People in politics usually come with an agenda, some altruistic, others more selfish. I want to compare two such agendas.

The first is that of City Councilor Mike Farrell of Ward 1. He had the unique foresight to have seen a great opportunity in the Ingersoll Arena. Originally, the arena opened for only a few months a year, yielded approximately $19,000 yearly. Farrell’s idea of a capital bond, approved by the present sitting council, keeping the arena open year-round now returns $19,000 monthly, while paying down the bond without using any more tax dollars. The arena is now booked regularly for public skating, hockey and parties.

That is what a real agenda should do: save taxpayers money without cutting services.

Then there’s the other side of the agenda coin — that of purchasing the Gooseberry Barn property. The four people who voted this in at a price tag of $615,000 had, at best, a very weak agenda. The city has lost tax revenue in 2008/2009 of $13,647. Though leasing some part of the land did give a return of about $1,000, the property loses tax revenue of $5,100 for every year the city owns it.

Two of the four people who voted in that regrettable agenda are presently running for office, one for mayor and the other for Councilor-at-large. If things are to progress positively in Auburn, residents need to be extremely careful about who they vote in.

Dan Herrick, Auburn

City Councilor, Ward 3