Peter Passi covers issues related to the city of Duluth. Follow BUZZ on Twitter .
After repeatedly butting heads with city administration, Penny Clark, chairwoman of the Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission, has tendered a letter of resignation to Mayor Don Ness. A copy of the letter appears below:
Dear Mayor Ness,
It is with great dismay that I am writing this letter to announce my resignation from the Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission. I have served as a volunteer on this commission for over 5 years and for the past 3 years I have been the appointed Chair. The DHPC is a commission of the City of Duluth and the reason that I am resigning is primarily because I can no longer work with or for City governmental bodies that do not respect or care about the importance of the City of Duluth's Heritage Preservation ordinance that DHPC commissioners are asked to uphold. To me, this translates that city officials have little regard for the preservation and protection of Duluth's rich history.
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I took my position very seriously and was often met (as the whole commission was) with disdain as if I was the adversary when in reality I was merely upholding the law of our ordinance (and the Secretary of Interior Standards) which our City and County chose to ignore on the last two issues (the County Jail and the City Hall windows.) So I am choosing to 'throw in the towel' because 'you can't fight City Hall'. I will no longer allow myself to be treated with the disrespect that I endured-a disrespect that no volunteer should have to endure! It is un conscionable that the Council and employees of Duluth should be able to treat its citizens with such impertinence.
Since I was an appointee to the Commission by the St. Louis County Historical Society, my replacement on the DHPC will be appointed by their Board. I have informed them of my resignation and the reasons behind my departure.
City of Duluth, you are losing a hard working volunteer who cares deeply about the town that I chose to move to 30 years ago. Luckily, especially since I am in employed in a business with major tourist interaction, I still love Duluth and am willing to put my disappointments aside and let everyone know how much I love this City and its rich heritage! I can only hope that some major infrastructure changes and attitude adjustments are made so that the City does not have other volunteers follow my path.
I have asked the DHPC's Vice-Chair Carolyn Sundquist to do the agenda and lead this month's meeting on Tuesday, September 28th.
Sincerely,
Penny Clark
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