Who gets to serve on the Franklin County Planning Commission appears to have gotten some tempers flaring. Several openings on the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals brought several applicants, one of which was Joe Ferguson of Ottawa. Ferguson apparently was not considered for the position, which brought about accusations that a county official was making the selections rather than the full county commission. Gene Hirt of Lyndon has been hammering county commissioners for weeks on the planning commission issue, he says he’s seen it all before.
Brown later responded that charges he or his staff are playing dirty by making secret selections are absurd. Brown says County Chairman Randall Renoud asked him to recommend what he, Brown, thought would be the most qualified applicants, and that’s what he did.
