Tony Evans’ article on “Petitions Challenge Fees Charged by Hailey” is shoddy reporting at best, and an inappropriate attempt to influence an election at worst.
Stating “metal worker Bob Wiederrick’s past petitions failed” while technically true, has no real bearing on my current initiatives. This subtitle sends the message, “We did not pass this before. Why is he bringing this up again?”
Had Tony actually interviewed me before writing this article, he would know how these initiatives differ from the ones I attempted eight years ago. Not everyone will hit a homerun on their first time at bat, so I hope I will be forgiven for my tenacity in trying the initiative process again. My goal is for our city to be the best it can be – for Hailey to establish a business-friendly environment that will attract new businesses to our town and support the businesses we have here now.
Tony cites Ned Williamsons’ opinion that the refund of the development impact fees is illegal. This implies that if Ned says it is so, then it must be so.
Speaking of past failures, Tony didn’t mention Ned Williamsons’ failures on the Old Cutters annexation agreement. That agreement had provisions that were proven in court to violate several state laws and even the Constitution!
I don’t recall ever seeing a final tally on the legal fees and staff time spent on the Old Cutters legal battle being reported in the paper. I know the city had to pay nearly $100,000 of John Campbell’s legal fees. I would imagine the city’s own cost to be at least that much and could perhaps be much more. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the taxpayers’ final cost was?
I often wonder why the city retains Ned’s services after such an epic failure. Ned has been the city attorney for a long time. Anyone who can give poor legal advice on one matter can certainly have the same problem on another. Such is the case with the development impact fees on commercial and light industrial development. I believe these fees to be illegal for the simple fact that the city makes more money on these types of development than it costs the city to service them. Idaho state law prohibits cities from making a profit on fees – that was proven in court with Old Cutters. I maintain that these fees are nothing more than an illegal revenue-raising scheme that sets up barriers to new business coming to Hailey.
I do not have the financial means to challenge these fees in court. The City of Hailey has shown that they are willing to spend large amounts of our money to defend their mistakes. Thankfully, the initiative process only costs me my time, some paper and some ink. The only other thing required is an abundance of like-minded voters willing to support my efforts by signing a petition.
I also wonder what purpose Tony would have to include the Economic Stagnation Awards presented to the Hailey City Council that he terms “sculptures of dead fish” in his article. They have no relevance to my initiatives. He makes me appear to be some kind of crackpot.
Actually, the Economic Stagnation Awards were given to the Hailey City Council for promoting and maintaining policies and ordinances that harm the economic viability and vitality of the City of Hailey. The awards are meant to serve as a reminder that much more must be done to improve Hailey’s economic environment.
Councilperson Martha Burke seems to be especially appreciative of the awards’ unique appearance. I hear the awards reside in the mayor’s office. It is a shame they are not on public display. I suppose the awards came about as the physical manifestation of the frustration I felt in my dealings with the City of Hailey. I am fortunate to have a creative outlet to show my disapproval of the city’s actions. Perhaps the thought of earning another Economic Stagnation Award compelled Martha Burke’s “interest in discussing the business license initiative.”
We will not be seeing a rerun of the last time the initiatives were voted on. Since 2015, the State of Idaho now runs initiative procedures taking away the inconsistent processes cities had in place. I will be fighting hard to see that the City of Hailey does not get to use their considerable resources to lobby against my initiatives as happened in the last election. Now if I can only get fair reporting from the press, I think we can make Hailey “open for business.”
Robert “Bob” Wiederrick
Hailey resident