When Ward 1 Alderman Mickey Austin motioned to approve Marty’s Towing’s variance request last Tuesday night, the silence that followed spoke volumes. Not a single alderman would second the motion. No discussion. No questions. No explanation.
For a city that constantly talks about wanting growth and supporting local businesses, this felt like a contradiction.
The situation began before the new administration took office. Former Mayor Aaron Dees had discussions with Marty’s Towing and gave them the green light to put the building on their Middleton Road property. The business owner invested approximately $30,000 based on this approval. Only later did the code enforcement officer discover an ordinance prohibiting mobile buildings in that area.
Once we posted the story on social media and saw the response we were getting, we thought it would be interesting to take a poll. The Winona Times posted a poll asking, “Should the Winona Board of Aldermen have approved the variance to allow Marty's Towing to place a permanent mobile building on Middleton Road?”
The results caught our attention. With 143 votes cast, 73% voted "Yes, the city should have approved it," 8% voted "Yes, but with strict conditions," while only 16% opposed approval and 3% were unsure."
Some readers commenting on our social media posts suggested Mayor Jerry Flowers should have intervened. To clarify: the mayor can only vote to break ties, they cannot make or second motions. The responsibility is entirely with the aldermen.
And the aldermen said nothing. No discussion, no questions, no attempt to explore alternative solutions. Their silence suggested their minds were already made up, leaving an impression that despite all the talk about growth, they don’t actually want that.
Now these poll votes mean nothing in the long run and are not a complete survey of everyone in Winona, but it’s something worth noting. The people of Winona want to see growth and want to welcome new businesses, but does the administration accurately represent that?
The silence leaves too many questions unanswered. This has been a recurring theme in local government recently and has been a hot topic of discussion in The Winona Times office. Elected officials opposing or ignoring motions without explanation, leaves residents to guess at their motivations.
I understand that they’re not legally required to explain their votes or provide reasoning for their silence, but transparency builds trust. Maybe there were legitimate concerns about the variance, or specific conditions they wanted attached to it. We’ll never know, because they chose silence over discussion.
