Luther, IA potentially disincorporating (and the general decline of rural IA) (Des Moines: buy, schools)

[fezzador]

Luther Petitioning To Discontinue Town - WeAreIowa

Luther is a small town smack dab in the middle of the state being plagued by sewage issues, and last year the city council decided (against the wishes of the town's general populace) to fund a sewage system based on the townsfolks' tax dollars. This has spurred a petition, signed by approximately 60 people, to disband the community and therefore let the remaining citizens answer directly to the county instead. There is to be a vote sometime this year to determine the ultimate fate of Luther (I'm not sure if a date has been set up or not).

I don't think Luther is unique, I believe this may be the beginning of a growing trend as more and more small town people flock to larger communities, so we will likely see more and more very small towns close shop. Iowa has over 800 incorporated communities right now, we could easily lose 1/4 of them by the end of the century if this trend continues.

[duster1979]

Apparently the issue is that the City Council voted to approve a new sewer system in a "closed door" meeting. If that's the case, they were in violation of Iowa's open meeting law. But experience in these matters tells me that it's possible that the council probably did hold the required public hearings and gave appropriate notice, but nobody bothered to come and now they're ticked off about the decision that was made.

It appears that there's going to be a public hearing at the IEDA office in Des Moines on April 8.

There are plenty of small cities in Iowa that should probably consider discontinuance and maybe Luther is one of them. But there also a lot who think that they will pay less in taxes and get better services if the local government is dissolved and the county takes over, which is often not the case. They'll also lose any ordinances requiring people to maintain their property beyond what the county requires, which is generally pretty minimal. So that neighbor who never mowed his yard until he got a letter from the city won't mow his yard at all next summer because it's unlikely that the county will make him.

This won't necessarily stop a sewer system from coming to town, either. The DNR is pushing all populated areas to have some sort of sewer system so it's likely that even if they discontinue operation they will likely still end up with a sewer system.

I don't know that I see this as a "trend" at this point as Mount Sterling is the only city in Iowa to discontinue in the last 10 years (which was a situation that I was intimately familiar with).

[funksoulbro]

West Des Moines and Ankeny will keep sucking the rest of the state dry, eventually making Iowa an even more depressing place featuring 600 ghost towns and a big strip of suburban sprawl in the center.

Aren't we all glad the white man stole this land from Native Americans?

[Echohunter]

History reveals the red man stole it from the tan man ..who stole it from the brown man ..who stole it from the lighter brown man . . . .and nowadays .. the tan, brown, and lighter brown man are stealing it back from the white man .. . .and time rolls on . .. ..just like it has since the beginning . . . ... . personally . . .I'm pretty glad I live here in Iowa .. and America . .and without an ounce of guilt for it. .

[fezzador]

To be fair, small towns are on the decline everywhere. It's not an issue unique to Iowa; never has been, never will be. MSP has been sucking rural Minnesotans and North Dakotans for decades, Omaha has done the same throughout Nebraska, northern Kansas, and western Iowa.

Iowa is fairly unique in that for the vast majority of its existence, it didn't have a single dominant metro in the state, it has several small-to-medium sized cities sprinkled homogenously throughout the state. In recent decades, it's been all about Des Moines (and to a lesser extent, the IC-CR corridor). Really and truly, the Des Moines metro is just late to the party. It was just a matter of time before it became more of a dominant force throughout the state rather than just the small area immediately surrounding it.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by Echohunter

History reveals the red man stole it from the tan man ..who stole it from the brown man ..who stole it from the lighter brown man . . . .and nowadays .. the tan, brown, and lighter brown man are stealing it back from the white man .. . .and time rolls on . .. ..just like it has since the beginning . . . ... . personally . . .I'm pretty glad I live here in Iowa .. and America . .and without an ounce of guilt for it. .

This +1.

Look across the globe. How many "natives" still are the main occupant of the land they originally "founded"?

The problem these days is that people's knowledge of US and world history is so poor and limited, they think the US invested slavery and that we're the only nation inhabited by non-natives.

[lurtsman]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

they think the US invested slavery

Grammar isn't properly taught in our schools either (good nature kidding only)

It sounds like Luther is doing the intelligent thing in seeking to disband a local government that was not representing their interests. This is actually a very smart way to solve an issue of inept local government. I would expect this to be a growing trend in the future across America, not just across Iowa. Rural areas, in my opinion, are prone to have very inept local governments. That doesn't mean the highly developed areas have great local governments, they are often corrupt. There isn't really a winning strategy when dealing with the inept and the corrupt, but it looks like Luther is working to make the best out of a bad situation.

PS. Having read the article and regularly looking into corruption as part of my job, this case stinks of corruption. Residents were not given a voice, no explanation was given for the selected system, and for many residents the system was not needed. Eventually someone is going to follow the money and find out who was bribed.

[capitalcityguy]

^ touche.

"invented"

[fezzador]

That's the thing. Iowa is generally considered one of the least-corrupt states (as opposed to the state of my current residence, Alabama, which is regarded as one of the most-corrupt). City officials were elected for a singular person - to represent the citizens of their jurisdiction and their wishes. When they use personal agendas they effectively cease being representatives and thus essentially become an oligarchy, imposing their personal views on the rest of the community regardless of what everyone else thinks. Over half the town's population already called shenanigans (as evidenced by the 60+ signatures on the petition). Yeah, you *could* replace said officials and at least buy some time to keep the town incorporated for a little while logner, but it's probably not worth it.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by fezzador

That's the thing. Iowa is generally considered one of the least-corrupt states (as opposed to the state of my current residence, Alabama, which is regarded as one of the most-corrupt). City officials were elected for a singular person - to represent the citizens of their jurisdiction and their wishes. When they use personal agendas they effectively cease being representatives and thus essentially become an oligarchy, imposing their personal views on the rest of the community regardless of what everyone else thinks. Over half the town's population already called shenanigans (as evidenced by the 60+ signatures on the petition). Yeah, you *could* replace said officials and at least buy some time to keep the town incorporated for a little while logner, but it's probably not worth it.

These little town governments are in the minor leagues (or as Barry Obama says, they're the JV) when it comes to government corruption.

When it comes to major league corruption, nothing can top the current ruling "families" running each Indian reservation. Someone wins an election, he then throws out all the previous tribal presidents' relatives and replaces with his own. They then work together to pocket millions of dollars from the federal government and briberies for government contracts that were supposed to help the people of the reservation. They work diligently at this until they get caught or lose an election to another family.