Woodbury County Board Supervisor Matthew Ung has written an open letter expressing his frustrations arising from the construction, litigation, and, now, mediation regarding the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center.
He states that the public is partly at fault for the continuing issues: “Some citizens need to hear it repeated that we aren’t going to directly cause further delays by following their advice.”
He argues that the conversations around making Mark Nelson the County representative at mediation have been to the detriment of himself and Dan Bittinger: “if some scenario does arise where I am requested to represent the county at mediation, how can I effectively do so with any legitimacy, when Mark [Nelson] repeatedly referred to me as “Option C” and “the third best option?”
Ung also writes that the county should appoint Supervisor Dave Deitrich to the LEC Authority to replace Mark Nelson: “It’s time for the new members to step up.”
He later says that, “Following mediation, I would be supportive if the Board wanted to then re-designate Mark as county representative.”
Nelson told Siouxland Public Media on Thursday that he had not read the letter or spoken with Ung since its publication.
Mediation regarding the county jail issues is expected to take place in November.
Editor's note: Supervisor Ung posted a comment to Facebook and noted that SPM News had inaccurately represented his letter in our report. We have reviewed our reporting in light of his critiques.
Our original report stated:
"He argues that the choice to make Supervisor Mark Nelson the County representative at mediation was made to the detriment of the other supervisors. And that he has been treated disrespectfully by the process." We have revised for clarity in the main article.
Our original report stated:
"Ung also writes that Supervisor Dave Deitrich should represent the County in mediation: “It’s time for the new members to step up." In the letter Ung states Dietrich should be appointed to the LEC Authority to replace Nelson. We have corrected above and apologize for the error.
