OPINION | By The Watertown Post
Let’s be honest: reporting on Watertown city government has become the journalistic equivalent of babysitting a bunch of over-caffeinated toddlers armed with Face-Book accounts and fragile egos.
Every meeting turns into a petty squabble, every email thread ends with someone feeling “disrespected,” and the policy debates—if you can even call them that—are usually just a thinly veiled excuse to throw shade at one another. At this point, it’s less government and more middle school drama club with a municipal budget.
Once upon a time, covering City Hall felt like a public service. Now? It’s like chronicling a never-ending reality show where nobody wins and the viewers stopped watching two seasons ago.
Let’s run through the checklist:
- Passive-aggressive email chains? ✅
- Eye-rolls on the record? ✅
- Councilmembers openly mocking each other? ✅
- Actual progress on city issues? ❌
We’ve got front doors locked tighter than the front gate at Drum, code enforcement officers playing Where’s Waldo with garbage complaints, and a city council field that looks more like the cast of a low-budget reboot of Survivor: Jefferson County. And through it all, everyone thinks they’re the only adult in the room.
The dysfunction is so baked in, you can practically hear the eye rolls in the audio recordings. One side says the other’s corrupt. The other side says they’re being persecuted. Meanwhile, the streets still have potholes big enough to qualify for their own ZIP code.
It’s not just tiresome. It’s boring. And that’s the real crime here. The stakes are real—your tax dollars, your city services, your quality of life—and yet the people at the helm are more focused on who “liked” what on Facebook than solving actual problems.
So no, we’re not going to cover every city council tantrum like it’s Watergate. We’re not interested in playing stenographer to a group that doesn’t know the difference between a leadership crisis and a group chat meltdown.
Watertown deserves better. But until then? We’ll be over here covering stories that actually matter.
Like raccoons paying rent.
— The Watertown Post
Less City Hall. More Reality.
About the Author
Bunch of cry babies even last one of them.
So you’re just gonna make fun of people trying to fix the city? Real classy, Watertown Post.
This is a hatchet job and whoever wrote it probably didn’t even graduate journalism skool.
Bring back the horse cops. things were better when we had horse cops.
ok but like…who even IS the mayor??? i thought it was that guy who owns the pizza place
They all voted 4 Harris…CRAZY…no wonder this “shitty” is in despair.
You are gay my friend.
The mayor is a republican you idiot.
i dont even live in watertown but this is wild LMAOOO do yall need a group hug or a fire drill 🙂
This is why no one reads newspapers anymore. Bunch of opinionated bloggers with a superiority complex.
Bravoo Watertown Post! 🔥 You nailed it. It’s like Jerry Springer with zoning laws; that may or may not apply.
I love it when I get my WaPo push notification, it means someone is in trouble.
This is the most honest piece of local journalism I’ve read all year. Sad that it’s also the funniest.
What Watertown is this? I’m in Wisconsin and our city council mostly argues about chickens.
No offense but this post gave me a headache and also I think my cousin is on the council so I’m gonna go throw up.
Hans Wilder is a GAY NAZI FAGGOT!!!! And he knows it! He voted for Harris don’t let him fool you. Voting records show he is a leftwing GREEN!
RINO
No offense but this post gave me a headache and also I think my cousin is on the council so I’m gonna go throw up.
Good morning to you too.
I AINT VOTIN FOR NONE OF EM TILL THEY FIX MY STREET IT’S BEEN 7 YEARS AND I LOST 2 MUFFLERS AND A CUSTODY HEARING CUZ OF THAT HOLE
Who even runs Watertown now? Is it that lady with the birds or the guy who yells outside the Dunkin?
READ A BIBLE AND MIND YOUR YARD
i tryed to go to city hall once but the door was locked and i thought it was a escape room
Sounds like that pothole has more legal authority than half the council. Maybe we should elect it next cycle
Plot twist: The real puzzle is figuring out who’s actually in charge.
Sir this is a Wendy’s.
The GAY WATERTOWN POST IS a gay gay gay fag mag.
Raccoon paying rent? That sounds racist.
Fuck you Hans Wilder, go back to FLORIDA we do not want you here!!!!!
all im saying is i’ve never seen the city manager and Bigfoot in the same room
lol
Everyone gets it at the same time. site is slow.
That’s because Bigfoot lives in Lowville and pays his taxes. Unlike SOME PEOPLE.
Are u obseesed with the word gay or what?
If the city wont fix my sidewalk im gonna plant corn in it
The mayor owes me $14 from 2003 and I WILL get it back
People are active on here in the morning.
Is the city still giving out free mulch or was that a dream I had??
Not to change the subject but anyone know where I can buy a used snowblower?
I think the mayor is a hottie.
The govment in this town is a JOKE. thay just argyoo all day and not do nuthin about the TRASH or the POTHOLES. my dog could run the citty better and he’s got worms
stop worying bout the city hall drama and start fixing them dam sidewlaks i triped and spilled my meatball sub
The comment section is a hoot.
School.
Its an article not a post, its not facebook dumb dumb
i aint sayin the councel is bad but i seen better leadership at a meat raffle in Glen Park
My cousin’s boyfriend works for the city and he says this article is 40% lies and 60% slander, so check ur facts. BITCH
People are so mean. so what if someone is gay!
massatucheets
Either state that you are going to run for a city position, or STFU. 😜
“Hans, the Mattress Messiah, and the Lamp Post Rebellion”
An Open Letter to the Self-Appointed Voice of Watertown
Dear Mr. Wilder,
Congratulations on your recent spiritual awakening, sparked by a rogue mattress and a moody streetlight. Truly, no greater injustices have plagued a city since the dawn of municipal government. Your heroic transformation — from Keyboard Avenger to Aspiring Mayor — will surely be sung in sarcastic tones around every pothole you’ve ever driven past.
Your latest op-eds read like the diary of a man who just discovered Twitter in 2016 and never logged off. You’ve managed to tie Russian collusion, the Democratic National Committee, local trash pickup, and raccoons into one giant conspiracy corkboard. Somewhere, Alex Jones is nodding in admiration.
You’ve accused everyone of being “sheep.” But from where I sit, it looks more like you’ve mistaken civic complexity for deep-state sabotage. Instead of accusing all council members of drinking Kool-Aid, maybe try sipping a glass of patience, reading a budget document, and learning to discern the difference between those obstructing progress and those fighting for it.
Also — that “Survivor: Jefferson County” line? Cute. But here’s the thing: you’re not Jeff Probst, Hans. You’re a guy who thought Facebook outrage should instantly become public policy — and now wants a mayor’s desk instead of a comment section.
Yes, city government is messy. Yes, meetings sometimes devolve into bickering. But while you were lobbing digital tomatoes from the sidelines, some of us were actually trying to get things done — like, say, getting your streetlight fixed.
But I get it. Satire is easier than solutions. It’s far simpler to shout “sheep!” from the bleachers than to build consensus at the council table — especially when you’re not even in the room. You mock dysfunction while offering zero ideas, zero votes, and zero plans. All hat, no cattle.
Now you want to run for mayor? Based on what — mattress response time? That’s not leadership, Hans. That’s Yelp review activism.
And if you really believe you’ve got something to offer, bring ideas — not insults. You lump everyone on council and every candidate — obstructionists, do-nothings, reformers, even write-ins — into one cynical caricature, because nuance kills your narrative. But we’re not a monolithic group, and your article isn’t journalism. This one’s lazy, manipulative spin.
If you ever bothered to distinguish between those working to fix this city and those content to block progress, you’d have to drop the only card you’re holding: pretending we’re all clowns so you don’t have to take any of us seriously.
Where we do agree, Hans, is that Watertown needs more grownups in the room.
Sincerely,
Cliff Olney
Watertown City Councilman
(Democratically elected, not DNC assigned)
https://shorturl.fm/av0c6
https://shorturl.fm/vPrcL
https://shorturl.fm/p1E6Y
No one gives a shit what you think, Clifford.
STFU and go smoke another bong, ya loser! 🙄