Councilor and mayoral candidate Greg Zylkas wife is a Little Falls city office employee. And not a very friendly one, I might add. She could use some training in customer service skills.
Many Little Falls residents are concerned that a majority of council members are too closely tied with the Little Falls Coborn's Superstore that is managed by Councilman Greg Zylka.
If Brad Hircock were to be elected Alderman at Large, there would be 4 Coborn connected councilors and it COULD EASILY SWAY/INFLUENCE decisions. When 4 councilors vote no the vote fails. The council can shut anything down with 4 no votes. Let'$ just $ay Aldi or Cub Grocery store were interested in locating in Little Falls. How likely do you think that possibility would be if Hircock were elected.
******************************
Aldi stores, I believe DO have an interest in our area, and I for one, would love to see much more local competition. Competition is good for consumers. It usually keeps prices low. For a variety of reasons, I buy much on my grocery list from Aldi. They pay a starting wage that is closer to a living wage than other stores. They allow their check out cashiers to be seated to minimize workplace injuries.
HyVee Grocery stores who may also have their eye on this area for a store, is 100% EMPLOYEE OWNED, which increases superb customer service and quality of products.
COBORNS is employee owned but only gives something like 10% employee ownership.(unless things have changed since they became an employee owned business. I was not alone in my view that employee ownership was allowed by the Coborn family owned stores for the SOLE PURPOSE of avoiding UNIONIZATION OF EMPLOYEES.(Something vehemently opposed by upper management. Managers were instructed to report ANY UNION activity immediately to the store manager to squelch any possible union influence. Managers had to follow procedural manual instructions to the tee, on avoiding union activity from creeping in, or risk losing employment). Coborns does not pay any healthcare costs(unless this changed recently) to their THOUSANDS of PART-TIME employees, who include single mothers who desperately NEED healthcare for themselves AND their children.) Part-time staff are regularly scheduled just less than full time hours, to purposely avoid paying healthcare benefits. I was in fact told by my former store manager that if we allowed ALL OUR EMPLOYEES HEALTHCARE COVERAGE managers healthcare costs would INCREASE FOR ALL OF US !!!! I didn't buy it then and still don't. Why should large corporations like COBORNS(over 5k employees) be given CORPORATE WELFARE for their employees healthcare?¿ We all pay, when corporations won't pay their employees a living wage. Poverty wages BEGET POVERTY. Coborns outlying departments(like photo and floral) managers get an inferior disability plan.(unless this has changed.) The more essential departments like meat and dairy managers, get better and longer disability. This doesn't make sense to me, and creates contention among managers. Another troubling issue is human rights violations. Rich Cousins(human rights enforcer for St. Cloud) spoke upon my invitation, during my council request (in 2013) for Little Falls to implement a human rights committee. He stated that there have been human rights violations of Little Falls residents(mostly single mothers and older employees) in the St. Cloud area. Many Little Falls residents commute to St. Cloud area for their employment.
*****************************
Nobody has more interest in their company if THEY OWN A PART OF IT. I met the former owner of HyVee, and her daughter at a trade show in Minneapolis, and was impressed. As a lifetime florist, I admired the savvy idea to focal their floral departments by positioning them in the FRONT OF THEIR STORES, so the first thing customers saw was the loveliest department in the store. This was a stellar idea for many reasons.
I would also love it if a Trader Joe's would locate here.
******************************
On the council is Jeremy Hanfler, who in recent years(after Jeremy was elected to council), wife was promoted to a full time position at Coborn's. Jeremy is also on the City of Little Falls Planning and Zoning Commission,(and was former board chairman) that makes recommendations to the Council on building permits, ordinance changes, conditional use permits and more.
Councilman Loren Boyum has been a Coborns' Ace Hardware employee.
Coborn's pharmacist Brad Hircock, candidate for Alderman at Large on City Council and was recently endorsed by his fellow co-pharmacist(from Coborn's) Gary Sperl(recent letter to editor supporting Brad). Remember these two pharmacists both jumped ship from WalMart pharmacy to get employed by the Coborn's family. What kind of incentives were they possibly enticed by and by whom?
Jerry Lochners(former co-city administrator and long time city employees)wife is a Coborn's employee.
Lisa Luing (city staffs) husband was a former employee of Coborns Ace Hardware store.
How many other city department employees have links to the Coborn's connection??
Little Falls is not that small of a town.
This is another possible CONFLICT OF INTEREST for the council and city staff, and another reason why the city should enact a conflict of interest/ethics policy immediately. I will be urging them to do just that, tomorrow night. Oct. 6, 2014 work session at 6:30 p.m.
Citizens are concerned with a majority of Councilors association with Coborns corporation, because this could affect future businesses (grocery stores) locating to our area.(Such as Aldi and Cub.)
Illegal off premise sign in Coborns Superstore parking lot.
I also worked at Coborn's in 1979 when I was just a boy. We started planning our evil empire way back then. We would get together and go to local flower shops and pee in their flowers so all the business would come to Coborn's 30 years later
ReplyDelete