Finance Committee / Growing snow event Sunday

I have moved away from mentioning the City Council and stuff because I tend to inject my personal opinions at times which don't always agree with other peoples opinions and it creates  . . . . stress (not for me but . . .)

HOWEVER - "we" formed a new committee that looks more deeply into the city's finance and how and why things are done.  

For instance - if you have watched City Council you have seen the yearly audit report presentation by Baker Tilly that is blah blah blah,  but instead of just taking what they said for granted the committee wanted to really get deep into the "why" certain words are always on certain pages. 

Instead of just accepting the message the committee wanted to know what it actually meant.  Baker Tilly were thrilled.  Most city councils don't ask questions and are not as inquisitive on city finances. 

One of the most important things council does is finances and I believe Columbus is in good shape. Our Bond rating is pretty darn good and while we can't just go to the bank and pay for roads, financially I feel Columbus is in the best shape financially as we have been in a long long time which is pretty darn good with the many many restrictions put on small towns by the current government running the state.

Confidence is high for Columbus financially.  People complain a lot about not enough business but financially we're doing well.

You may have heard rumors about American Packaging and a 25 million dollar expansion project and they are looking for a town.  Columbus is on the list, this has been a known "thing" for a while now and it has not come out of the blue.

One problem is that Columbus is near full employment. It might be hard to come up with 250 employees. But the city and American Packaging really do talk to each other. And if Columbus is not picked we lose nothing. They are not moving.  

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There is a new website called The Columbus Cardinal that offers online news about Columbus.  has a small article about me!

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The Bowling Alley - sadly the people that were going to open a Convention Center backed out and now we have a big open building with no lanes.  Not a big surprise on that one. The sad thing was the owner of the building sold all the lanes so now we just have a big empty building with an extra liqueur license.  

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There was a debate last night in which me and most political science people thought Clinton clearly won.   I apologize to my Bernie supporters.  I tried but I feel America is moving in the correct direction and if we have the Bernie revolution we might wake the sleeping Elephant.

My personal feeling is change is slow and steady - not giant leaps. Things are going well in America so why, PERHAPS, kill the golden goose.  I don't agree with some things Obama has done but that is how real life is.  You don't change things by stomping your feet and insisting on a revolution.  But you can make politicians aware that the populace is unhappy and they better pay attention.

I still do not believe Bernie can win but he is very good at showing "we are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore".

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OH - this is hilarious - I apologize to all my republican friends (I do have some)  although more then a few are switching or just not voting this time around. 

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OK - Sydney just schooled me on the names of all the dorf planets and named the moons of Saturn . . . .and she is freaking 4!

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I was sitting on the couch watching the news and they mentioned some county.  I calmly say to DJ, "Where the hell is that county"  and she says it's up north next to Sawyer.  I laugh and say "OH, I bet you know where all the counties are".  "No but I can name them".  "All 72"?.

And then she names ALL the counties in alphabetical order.  WHAT?  WHO ARE YOU!!!!

I guess when you work for Lawyers, DOJ and DOC for 35 years for the State you get useful knowledge hammered into you.    I named three counties but missed the alphabetical order part.

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WEATHER - Let's start with the good news. A week from now we should hit 40 degrees.  In fact Monday we will be in the middle 30s.    

Sadly - We have to get through Saturday. Noon time temp Saturday will be about 4 degrees BUT SUNNY (which is a very good thing).  The snow that I mentioned on Facebook Monday is actually ramping up with a fairly good amount.  The latest is 3-5 inches.

I mentioned on Facebook Monday that a storm that was next to Japan was going to impact our weather Sunday and so far it is right one schedule.  A large mass of warm humid air is pushing into Wisconsin to remove the cold air mass and this is going to cause a good size snow event.

Don't be surprised when we start to hear some weather warnings soon.

Have a variable weekend.