Hole On City's Main Street Begs For Repair

IRONWOOD, MI - Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - A rather large hole has developed near the storm drain on the corner of Lawrence and Aurora Streets. Evidently the City's remedy is to put up saw horses and cones. While this does a good job to alert people of the hazard, it does nothing to correct the problem. The longer this hole sits unattended the more eroded the area will become. As the picture above shows, it begs to be repaired.

City crews have been steadily declining in number. The City is trying to "shop out" more and more work that was once done by City employees. It's time the City recognize the importance of having hands-on local crewmembers that can properly and efficiently correct small problems before they become big problems. The City of Ironwood is very fortunate to have the quality City workers they currently have. We need more City workers not less, and we need to quit shopping out City work to out-of-town entities. City employees pay taxes in Ironwood. They spend their paychecks in Ironwood businesses. Their kids attend (or have attended) Ironwood schools, which brings desparately needed money to our school system. Hiring "bargain" out-of-town contractors to do City work isn't necessarily a "bargain" when it is all said and done.

Being top-heavy in management and lean in hands-on workers results in "repairs" like the one pictured above. City management is not willing or capable to fixing such problems. Our City crews often work in extreme and harsh conditions. They work tirelessly, and many time after normal hours to make life better for the residents of our community. It's time the City management starts realizing and appreciating the asset we have in our City employees.