I was saddened to see the announced resignation of Paul Hartung. The departure of him and his wonderful family will be a loss not just to the electrical department, but to the community.

We wish him and his family well in their new endeavors.

Isn’t it time for our city politicians and administrators to get out of the utility business?

Many businesses have experienced improvements in effectiveness and efficiency by refocusing on their core mission,

and outsourcing other functions to the experts.

It is hard to understand why we believe a city power utility is a core mission of our municipal government,

when most other cities have left that business long ago.

If this is effective, maybe the city should also consider being in the phone business, or the cable business, or even in the Internet business.

Why do these politicians and administrators think that they have the specialized technical knowledge, skills and resources necessary to run an effective utility?

Sell the Franklin power system to a qualified utility. Free up the capital and debt to invest in our schools.

It is unlikely that city power will either draw people to our community, or impact our children’s lives the way that serious commitment to city schools would.

Kim Kreider

Franklin