 Logan Avenue | 715-392-9027 |    9th | 04/12 |
| Esther Dalbec | 1019 Baxter Avenue | 715-394-7981 |    10th | 04/11 |
Email addresses may be found here: http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/index.aspx?nid=209
Mr Raihala you know darn well the city council does not care about the will of the people. I like your initiative; this race for Mayor just became interesting.
This has as much chance of the city council going for this as me missing the second half of the Pack ass kicking seminar. Besides it’s too logical, why would they consider it?
I like the idea of more community involvement. As a Mother of three I am unable to attend the city council meetings. My voice is never heard unless we have a hot button issue. This would be a great way to get more involvement. I would like to see a link on the Cities webs site for leaving ballot questions for upcoming elections. We would need an impartial review board to oversee the best ballot questions. I see no reason why the council would not support this.
The idea is good and a reasonable one. You need to get more public support or at least some other mayor candidates or even some councilors to back this. Ballot questions provide a more accurate measure of what the public feel is. Polls and surveys that officials may use are garbage. The people that will take the time to answers questions on a ballot are the people that care. These questions should really be on a primary ballot because then it captures the people that REALLY CARE, those willing to vote on an bone chilling February.
What’s your web site? You came across as a real fiscal hawk on your congress site. Dems aren’t for me, but lets see what you got.
Impartial in this town?? How about all local candidates on that committee?
How about a pay freeze or a hiring freeze? Is there any plan to lower or maintain property taxes? Where do I sign up for the committee?
You need to get the paper to print something like this. I’m wondering how many people actually get to see this. I can’t help you out, I’m a transplant to the county. I’ll do some e-mailing tomorrow Don. Good Luck
This is a good idea for the ballot. Let the people come up with some issues and vote. It would get more people to vote. The most important step is to vote and elect a new mayor. The people of Superior need a fresh face in office, it seems to be happening across the nation. I do not think an old mayor is the answer, please vote for change. Vote for Change!
I watched the video of the meeting. The city council of Superior wants nothing to do with the people speaking. The president is quick to file this.
I had thought that I would have had at least one ‘yeh’ vote. But the leadership was very quick to see that this initiative make it to the garbage. As a matter of fact I don’t even think the city clerk’s mouth was even closed before it was motioned and seconded. It was however curiously refreshing to see that 5 councilors did ask questions or expressed some interest.
The website is http://www.votefordon.com and feel free to forward that to everyone in your address book.
You must be physic or have lived in Superior for a long time. Packers 38 Bears 17
It is my intention if elected as your next mayor to always fill the ballot. At the very least the first side, this would nearly be free. There would be a minimal fee to print the back side, as by state requirements the ballot must be published and given notice several times before an election.
I should also point out that my attempt was for the ‘easy way’, asking the council to consider. There is a ‘hard way’ and that would entail getting 1251 signatures for each submitted question 42 days before an election. I have a call into the state GAB to determine if some type of multi-question petition could be passed.
Good questions, but answers they and others would definitely not like to know the answer to.
The video can be found at:
http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/index.aspx?nid=528
Click on the Jan 18th meeting and advance the video progress bar to the 57:10 mark to get your answer on what your council thinks.