After 13 years on the Logan Municipal Council, Steve Thompson announced last night he’d soon be resigning, and it’s believed he’ll be working with the city in a fundraising role for a new freestanding library.
Let me refer you to a quote from the June 22, 2007 edition of The Herald Journal with Councilman Thompson on the library being a public/private funding partnership:
“The best thing to do is bring a lot of voices into the mix and move forward with a decision from there,” Councilman Steve Thompson said. “Many times, government will jump into things with good intention but they really don’t have a good plan of how that money is going to come from the private sector.”
And many times, resigning councilmembers accepting positions with the city to fundraise are the plan.
This smacks of a sweetheart insiders deal. City Finance Director Rich Anderson says “no one has been chosen for the contract position…” Strange, why would anyone resign so abruptly if he didn’t already have some assurance he would have another job….this job? Was this “contract position” advertised for all persons interested? Why do we need a persons to raise private funds for a New Library which has not even been approved by the voters? Most of the “stimulus money” has been allocated, and the City Department heads seems to do very well in getting federal and state grants for the City. Where does a cash strapped City, currently on essentially a hiring freeze, find $40-45,000 laying around? Sounds like an insiders done deal between Thompson and the Mayor.