GUEST SPEAKER … Republican Congressman Bob Latta was the guest speaker at the Williams County Mayor’s Association meeting on February 16. Latta stated that a big reason for the current inflation is because of President Biden’s shutdown of the Keystone Pipeline. (PHOTO BY DANIEL COOLEY, STAFF)
By: Daniel Cooley
The Williams County Mayors Association meeting on February 16 began with roll call. Eight of the county mayors, Linda Muehlfeld of Blakeslee, Robert Day of Edgerton, Don Leu of West Unity, Duane Thiel of Edon, Ed Kidston of Pioneer, Joe Beck of Stryker, Carrie Schlade of Bryan and Pam Clark of Holiday City, were in attendance.
The mayors approved of the minutes from the January 10 meeting and then approved of the finance report, which had a balance of $1,422.42.
A visitor, Republican Congressman Bob Latta then spoke. He first spoke on the nationwide unemployment problem.
“Of 86,000 manufacturers, they all said the same thing, they can’t get people to work,” Latta said. Currently, 61% of the population is working and we need to get that number up.”
“A big problem is that we can’t get enough people to drive trucks,(to transport things we need). And yet, Nancy Pelosi said that the reason inflation is so high is because too many people are working.”
Latta stated, too, that a big problem with not having enough drivers is that there is a chip shortage. “The chip shortage has caused some auto plants to shut down and China is the one who makes the chips,” Latta said.
“Also, the current administration wants to raise taxes and when that goes up, it just kills us (and the economy,” Latta continued.. “We need to lower taxes.”
Latta also stated that one of the biggest causes of inflation began when President Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline.
“Just four years ago, the economy was booming and the United States was the largest producer of gas in the world,” Latta said.
“But then the pipeline was shut down and now we have to depend on Russia in order to get much of our gas. That has caused gas prices to go up considerably. We need a pipeline.”
The border needs to be shored up, too. Latta said that right now, too many drugs are able to get into the U.S.
“The border is a disaster,” Latta said. “Right now, the biggest cause of death in this country is drug overdoses. We need to go back to what we were doing before (four years ago).”
“We want to get things done, but (the current administration) keeps shutting things down. But I’m still here, helping our constituents fight the bureaucrats.”
Once Latta finished, there was no new business to discuss and the mayors voted to adjourn.
The next mayor’s meeting will take place March 16, 6:30 p.m., at the Kissell Building, 509 North Liberty Street, West Unity.
Dan can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com