Just because a notable is upset about his property being used as a depository for cat 'stuff', we the rest of the citizenry, have to pay for yet another whim from a squecky wheel? "500 to 1,000 strays" it has been said, come on, that is nothing but an opion expressed to further an undefendable claim. This whole issue reminds me of when in history the fine folks of old eradicated all cats from Europe, which in part led to the Black Plague. Kinda makes one think. Dave Curtis
I wish Johnny Penning would get as upset with the utility bill we got served this month in as much as he is overwrought concerning cats in the city limits. I really am grateful that I am trying to run a business on the first floor of my home. I don't know if we could survive if I had a second location to support. This month's utilities is almost double our house payment. Where is the concern for those who aren't able to cover their costs? The threat of shutoff? A recent e-mail went thru the B&B grapevine and I agree with every word. I am copying it here but witholding the author and encourage them to take credit later if they so choose:
Dear friends in business,
I, too, am feeling a great disappointment in trying to operate a business within our beautiful historical town of Hermann. Yesterday as I walked my little dog, I saw that Nana's Place has, regretfully, closed. I haven't seen the new Dystelfink shop (where Die Hiemat used to be) open in a long while. I am saddened that it is so difficult for any small boutique, B&B and other businesses to survive. Unless you are lucky enough to be a land baron or corporate CEO, you will find yourself wondering if it is even worth the effort to be in business.
Here's some comments I've received from business owners I've recently had conversations with.
From a grocery store owner - "Our last utility bill was $10,000".
From a retail shop owner - "By the time I pay my employees, my rent and utilities, I have not earned anything for all the time I've put into this place."
From a another local shop owner - "We had to beg to get more time to pay our utility bill."
From a restaurant owner of a well-established restaurant - "Between the drop-off in business and the high utility rates, I almost go broke each winter."
From a manager of a winery - "This January was the slowest we've had in years."
The last issue of Advertiser-Courier had the City of Hermann Financial Statement for July 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009 published in it. Although it takes a magnifying glass to read its very very fine print, I see this ( + indicates excess revenues over expenditures, - sign indicates deficiency of revenue over expenditures):
Electric Fund: + $715,628.51
Natural Gas Fund: - $107, 083.24
Water Fund: - $113,471.96
Waste Water Fund: + $9,502.74
Refuse/Waste Fund: + $32,770.56
My math shows the above numbers applied to each other to have an end result of $537,346.61 in excess revenues over expenditures. The General Fund also shows $39,876.01 excess revenues over expenditures. All other city categories showed excess revenue over expenditures, with exception to th Frene Creek TIF District Special Allocation Fund which showed a deficiency of $27,035.99. The CDBG Downtown Revitalization Fund Showed Total Revenue of $335,879.00 in and $335,879.00 out. (I don't know where you go to find an accounting of this fund in detail.) And now we have voted to approve $6.25 million in revenue bonds for fixing the sewer system, which apparently is necessary.
However, going back to the five categories shown above, doesn't it seem like maybe the City could charge less for its utlities, or am I missing something here?
My own utility bill was approx. $700 and I practice every conservation tip I can think of. I turn off all small refrigerators when the rooms are not occupied. I use compact flourescent bulbs all throughout the inn, and turn off anything that isn't absolutely necessary for conducting business or seeing my own workspace. I keep the gas furnace thermostats at 52 for the upstairs and 57 in the downstairs where I stay. When there are guests, I then bump the heat up to 65. I wear sweaters in the house and use a small electric heater set to 65 to heat the room I'm in if I am staying in the room more than thirty minutes. When you have a slow winter month with only a few room nights sold, you can see how difficult it is to maintain your business, not to mention the other mandatory expenses of insurance, taxes, website presence, telephone and internet service. Spring and Summers are spent catching up. During the summer the bills are high again due to air-conditioning (a necessity if you have guests or customers). By the end of October you might be even again with your expenses, but then you are faced with another winter. Between Chamber of Commerce dues, Website costs and the very high costs of newspaper or Visitor's Guide advertising you will be lucky to have a nickel for your own pocket.
To make the situation worse, part-time employment is not easily found to supplement income, nor is it easy to sell your residence or business and move on, although you can see that is what a lot of folks are trying to do. There are properties still on the market from since when I moved here at the end of 2006, and more and more going on the market everyday.
I picked up the Missourian the other day and was appalled to see three pages of foreclosures listed in the legal notices. Compare this to only two tiny columns of want ads, mostly for high qualified professions such as nurses. In our little town we are lucky if we see two help wanted ads. Lots of home for sale or rent ads though, and a lot of homes in our area also taken back by the banks. Banks, as you are aware, are slow to loan now, trying to keep the FDIC and the Federal government happy with their financial status, however, if they don't help out the local business owners how will business thrive and be able to boost the economy. The banks and our city council members ought to be brainstorming on how to save our city from becoming a ghost town.
So, here's what I think we should all be thinking about. We can no longer stand by and wait for Big Government and Wall Street to get things back to normal again. We need to look at the microcosm and see what we can do for each other within our little community. Trapper's Grill has an $8 lunch two days a week and El Ranchito an all you can eat bar. Panda Buffet is reasonable. Wings A'Blazin' offers daily specials. CountyNewsLive.com posts Surviving the Recession tips. What can the rest of us do to help out our locals to help make it affordable to live here? What can we do to help each other individually? Can our local Hermann retail businesses offer other discounts or incentives for the locals. Hermann residents need to shop locally and support their Hermann businesses as much as possible. I always look here first for what I need and only drive elsewhere if I can't find it in Hermann. If I get a few dollars ahead I try to spend it here with our town's economy.
How on earth are we going to attract new businesses or residents to this city with these conditions? New businesses create more jobs and provide a better tax-base. Where will the high school kids who want work go? How are we going to keep our real estate market healthy? We don't want to follow suit to California where there are so many bank foreclosures on the market that houses have dipped below half their value of four years ago and where 319.000 people have moved out of state over the course of one year, seeking greener pastures.
We need to put pressure on the local newspaper to lower their advertising rates. I think I'm going to pull out of the Visitors Guide this year to trim my budget back. Maybe if more folks did so, they would rethink their rates.
We need to set up a place where things can be bartered. Maybe a weekly newsbulletin, too, where things for sale or giveaway or trade can be listed without an ad price. How about one of our vacant buildings being turned into a thrift shop where things can also be bartered?
But most of all, we need to go to the City and put pressure on them regarding the electric rates. In spite of all the committee work that is supposedly being done, our electric is still too high. Hermann Minicipal's policy of "we bill on the 1st, you pay on the 10th or get a 10% surcharge, and if you pay after the 20th you get disconnected" is a ridiculously strenuous policy that does not allow for any hardship situations. If they turn off your utilities, your building must be retrofitted to updated codes with an inspection before they will turn your utilities back on. Plus your water, garbage, sewer gas and electric are all bundled into this monopoly. What really has been accomplished to lower electric rates in the past few years, does anyone know? Why are their collection policies not in alignment with other larger utility companies? Isn't enough that we are being gouged? Why would anyone want to purchase a home or business in Hermann when it is so much cheaper to live in the County?
And now we have the cat issue and the talk of exterminating cats. Here's a clip from the CountyNewsLive.com report:
"Hermann Police Chief Frank Tennant suggested hiring a Washington-based companny called Show-Me Predator to deal with trapping and disposing of feral cats. “Basically, it’s a $45 service charge for them to come out for the day and $20 per animal,” Tennant said. Other options, including a trapping-only company and the local veterinary clinic, were not as economically feasible.Tennant also reminded aldermen that an ordinance about domestic cats and a public education program are necessary precursors to combating the feral cat population. City Attorney David Politte is formulating an ordinance, and Tennant will submit a fact sheet to aldermen before making any decisions on dealing with the stray cats."
Doen't this seem to always be man's solution. Something gets in your way - just exterminate it. Never mind trying to work out compassionate alternatives to God's creatures. Just trample right over them - after all we have Human Sovereignty over animals, right? Wrong - we have this only if we deserve by acting as their loving and protective stewards, not by exploiting them or abusing them. We've spent thousand of years domesticating animals and making them dependent on us and encroaching upon their habitats and now we get mad if they seem to be underfoot. How 'bout we take some of those "excess revenues over expenditures" and pay for the "trapping only" service?
Let's all make it a point to be at Monday's 7pm City Council Meeting and speak our minds. I may be an idealist, but it is the idealists that have gotten much accomplished for the better in our Nation.
Hope I haven't offened anyone, and thank you for reading this. I would like to do everything possible to stay here in Hermann because I love this town and its people. I just want to see it better for all of us.
I don't live there so I cannot comment from THAT persective, but i'm there often enough it seems!! Were there last week, went to Radio Shack... the CountyNewsLive office, Wings a Blazin for lunch, quick drive about the town, and then out 100 east towards Washington. We saw a total of ONE cat!!! There may be a lot of them, but they were all hiding THAT day!!! Maybe they "heard the news"????
I agree that Hermann and/or gasconade county is long overdue for an animal shelter. I also believe that a TNR (trap, neuter, release) program may be the least controversial, albeit probably not the cheapest, way to deal with the problem of stray cats. But cheapest is very rarely best.
We must remember, though, people are the basis of this problem. Feral cat populations spring up when PEOPLE don't get pets spayed and neutered and then for whatever reason the cats end up outside. They reproduce at an exponential rate until you have a large colony, and subsequently a large problem. Feral colonies often take a large toll on native animal populations (such as songbirds), disease is rampant due to fighting between animals and lack of vaccination, and fatality rate is very high - feral cats rarely live more than three years.
The people that create problems such as these are rarely held accountable, and even more rarely do they do anything to help solve the problem. I am more than willing to help with the committee in any way that I can to help find a solution to this problem. In the long run, though, it's going to be up to people to be more responsible pet owners.
Stray cats?
Just because a notable is upset about his property being used as a depository for cat 'stuff', we the rest of the citizenry, have to pay for yet another whim from a squecky wheel? "500 to 1,000 strays" it has been said, come on, that is nothing but an opion expressed to further an undefendable claim. This whole issue reminds me of when in history the fine folks of old eradicated all cats from Europe, which in part led to the Black Plague. Kinda makes one think. Dave Curtis
Seriously
I wish Johnny Penning would get as upset with the utility bill we got served this month in as much as he is overwrought concerning cats in the city limits. I really am grateful that I am trying to run a business on the first floor of my home. I don't know if we could survive if I had a second location to support. This month's utilities is almost double our house payment.
Where is the concern for those who aren't able to cover their costs? The threat of shutoff? A recent e-mail went thru the B&B grapevine and I agree with every word. I am copying it here but witholding the author and encourage them to take credit later if they so choose:
Doen't this seem to always be man's solution. Something gets in your way - just exterminate it. Never mind trying to work out compassionate alternatives to God's creatures. Just trample right over them - after all we have Human Sovereignty over animals, right? Wrong - we have this only if we deserve by acting as their loving and protective stewards, not by exploiting them or abusing them. We've spent thousand of years domesticating animals and making them dependent on us and encroaching upon their habitats and now we get mad if they seem to be underfoot. How 'bout we take some of those "excess revenues over expenditures" and pay for the "trapping only" service?
well
I don't live there so I cannot comment from THAT persective, but i'm there often enough it seems!! Were there last week, went to Radio Shack... the CountyNewsLive office, Wings a Blazin for lunch, quick drive about the town, and then out 100 east towards Washington. We saw a total of ONE cat!!! There may be a lot of them, but they were all hiding THAT day!!! Maybe they "heard the news"????
CATS!
Now that's a lot of cats...500-1000. There shouldn't be a mouse left in the entire town! Maybe there IS a good side to stray cats...no mice.
Spay and Neuter!
I agree that Hermann and/or gasconade county is long overdue for an animal shelter. I also believe that a TNR (trap, neuter, release) program may be the least controversial, albeit probably not the cheapest, way to deal with the problem of stray cats. But cheapest is very rarely best.
We must remember, though, people are the basis of this problem. Feral cat populations spring up when PEOPLE don't get pets spayed and neutered and then for whatever reason the cats end up outside. They reproduce at an exponential rate until you have a large colony, and subsequently a large problem. Feral colonies often take a large toll on native animal populations (such as songbirds), disease is rampant due to fighting between animals and lack of vaccination, and fatality rate is very high - feral cats rarely live more than three years.
The people that create problems such as these are rarely held accountable, and even more rarely do they do anything to help solve the problem. I am more than willing to help with the committee in any way that I can to help find a solution to this problem. In the long run, though, it's going to be up to people to be more responsible pet owners.
Is there a Vet in the city
Is there a Vet in the city limits of Hermann??? Seriously, have a reason for asking. Anyone??