Now who will be the next….the city council members and the mayor still have time before Tuesday to resign or are you going to wait until the election to get voted out for being spineless.

Interesting- I’d like to hear about these accomplishments and this “vision” for the community…

Interesting- I’d like to hear about these accomplishments and this “vision” for the community…

Accomplishments? Let’s see. TRF used to be the highest-taxed city in MN and is now the lowest-taxed regional center; the city’s debt has been reduced and reserves finally meet with the state auditor requires; the S&P rating that used to be a B? It’s now up to an A+. The city finally had a professional in the administrator position and the silly city employees (who miss their summer Friday afternoons) couldn’t handle it.

You seem to have all the answers but unfortunately you are giving credit to the wrong person..I believe the Finance Director would have more tho do with all these issues. I only hope that the few City employees left will be available to you in case YOU do not have power or other issues after hours and holidays when your dedicated forces come to your rescue. You have no idea of the personnel who have left the city early because of the hostile working conditions. You have lost decades of experience in many departments leaving those left to do the job of many without the knowledge that went out the door. I

Hostile? 40 hours a week is hostile? Get a real job…

Taxed Enough Already? Time to go back to the pre-Torkelson Era when we paid more taxes and couldn’t find a city employee anywhere! But, we had power! Yes! Power to complain and whine and wish for something better! Oh, how I miss those wonderful days when nobody told us what to do, watched where we did it, or brought a measure of respectability and professionalism to the job.

NO Diggity

69 out of 73 city employees says something.

And do you know why city taxes are lower ? How about handing the airport off just because she didn’t want to deal with it any more . That saved the city over $200,000 but sent it to an airport commission to tax over a bigger group of tax payers at a larger cost overall ! And did any of the city employees , including the administrator , receive a cut in pay for having that work load taken off their backs , NO ! There are many ways to show a cut in taxes without it actually costing tax payers less overall ! This is only one . The Mayor needs to be careful in what he takes credit for also . Property values went up a considerable amount also , so the city did not need quite as high a levy ( percentage of value ) to raise the same amount of money !

I am watching this from a distance but find it funny at the beginning of the Article it says Wednesday July 12, 2012…. That would be Thursday July 12, 2012 or Wednesday July 11, 2012… haha

There was respectability and professionalism before Ms Torkelson and will be after. You are one of the very few who have that snobish attitude thinking all government people work directly for you. They work for the Council and do a very good job.

The spineless ones are people like all of you posting with fake names. If anyone wants to make a difference they should run for office and not hide behind some screen name.

Thank you, Jodie, for your service and vision. I wish you well and we are a lesser community without you.

That’s a start now our wonderful planning director mike Moore that does not even live in trf the town he is planning director of can go next he doesn’t care about our parks just the money he is getting payed off from the investors that want to build

This present conflicts are a tragedy for the community of Thief River Falls as other communities look in from the outside. They have lots of questions. The main question I hear from the outside and inside is What has happened between the City Council and the City Administrator and the citizens of the community which includes the city employees. Why aren’t the City Council members listening, questioning and why do they believe everyone but the citizens that are talking to them. Why are they treating everyone in the community like they know it all and you should believe what they believe or what they say. Why are is the City Council taking sides. Why are they walking away from people in the community who want to voice a different opinion that theirs. Why are they not answering their telephone and not offering to get answers for people. Why are you willing to sell the parks for housing. When you say the money will go into the park fund what does that mean to fund what. Why are you allowing outside builders to build an apartment on a property that will cost the city more money in TIF than the other two properties available. Why when you were told you were violating City ordinances you refused to listen and then two weeks later changed the city ordinances to suit your needs. Saying you need housing is not an answer. Why is there not one member of the City Council that has a good relationship with city employees. It is hard for me to believe that city employeesw would not have brought the issue up before it exploded to this. Why did you release so much power to one person without any input. Did someone on the Council approve what was done to Steve Olson. Did someone on the Council not know that the addition to the mediation agreement to change flex time was a violation of labor laws. Why are you saying look what we did for the City in the last two years by not raising taxes when everyone’s house valuation went up and they are paying more taxes. I think these are some of the questions the Mayor and City Council need to answer in order to restore trust.
I think the City Council Members and the community all need to say what do we need to get back to where we were. Maybe they need to began to answering the whys of the citizens because the few listed here are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have not once heard any of the city employees sounding or acting hostile, maybe Jodie Torkelson, or the Mayor when he cut the employees off at the meeting….but never the employees, they never once sounded bitter, when in fact they should’ve.

Where in any of the arguments does it say anything about the silly employees missing summer hours? Those silly employees are there for you at your beck and call, no matter what time of day or night, no matter what kind of weather! You really don’t mind that a professional person is wasting your money on silly mediation cases or giving a $10,000 pay raise without bringing it to the council first? I guess when you work hard for your money you care how your money is being spent! Enough said.

I feel sorry for the tax payers of TRF. I believe Jodie is doing a fine job and is executing the city council’s wishes. If TRF residents (not rural residents) are unhappy with what the council is approving then they should change things at the ballot box. I also belive the city employees should not be airing their greivences at an already charged council meeting. That to me seemed more like a grab for headlines than an attempt to solve a problem.

Maybe we get Scott Brown elected as Mayor? Then see what happens to public unions… If you hate the city council, elect someone else. If you hate the mayor, elect someone else. Screaming in blogs is a pretty dumb way to run a democracy. Vote!

Yes, it says they’re in a union. Duh.

You must be one of the city employees (or family/friend) because much of the rest of the community has. And yes, they all sound bitter.

This amazingly is almost word for word what Jodie Torkelson wrote in her resignation letter (posted on the Times’ website). I think this is just a good indication, yet again, of the egotistical leadership that has been driving TRF to it’s demise. Thief River Falls has the potential to be a great hub of Northwestern MN. But instead of embracing the possibilities, we see the leaders of this town refuse to allow businesses to come into town. There’s more concern over keeping our population under 10,000 people so that the municipal liquor store has no competition than there is for the actual growth and wellbeing of the city. As many have said before…GET OUT AND VOTE and put people into positions of power that won’t abuse it.

This is another good indication of people not knowing what they are talking about. There is no truth to the 10,000 mark/municipal liquor store fallacy. Its something people who’ve never done any homework use to try to attack others. GET OUT AND EDUCATE YOURSELF. Before you criticize others who have had the backbone to stand up in public under their REAL NAME to improve our city, at least have the courtesy to get your facts straight.