Mount Pleasant official chides local website at public meeting

It seems the citizen journalists over at Mount Pleasant Citizen are getting on the nerves of village officials.

The village took the website to task in its official newsletter and attacked the group at a public meeting. The most recent run-in came over the Village Board's decision to award former board member Ed Potter a 3-year, $417,300 contract to become Mount Pleasant's new tax assessor.

The Citizen had questioned whether Potter made the low bid and dug up some documents suggesting he wasn't. Turns out, village officials verbally added another requirement onto the bid process without making the change public. The change made Potter the low-bidder and set off Village Administrator Mike Andreason at a recent meeting.

Here's how the Citizen reported it:

Mr. Andreasen took the opportunity to publicly chide the Mount Pleasant Citizen for what he called "inaccurate information" on the website. Said Andreasen "The Mount Pleasant Citizen chose to report a cost not consistent with the service level used in the comparisons presented to you this evening."

Mr. Andreasen chose not to disclose that representatives from MP Citizen asked him for a meeting to discuss and clarify the bidding before releasing the website article, but Andreasen declined to meet.

First, there is nothing to suggest Potter will be anything but professional and competent as village assessor. But being a former board member, his bid should be given close scrutiny by an independent news source. The Citizen is filling the gaping hole left by the JT's abandonment of Mount Pleasant.

Second, it's a compliment to the Citizen that village officials are taking them seriously enough to address so publicly. It's a strong local website ... we could use more like them. Keep up the good work, Mike!