LEADERSHIP: Needed at city, KH

The last few days have clearly demonstrated how leaderless and ineffective the mayor and City Council are. On Oct. 20, they released a statement condemning racism and white supremacy because some citizens of our city exercised their rights to open carry arms in the city.

Now the mayor and council want to meet to implement a mask mandate after Panhandle Health rescinded their failed mandate.

These antics could be ignored if the mayor and council were doing their jobs to lead the city. But on the heels of all this, Jon Ness the CEO of Kootenai Health has alarmed citizens by declaring KH is out of critical care resources and may start shipping patients to God knows where.

Yet in more than four months, Jon Ness and KH have done virtually nothing to expand the critical care resources at KH despite knowing businesses were going to reopen, schools were going to reopen, and the “second wave” of the Chinese Virus was coming. When demand for a product increases, real businesses increase supply to meet that demand.

Yet the mayor and City Council had no problem handing KH nearly $100 million in Urban Renewal benefits for a 20-year project.

Instead of issuing empty declarations and meaningless mandates, the mayor and council should spend their time demanding that KH increase critical care resources to meet community needs. If citizens are investing $100 million in KH, we should get real resources, not just wider streets and pretty green areas.

WARREN MUELLER

Coeur d’Alene