Calling gun owners "gun nuts' seems a mild comment if you look at the history of West Burlington, IA mayor Hans Trousil.
Mayor Trousil was elected in 1985 to serve on the West Burlington City Council through 1989. In 1992 he again was elected to serve as a Council Member until his election as Mayor in 1994. He has served as Mayor since 1994.(Looking for council minutes, there are none since March - odd, but seems typical given the history of Hans Trousil. See what Spike posts at Burlington Derailed - Hans Trousil. I found the T-shirt there. Another good source is Falcon at West Burlington City -Trousil)
West Burlington council
For years there have been sewer and drainage complaints to the city, but with no results. It would wise to remember Mt. Pleasant's mayor was murdered in 1986 over a sewer issue.
(From a city council meeting in October 2009) The second controversial issue was the flooding problem of the woman on WB Ave. She has had her downstairs flooded numerous times when Ruthella St. overflows, runs across her back neighbor's yard and into her house. She finally, after 26 years, has gotten an answer from the city - Too bad, it's not our fault, it's yours. Of course, Mayor Trousil dared her to take the matter to court.Trousil's violations of state law run from overreaching (West Burlington to search every renter’s home next year.) to direct violation of state code. By appointing a full-time city employee, as in the police chief, to the regional airport authority:
West Burlington City - No Video
Under Iowa code section 330A.5, " ... an elected official or full-time paid employee of a member municipality is not eligible for appointment to the board."Seems pretty clear to me, but the good mayor says it's okay because the appointment was "temporary". This article was 5 years after the appointment. That's temporary?
Bob Brammer, a spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General's office, said the intent of the code is clear.
"If you read that section of the code, it clearly says an employee of a member municipality cannot sit on the board. On its face, it seems they (the city) could be in violation of the code. However, I'm not in the position to make that legal interpretation," Brammer said.
State, W.B. mayor opinions at odds
The money quote:
"We all knew the code said what the code says. Now what do you want me to say, that we violated the code? If we did, we did. So what, life goes on. If we violated the code, we violated the code. What else can I say? I mean life is going to go on," Trousil said.There is no consequence to the city and their officials when in direct violation of state code. Why wouldn't he be defiant and stand up to the NRA and IFC when they pointed out their anti-gun ordinance will be challenged? He's never had his hand slapped.
Spike at Burlington Derailed refers West Burlington as Trousilgrad and with good reason it seems.
He, along with Falcon at West Burlington City have done a fine job of informing the citizens of Des Moines county of the corrupt officials in Southeast Iowa.
Too bad the citizens haven't listened to them and booted these guys out of office.
At the root is that Trousil is afraid of the residents of West Burlington and if a piece of paper (ordinance) let's him sleep at night, he's okay with that. A piece of paper won't stop people breaking the law, ask anyone at the state pen in Fort Madison. Ask Trousil, he seems to know that concept quite well.
6 comments:
Good research there Stranded. Must be some interesting politics in small town West Burlington, that makes Trousil feel like a big man. The only Councilman to vote against Trousil's illegal gun-ban ordinance in 2002 was Dan Hockett. His term ended in 2003.
Mayor Trousil pushed through this ordinance on 9/23/2002 with one reading instead of the 3 readings required by City Council rules. Hockett objected, but was overruled.
Mayor Trousil wanted to not allow citizens to speak at the City Council meeting. Hockett objected and citizens were allowed to speak.
Mayor Trousil was informed by citizens that the ordinance was in violation of the State pre-emption law. He didn't care. The ordinance passed anyway with Hockett having the only vote opposing it.
Mayor Trousil doesn't care if citizens have 2nd Amendment rights. Maybe the voters in the next election will decide the issue.
http://www.westburlington.org/archive/minu...2002/092302.htm
Hope this link works.
9/23/2002 West Burlington City Council Meeting:
http://www.westburlington.org/archive/minutes/2002/092302.htm
In a council meeting held 8/12/2002, citizens read the State pre-emption law to the West Burlington City Council, and objected to the new ordinance to ban guns from city buildings.
The Mayor and Council then were INFORMED of the Law, but chose to break the law anyway!
(The matter was referred to the City Attorney, but I could not find a copy of the City Attorney's opinion.)
PUBLIC SAFETY – Discuss Restricting the Carrying of Firearms or Weapons in Public Buildings to Law Enforcement Personnel – Council Member Johnson said he asked for this topic to be placed on the Agenda. He said in the past the Council had required any one attending Council Meetings to be checked for weapons. He would like to see this reinstated.
Al Nielson, Hwy 99, presented a copy of the section of the Iowa Code which he said prohibits political subdivisions of the state from enacting an ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful transportation, registration, or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of the state. He said individuals who have permits to carry have already gone through specific procedures. He objects to further restrictions and believes it is prohibited.
The Council agreed to present the question to the City Attorney for an opinion.
http://www.westburlington.org/archive/minutes/2002/081202.htm
Wow, thanks for digging deeper into Herr Trousil's little kingdom.
I'm putting your work on a post of it's own.
Dan Hockett appears to have been standing alone against the Mayor and the rest of the council.
Sounds like a great guy.
If he's still around, I hope he'd consider running for Mayor. He'd get a lot of support from outside of West Burlington. There are many of us who see how important it is to preserve pre-emption in Iowa.
If an exception to pre-emption is allowed in West Burlington, that could be bad news for 2nd Amendment supporters elsewhere in Iowa.
Trousil banned a council member from the council meetings (how he could do that legally?) and I think it was Hockett.
Hockett has some great photos that are published in the Danville paper and at http://www.westburlingtoncity.com/ Lots of sports photos of area teams.
I think Hockett got fed up with it all, but I'm not close to the situation. I lived and worked in Burlington in the mid 80's and left with no regrets. New boss same as the old boss from my observations.
You're right, if this stands, other cities will follow as Dubuque is already talking about it. What would stop a town from banning CCW or put up stricter requirements? The Supreme Court left that door open.
And what a mess that will be.
Thanks again, no4gman.
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