Citizen Comments at Town Council Meeting

Suzanne Elger to the Town Council. “I originally intended to come to this meeting to ask a question about why the documents from the federal government relating to the tax evasion case for Zion Outfitters were not included in the agenda packet material for last month's meeting. In order to get prepared to ask my question, I watched the YouTube video of the discussion item. I became incensed. Once again, theTown Council had no stomach for following the process, which would have been to have held an administrative hearing to determine the business license status. Pat Campbell rightly brought up the due process rights of the town, which is us, the residents. The Council was supposed to represent us, the residents who elect you. His concerns were largely ignored. Then the discussion pivoted to intent and that the business owner did not intend to cheat on his taxes. Again, Councilman Campbell pointed out that the documents that were not provided to the public in the packet included intent on 10 charges. Then Mayor Bruno basically downplayed the seriousness of federal tax charges by suggesting, "Let's say I take liberties with my deductions on my taxes and even joked about her husband not divorcing her over cheating on taxes." This statement was astonishing, coming from Mayor Bruno, who had just written a column in the September town newsletter about government transparency and trust. Do not ever expect me to trust a politician who makes jokes about taking liberties on our taxes. And yet, I still wonder why the indictment, plea agreement, and judgment, which are all public documents, were not included in the agenda packet materials. I can only assume that's because you [Town Council] were concerned that the public would read those documents and not come to the same conclusions that you did. Thank you.”

There was then a perfunctory,”Thank you,” from Mayor Bruno.