May we play through?

Government is a strange thing to behold at times.

We live in a representative democracy, where the majority of people that take the time to cast ballots select the people that will make our laws and spend our tax dollars.

At all levels of government, there are times when the job of an elected representative is overwhelming. There many, many minute details involved in running a city, county, school and state -- and don't even get us started on the national level.

Sometimes, elected officials need help with these details. Government employees can offer advice, other times elected or appointed citizens make recommendations to the governing body. These study or sub committees can focus on the details, sift through the minutia and provide an informed recommendation.

But, ultimately the decision rests with our elected officials.

That point was driven home this past week when the Le Mars City Council chose to bypass the recommendations of the parks committee on who should operate the bar and grill at the municipal golf course and do their own face-to-face interviews with two of the persons who had applied to lease and manage the facility.

A week ago, the park committee had recommended that the proposal submitted by Kathy Schwader be approved. The motion to approve Schwader's proposal resulted in a 2-2 tie vote with Councilman John Leonard recusing himself from voting, citing a possible conflict of interest.

After a presentation by Schwader and Mike Fiddelke, who worked as the golf professional and general manager at Landsmeer Golf Course in Orange City for the past 14 years, the council voted 3-2 to accept Fiddelke's proposal.

The council is ultimately responsible for every decision. The fact that they chose to take this matter into their own hands says a great deal about the importance they place on management of the golf course bar and grill.

It should be interesting to see how this all plays out.