According to yesterday’s town hall meeting (attended by less than 30 people) the recommendation was to create a city named Candlewick Lake that had no assets and no services provided to the citizens initially except zoning regulation. Candlewick Association would remain in place and do everything it currently does (with the exception of zoning). If the citizens wanted to create a police department there were various options presented – from using the current Candlewick Security to creating a full-blown separate police department. Taxes would basically remain the same and association dues would also. The point was raised that as a city we would be forced to follow state and federally mandated programs and it would be up to us to fund the programs if no funding was provided.
Questions from the audience were taken:
Could property owners that lived elsewhere vote on incorporation?
No, only registered voters living in Candlewick
How would the lake maintenance be funded?
As it is now through association dues.
Would this give us state funding for roads?
No, since it would remain a private community.
Do the other municipalities (i.e., Poplar Grove, Timberlane and Caledonia) have to approve?
Since we are less than 7500 in population they would have to give their blessing.
Could the new city impose a tax?
That would be up to the city council. If they decided to have a city tax within the first year it would be able to. If they didn't levy a tax in the first year it would have to be voted on by the citizens of the city.
Who makes the decision as to who the initial city council members are?
If the majority of registered voters vote yes to incorporate a Boone County judge would make the decision from the slates of candidates presented.
The end of the presentation asked the question “Incorporation – why not?” It reminded me of my Lead Programmer when I was starting out in IT. We would come up with some fancy bit of razzle-dazzle that was “really cool”, although it would have made the data entry people more work, and he would say, “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should”.
Sandy Morse