Dear Editor:
During a recent town council meeting Mayor Barberio announced that the city would not be investing money into the present location of the Lake Hiawatha Branch Library. This issue has been on the back burner since the Mayor took office in 2021. The city received a grant from the state before he became mayor for a second time. Mayor Barberio announced the city has other city-owned sites that will be considered for a new location. I speak for all that use the Branch that is very welcome news!
The mayor stated that during his visit which was THREE AND A HALF YEARS into his present term, he found the build to be substandard. That struck me as a familiar wording of the structure. That is the exact phrase I used when I spoke to several members of the council members on more than one occasion “OFF MIC” as the mayor likes to say. For those who do not attend council meetings, this is when the public and the council can speak off the record if they choose.
City Hall is 3.3 miles from the Lake Hiawatha Branch and I believe the mayor lives in Lake Hiawatha which means his commute to the Library could be much less than his trip to City Hall. Why did it take 41 months for Mayor Barberio to visit a site that is the source of many questions aimed at the Mayor and Council?
If the Mayor thinks the building is lacking at present he should have been there when things were so much worse. So many lights were not working because the tubes needed changing that residents had to use their cell phone lights to look for titles in between the stacks, there was no lighting in the parking lot for nearly EIGHTEEN MONTHS which was a life safety issue to all that ventured into the lot in total darkness. The handicapped entrance if that is what you want to call it, does not and has not met the ADA code since the day it was installed. It has been completely broken for years. All these issues were brought up time and again at council meetings and were ignored.
Now that we are only seven months away from the mayoral election Mayor Barberio has suddenly taken an interest in a problem that should have been addressed years ago. Once again the mayor is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to addressing the needs of the community. Perhaps he spends most of his time on things that he or his good friends think are more important, say like PILOT PROGRAMS?
Mr Mayor the residents are not blind, we see through these transparent actions. I don’t know what is worse the lack of initiative to get things done that need to be done, or the fact that you believe you can hoodwink the residents into thinking they are your top priority.
Lastly Mr. Mayor please stop mocking members of the board of education when they speak at a council meeting. You very well know by statute they are required to announce they are speaking as a private citizen and are not representing the Board of Education. Yet on every occasion you mock them for saying what is required. You then announce you are the mayor “24/7”. Well if you are on the job 24/7 why isn’t more being accomplished under your administration?
Richard Suarez
