Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Ketchum needs council/manager


I was the mayor of Sun Valley from 1981 to 1994 and worked under the strong mayor/council form of government. During those 13 years, we built the bike paths in Sun Valley, voted overwhelmingly in support of the bike paths throughout Blaine County, spent two sessions at the Legislature to get the approval of the local-option tax and agreed to snowmaking on Dollar Mountain, among other actions. We were active on the Airport Authority and formed the Multi-Government Council of Blaine County. We consolidated the Moritz Community Hospital and the Hailey County Hospital, eventually building St. Luke's Wood River Community Hospital.

Contrary to my preference for a strong mayor government, I believe Ketchum is being misled. I moved to Ketchum in 1995 and have been displeased with the government most of the time. There is too much going on—and very confusing: the U.R.A. (a good "cause" but I do not think the mayor and four council members should be on the board, controlling the city budget and the URA budget), the CDC and many dollars in a housing fund, the Town Square, hotels that don't happen but developers still being given extensions and "exceptions to municipal ordinances," the mayor's salary of $36,720 and some question as to whether he actually lives in Ketchum, and an incredible $120,289 salary for Lisa Horowitz, whatever she's responsible for.

I am for a change to the city manager form of government. Don't be threatened by the current government's assertions that the change is going to "cost exorbitantly" and "negate all the promises that have previously been given hotel developers." Let's run Ketchum like the corporation it should be run as!

Ruth Lieder

Ketchum




About Comments

Comments with content that seeks to incite or inflame may be removed.

Comments that are in ALL CAPS may be removed.

Comments that are off-topic or that include profanity or personal attacks, libelous or other inappropriate material may be removed from the site. Entries that are unsigned or contain signatures by someone other than the actual author may be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or any other policies governing this site. Use of this system denotes full acceptance of these conditions. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing, Inc.

You may flag individual comments. You may also report an inappropriate or offensive comment by clicking here.

Flagging Comments: Flagging a comment tells a site administrator that a comment is inappropriate. You can find the flag option by pointing the mouse over the comment and clicking the 'Flag' link.

Flagging a comment is only counted once per person, and you won't need to do it multiple times.

Proper Flagging Guidelines: Every site has a different commenting policy - be sure to review the policy for this site before flagging comments. In general these types of comments should be flagged:

  • Spam
  • Ones violating this site's commenting policy
  • Clearly unrelated
  • Personal attacks on others
Comments should not be flagged for:
  • Disagreeing with the content
  • Being in a dispute with the commenter

Popular Comment Threads



 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.