Many Morrison residents were questioning the transparency of the Morrison government after feeling uninformed of recent meetings and decisions happening.
At the Morrison public hearing Tuesday night, residents attended to voice their opinions on a new company, McNeilus Steel, potentially coming to W. Maple Street. Many residents had no idea a company was planning to come to Morrison despite some living right next to the proposed building site. The board would have to vote to rezone the land from agricultural to industrial before the company could build there. LeaAnn Ray believes residents were intentionally not informed.
“We were told we were being notified from what Sue (Mayor Anderson) explained by the Morrison city website and the Southern Standard. Can you please raise your hand if you were notified by the Morrison city website or the Southern Standard? OK, perfect. Make no mistake that was done on purpose. It was done very purposefully. They did not want this meeting to happen,” said Ray.
She explained that there was currently 746 people in Morrison, 238 households and the cost of a stamp is 60 cents. Ray says it would have cost Morrison roughly $143 to mail a letter and inform everyone in Morrison about the public hearing.
“Apparently they wouldn’t have had much to show us anyway because we don’t even know what we are doing right now. Way to go planning commission. Whether you are for this or against it, you have to ask yourself why they didn’t tell you. Why they kept this a secret and did it in darkness,” said Ray.
She went on to say she does not trust the Morrison officials.
“Our problem is we can’t trust our civil leaders. They tried to push it through behind everyone’s back and we don’t deserve it, least of all (Lavell Whitehead). Nobody in this room deserves it. You all deserve better than to have your elected officials screw you over. That is not the way we do things in Morrison,” said Ray.
Before the Morrison board meeting, Morrison Mayor Sue Anderson said they were not going to vote on the rezoning that night and will reschedule the vote for Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. Many were confused whether the rezoning had been voted on yet.
“It lacks one more vote. It has been voted on twice,” said Anderson.
“They wouldn’t sell the land unless there was an understanding. Those people would not buy the land unless there was an understanding by our council already right now that they are going to push it through,” said Ray.
“I have been to the last five monthly meetings and I have not seen one vote on it,” said Luanne Laxson. “I have only seen one vote in December. Where were the other votes on it? I have been to the last five meetings. I haven’t missed one in five months. When was the other vote on it? You said you voted twice.”
“We had a planning commission that voted it through. We had a regular meeting where we voted it through,” said Anderson.
There was also confusion on why the board voted on the rezoning on Dec. 5 and put the public hearing notice in the Southern Standard on Dec. 11. The attorney, Kara Youngblood, said everything was done in accordance with the law.
“Did y’all put it in the paper before your December meeting?” asked Laxson.
“We put it in the paper Dec. 11. We had a meeting before we put it in the paper,” said Anderson.
“So you voted on it without anyone having a chance to say anything to any of you. You voted yes. No one in the town of Morrison knew except a planning committee, that I didn’t know existed, and the board,” said Laxson.
“The planning commission met on Nov. 15. It was the third Tuesday like we talked about. The public hearing, which is what we had tonight, was advertised in the newspaper on Dec. 11,” said Youngblood.
“They voted on it on Dec. 5,” said Laxson.
“That’s OK. The public hearing is what had to be noticed in the newspaper and that is what was required and that is what we did. Have we followed the rules in this situation? Absolutely,” said Youngblood.
The rezoning vote will be on Thursday Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Morrison Town Hall on 130 West Maple St.
