New council member replaces Covill as committee chair

Email this story Print this story Archives

7 comment(s)

By ROD STETZER
rod.stetzer@lee.net
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 12:08 PM CDT

Jack Covill expected more. Perhaps a note or someone spelling out what he was doing wrong.

Instead, Covill wound up being ousted from his chairman’s role on the city’s Transpor-tation Committee, which oversees public safety matters.

He had been chairman of the committee for 3 1/2 years. It’s a panel that has discussed but not taken action on a possible workplace smoking ban in the city.

On Tuesday night, the council voted 6-1 — with Covill the lone dissenting vote — to approve a shuffling of committee assignments.

With the elevation of council member Greg Hoffman to mayor and the Aug. 19 appointment of Susan Zukowski to Hoffman’s former Ward 7 seat, the city’s Committee on Committees shuffled assignments on Aug. 25.

And that panel decided to recommend making Zukowski the leader of the committee and have Covill and council member Brian Flynn serve as members.

“You’re taking an appointed council member and replacing an elected council member. That’s beyond the pale,” Covill said.

Council President Dennis Doughty and council member Robert Hoekstra sit on the committee, which is down a member since Hoffman became mayor.

“We have the best people in the best positions,” Doughty said in defending the shift.

“You said (the committee) wasn’t professionally run,” Covill said, who was upset that he received no correspondence about why the committee chairmanship was being taken away from him.

“It’s pretty disrespectful,” he said. Covill said there seems to be an agenda involved in the decision.

Hoekstra denied that, saying that things change on councils.

“Sometimes, that’s the way it is,” Hoekstra said.

Covill said for him not to receive any correspondence about the job he was doing as a chairman before the change was made was extremely unprofessional.

Other committee assignments included:

-- Revenues Committee: Greg Dachel, chairman; Zukowski and Hoekstra members.

-- Personnel: Hoekstra, chairman; Flynn and Jason Anderson as members.

-- Recycling: Anderson, chairman; Dachel and Covill as members.

In other council action

-- The council on a 7-0 vote approved setting up Tax Incremental Financing District No. 11 for a proposed sand mine processing plant in Chippewa Falls.

“We are estimating approximately $12 million of valuation (being) created by the sand processing plant,” City Planner Jayson Smith said. The plant would create 20-25 jobs, he said.

-- Cathy Coyle, who operates a business called Drive Up Plants out of her home at 45 E. Birch St., talked to the council about a city police officer having told her she could receive a citation.

“I couldn’t really see where I was posing any threat to a city service,” she said. She places plants on curbs so customers can easily buy them and pick them up.

Covill said he had received several complaints about the business because of a fear of a loss of parking.

Police Chief Wayne Nehring said there is a problem with Coyle having the plants on a curb.

“They didn’t issue (a citation), but they were trying to get your attention,” Nehring said.

Mayor Hoffman referred the matter to the Transportation Committee.