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My
View:
Committees,
Committees, Committees
"If You Want to Kill any Idea in
the World, Get a Committee Working on It."
Charles F. Kettering
by Dixie A. Walter
April 25, 2008
American humorist Fred Allen
once remarked, "Muddle is the extra unknown personality in any
committee."
After
attending a myriad of committee
meetings through the years I tend to agree with him. At the end of
December a special town council meeting was called to discuss
committees.
As has often happened "muddle"
appeared and I left the one hour meeting with no clear view of how the
town's
committees are supposed to work, or even exactly what the
committees were going to address. There was a lot of conversation
about "ad hoc committees, standing council committees and
permanent committees" none of which were settled at the council
committee meeting.
Rich Adams, the councilmember who appears
most concerned about the correct processes for the town, asked
for the special meeting because of irregularities he found in the mayor's
ad hoc committees. Adams pointed out that he has been on the council
for two years and had not been informed when committee meetings were
to held and neither was the public.
For the past two years there have been no standing committees
within the town, just ad hoc committees of
council
members appointed by the mayor. The mayor chooses members
and may eliminate them if he feels the need, for whatever reasons.
The town currently has seven separate
communities: parks; community center; public utilities; finance;
airport; public safety and cemetery. This doesn't include the
planning commission which is basically an appointed committee or the
town council which is basically an elected committee.
During the council meeting of April 14 Mayor Tom
Smallwood said the committees were "doing well."
Watch brief video of mayor's committee remarks.
I wonder. Citizen
attendance has fallen off to almost nothing. Some
council members have stopped attending committee meetings and most
folks are just plain tired of going to meetings where "muddle" seems
to be prevalent.
In my opinion the two most important issues
facing our community are public safety and finances. The first couple
of public safety committee meetings were well attended by
citizens and committee members. However, council members and citizen
attendance has fallen significantly. The last safety committee meeting
I attended April 2 was sparse and that includes both citizens and
council members.
The finance committee meeting of April 15 was
interesting because of the radical change on the committee.
When this committee was formed I felt good about it since two
citizens with
vast financial expertise, David Marchetti - former town treasurer and
longtime banker - Mike Jordan - accountant - were members along with
Councilmember Jim Valentine, who has vast experience with municipal
budgets and Mike Schaub, new town treasurer.
I was the only member of the community in the
audience. In other words, an audience of one. Or two, if you
county my audio recorder. I saw no evidence of any one taking minutes
of the meeting. Nor was anyone recording what was being said. Or if
they were, the recorder was hidden. To listen to the audio of
the finance meeting please go to Steve Lind's site -
http://www.s-lind.com/index_files/packetspage.html
and click "Audio of Finance Subcommittee 4-15-08."
Well, the face of that particular committee
changed radically. Both Marchetti and Jordan resigned. This left two
empty seats at the table which were filled by former mayor Cliff
Murphy and Mary Decker, a next-door neighbor of Finance Committee
Chair and Councilmember Bobbi Allison. And, Valentine has asked to be
removed from his position. At this writing we don't know who will
replace Valentine.
Watch video of finance committee's new faces.
From left to right are Cliff Murphy,
Tom Smallwood, Mike Schaub, Bobbi Allison and Mary Decker.
Committee
member names should be presented to the council and voted into the
position. I don't remember this happening. What I do remember is
getting a list of committees members and that was that. However, the
list has changed significantly since January.
The next financial committee meeting is
scheduled for Tuesday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the town hall court
room.
My
View:
One More Town Crisis, This One a Matter of Life or
Death
Emergency Medical Services in Danger of Being
Dropped by Fire District 15
"Worst
Case Scenario, We're Going to Have to Lay People Off."
~Councilmember
Bruce Rath at Public Safety Committee Meeting...
by Dixie A. Walter
February 23, 2008
Eatonville
Fire Department Mission Statement. "The Eatonville Fire Department
is committed to the preservation and protection of life, property and
environment from the adverse effects of fire, medical and hazardous
conditions. This will be accomplished through sustained training,
progressive education and constant diligence to provide the highest
level of public service."
A
public safety committee meeting February 20 lasted over two hours with
no clear solutions in
sight concerning the budget for emergency assistance from District
15. Members of the committee, Bud Lucas, Jack Chappell, Bruce Rath
and committee chair Rich Adams asked Mayor Tom Smallwood to
"negotiate" with Fire District 15 regarding their mandate to
drop services to Eatonville by April 1 because of unequal costs. The
mayor said he would get with District 15 Chief Bob Vellias the following
day. He is supposed to give a report of his progress at the
February 25 town council meeting.
The mayor began the meeting saying, "I
haven't been this frustrated since I became mayor" regarding the
current situation a propos the issue of the other fire districts, 15 and
21, who have given the town a deadline to contact with them. However, he
got sidetracked by his "personal" feelings about the fire
department.
Smallwood immediately launched
into a lengthy discourse about how the town needs a full-time fire chief
"to attend meetings and some other things," and, in the
future, the need for a public safety building. "I believe we
need to update our fire hall...We need a public safety building to house
the fire department, police, sheriff, district court and other county
offices." He added, "Someday we need to look at a public
safety building. I think we should start looking now...Build a nice no
frills public safety building."
After this plea from the mayor had gone on for a
many minutes about the "outstanding" people who had applied
for fire chief and the need for a new building, Bud Lucas said the
"crisis wasn't with personnel, it is about the emergency
situation."
Interim Fire Chief Josh Wikander, who was ill and
couldn't attend the meeting, put together a comprehensive packet for
the meeting. He gave five options for solving the problem. "Do
nothing; accept contract offered from South Pierce County Fire and
Rescue (15) as written; increase the funding of the Eatonville Fire
Department and follow the recommendations from the town council adopted
5-year plan, 'Eatonville Fire Department Operational Review and
Readiness Study,' prepared by Progressive Fire Solutions; enter into a
contract with a private agency to provide BSL (Basic Life Support) and
ALS (Advanced Life Support) service for the town or renegotiate the
contract offer from South Pierce Fire and Rescue to better benefit the
town."
There were conflicting views about a proposed contract,
dated November 16, 2007, from District 15. Some said the
contract would make the Eatonville Fire Department null and void, while
others said they had talked with Chief Vellias and felt the contract was
able to be negotiated.
Options
From Chief Wikander
In Chief Wikander's report regarding accepting the contract he
states, in part, "A Town of Eatonville Fire Department would
cease to exist. Will increase response times. There will be no fire
station in Eatonville...Will put the fire and EMS (Emergency Medical
Services) needs of the citizens of the Town of Eatonville in direct
competition with the needs of the citizens of District 15, 17 and the
City of Roy."
Lucas, an Eatonville resident and former
assistant fire chief in Tacoma, thought the town should accept the contract
as "a stay of execution." Adding, "I don't see,
rationally, how you can do anything by April first."
Most in attendance appeared to be willing to put a
"levy lid lift" on the ballot so Eatonville citizens could
vote to increase funding for the emergency assistance. Jack
Chappell, who has been a volunteer firefighter "all of my
life," explained that lifting the "lid" on the levy, in
other words, increasing the standing levy, wouldn't become effective
until next year. And cautioned that the levy should be put on the next
ballot. Chappell also advised the town should try to hire a local person
as chief instead of bringing in someone who doesn't know, or live, in
the area. And warned the levy lid lift had to pass by 60 percent of the
vote and money wouldn't be available until next year.
Smallwood said he would "give anything to
have a local person," and wished Chief Wikander had applied. Later
he mentioned Wikander had applied but had changed his mind.
Councilmember, and committee chair, Rich Adams, said "first and
foremost we have to keep a dialogue going with District 15." And
noted this crisis could have been averted at least two years ago as the
problem has been brought up many times, but nothing was done.
Adams, a former medic and volunteer firefighter,
has publicly, and repeatedly, cautioned town leaders that deep
budget cuts in the fire and EMS services were "setting the
department up for failure."
Toward the end of the meeting Smallwood brought up
a sales tax. And Rath, who had earlier asked for more funding from
the town said "Worst case scenario, we're going to have to lay
people off." Suggesting that money could be found if the town
didn't have so many employees.
The proposed contract from District 15 was
available to the town sometime in November. Negotiations could have
started at that time. However, the contract only became public knowledge
recently. Why? Good question. ENN has been told the contract wasn't
given to fire and EMS committee members when it was given to the town
officials.
To read the letters which give Eatonville an April
1 deadline for emergencies and the proposed contract from District
15 please see Fire
and EMS Crisis
- you
will also find emergency response times and how much money the town
needs to come up with in order to be on an equal level with others who
depend on District 15.
To
hear the audio of this meeting please go to Steve Lind's Web site at
www.s-lind.com/index_files/packetspage.html
My
View:
Housing
Crash has Significant Impact on Community...
by Dixie A. Walter
January 10, 2008
Despite
rather rosy statements by realtors, developers, banks and officials, the
national housing market
crash has had a significant impact on the
Eatonville area. A search through the Internet shows numerous sites devoted to
home foreclosures, auctions, pre-foreclosures and bank-owned homes.
According to experts the "inventory" of bank owned homes continues to
grow as foreclosure rates escalate.
It's unfortunate, but there are a large
number of homes listed in the Eatonville zip code area. Another sad fact
- there are also a number of such homes within the town limits.
A site listing homes for sale in Eatonville
also gives the numbers for other parts of the county. Eatonville, on
Monday, January 7, had 175 homes listed and three days later the number was
179.
Graham had 349 January 9, and 358 listed January 10. The
listings change on this site frequently. To see
this site please see Zip Realty
http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/search/form/city.jsp
This
site doesn't claim to have every listing, but it is efficient in keep visitors
updated, sometimes every few
minutes.
To see the homes in foreclosure
and pre-foreclosure please go to
minutes.
To see the homes in foreclosure
and pre-foreclosure please go to
98328 Homes For Sale - AOL Real Estate
For more information about how the housing
market crisis is impacting our area please see
Eatonville
House Foreclosures - Eatonville Bank Foreclosures
There is also timely information at Foreclosure1 -
Free
Foreclosure Search - All Foreclosure Information
Few Places
Untouched by Crisis...
Few places in America are
untouched by this mortgage/credit crisis. Why? There are news
articles going
back to
early 2005 warning of a major housing problem looming. I have read
them for close to three years. The problem was, the mainstream media
didn't pick up on the problem until it was impossible to ignore. By
then the train had wrecked.
Am I surprised our town and
surrounding area are hard hit? No. I am surprised, however, that the
people,
town leaders in particular, who should have known this train wreck was coming, didn't
see that it was important to recognize, acknowledge it, and do
something to protect us.
Instead we were
monotonously spoon-fed pablum about how good things were going to be. We have a
community
in trouble and some wish us to put on the same blinders they seem to
wear. It appears they want us to continue thinking how
good things were a few years ago when the developments were
booming.
History is replete with stories of
towns and cities that boomed, then went bust. Eatonville managed to survive
the bust of the early, and longest boom, when logging all but died.
That boom kept the town going for decades. We all know of
communities which didn't survive when the oil, gold, silver,
railroads, etc. booms died. And we all know of communities which
neighbor us that are almost ghost towns now.
No Plans for
the Future...
The towns and cities that eventually
died had no plans for the future once the boom was gone. I wonder:
When
people started getting nervous because the gold ran out,
did
their leaders keep telling them, "We will hit another big lode.
Don't worry, it will come back."?
The towns and cities that made it
were the ones who saw reality, then looked at other resources to make
their communities
viable. Eatonville's leaders apparently have fallen into the "It will come back."
mind set. This is obvious when you listen to officials and town staff
talking about the financial fiasco in town, and telling us all about
the building activity coming in the future.
It took far too long for them to
even admit what we already knew: Counting on development was
not the smartest option. But even so, they keep talking like it
might be slow for awhile but it will come back around. How do they
know this when they didn't know the development boom was dying
before their eyes?
Why should I trust town leaders, and
"staff," to tell me how
good my future will be in this town? These people haven't proved to me
their
judgment is trustworthy. In fact, just the opposite. What they have
proved to me is that they are stuck in the development bubble. They
should let it go, and focus on ways to save the community they put in
such a terribly vulnerable place.
The chances of the development boom
happening the same way again are slim. Sure, people will eventually build
again, but it's extremely rare when a busted boom ever swings back
to its glory days. And those who study such things say this housing
market mess may not start to correct itself for another two years or
more.
Certainly the town
"leaders" should be worried about the lack of development.
They bet the farm on building the water filtration plant which
was supposed to be paid for by 20 new homes a year. Now they are
scrambling to find ways to make money to help pay for the plant,
which has been a huge financial strain on the citizens. And I don't
see an end in sight.
Thousands of articles have
been written about the troubles brought on by the collapse of the
housing market. One, published in the News Tribune, comes close
to explaining some of the problems facing communities like ours. One
interesting part is about building inspector positions left vacant
because there is nothing for them to do. If you haven't read this
piece, I recommend taking a look at it. thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/241957.html
My
View:
Another Mystery in Town
Someone is Moving in the
Shadows...
by Dixie A. Walter
December 22, 2007
Below you will see an anonymous
email sent to a large number of Eatonville area citizens, business
people and some, but not all, town officials, both elected and appointed. The
email addresses some of the issues facing the community in the future.
Such as raising rates, improving local government and the economy. The
shadowy person, or persons, is attempting to discover if there are enough
people interested to gather for a meeting or two.
There are 52 combined eddresses on
two mailings. It appears that some them may have been taken from revitalization
sign up sheets quite awhile ago, as one or two are outdated. Although
ENN is not on the mailing lists sent, we have received forwards from
several citizens who are concerned about the anonymity surrounding the
provocative call to action. The Dispatch is not listed on the two
eddress lists sent to ENN. I did not see Mayor Tom Smallwood's name
either.
People who have talked to me aren't
taking issue with the reasons for this email, they are taking issue
with the fact that they have no idea who sent it. The mysterious
writer should have identified himself, or herself, at the beginning.
This would give credibility to the concerns of those, whoever they
are, trying to take
action.
It's not as if some citizens aren't
interested in the issues, they are. However, it's almost impossible to
build a movement when the leader is invisible. Like others, I want
to know who this is, what is the motive and goals?
Perhaps it's someone who
really cares, who sincerely wants to help the community and is afraid
to name themselves. There is an atmosphere of fear around as some are
frightened to speak out. But, it could be someone who has more
self-interest at heart. Without a name and face how can anyone know?
So Much Unrest...
Personally I have never seen so much
unrest in this little town. There is an undercurrent of anger and frustration
one finds just about everywhere, and it's been bubbling for a very long
time. It may have finally bubbled over when the anonymous person(s)
decided to hit the "send" button.
I'm not surprised something like
this has happened, it often does when people are angry and
frustrated However, everyone needs to know who is doing
this. I've often thought the town needed an Ethics
Committee, not appointed by any political types. I'm not
surprised, but I'm as puzzled as everyone else as to why this was done
anonymously. Instead of focusing on the issues right now, recipients
are pondering on the mystery surrounding the email. If the writer has
good intentions, and the strength of their convictions, there is no
reason not to be up front from the start.
Outgoing Councilmember Meridith (Weilert)
Wright has answered the author from at least one eddress list. Her
email,
copied to over 30 people, is below the original "Eatonville
Concerns" email. Her answer is a political statement of sorts. Ms. Wright defends the government she was part of for two
years, which is natural for most politicians, especially when
they have made costly mistakes.
She also defends raising rates.
Interesting, as Ms. Wright was part of the council who helped put the
town in a financial mess, and continued to vote "Yes" for
spending after the problem became severe. To be honest, before I saw
who signed her mail, I wondered if it had been written by the mayor, as
it pretty much mimics a lot of his standard statements.
She also takes the writer to task
for being anonymous. Yet sounds as if she knows the identity when she states,
"...I wonder who is
interested in organizing yet another group of the same people
and gathering your input without stating who they are." (Emphasis
added.) How does she know it's the "same people" if she
doesn't know who the people are? And just who does she lump together
as the "same people?"
Anonymous "Eatonville
Concerns" Email...
From:
Eatonville Concerns [mailto: eatonvilleconcerns@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 2:59 PM
Subject: Eatonville Concerns
Eatonville Concerns:
This last year has been one of considerable turmoil for town
government and there are a number of issues which remain
up in the air. The reason for this email is to see if
there are enough people in the community who would be
interested in getting together to discuss and take some
basic actions on a few basic issues. The goal would be
to determine if there are some positive directions
which a group of citizens could take to:
1) Improve local government and make its actions more
supportive of its citizens.
2) Improve the local economy by attracting a balance of
local businesses and supporting these businesses by more
local shopping.
3) Protect the local
community and its citizens by discouraging the tax and
utility fee increases that seem due to come in 2008.
Keep it a good place to build, live and retire.
If you would be
interested in attending a couple of brief meetings (or
just participating on email) to address these issues
or help take some actions on these or other issues, please
email back to EatonvilleConcerns@yahoo.com
Let's do something in
2008 to make Eatonville an even better place.
Ms.
Wright's Response...
Date:
Sat, 22 Dec 2007
First
off I'd like to say thank you to everyone who works on every
level and in many ways to support Eatonville. I know you
don't hear it enough- thank you.
Regarding this anonymous email; while this sounds like a
noble cause I wonder who is interested in organizing
yet another group of the same people and gathering
your input without stating who they are.
Aren't you curious who this is?
I'm curious how this unnamed entity expects citizens to
"make government actions more supportive of its citizens",
and "protect" the community by attempting to
discourage tax and fee increases that
wouldn't be brought forward if they weren't necessary.
Utility rates must be set to provide adequate revenues
to operate the utility in a fiscally sound manner;
while no one likes taxes and fees, they are a necessary
part of government and utility function.
Our government is not trying to "stick it" to
anyone.
We are all busy people. Why would anyone want one more
meeting? We all already belong to several organizations,
The Chamber, The Cottage Merchants, EDDA, the Lions,
etc. We all want to see Eatonville flourish.
I do not see undermining government as the way to
strengthen our community. You want change in government?
Attend council and planning commission meetings, speak
(respectfully) with those who are volunteering their time
and lives to serve you and cast your vote come election
time.
Schedule
an appointment with the appropriate town staff or the mayor. Participate
more fully and actively in our existing community organizations.
Be part of the change you see needs to be made in those organizations.
Currently citizens and councilmembers alike are demanding
more transparency in our government; why should our
unnamed "organizer" offer any less than full
disclosure of who they may be?
If they truly have something new to offer I am interested
in hearing about it, but until they reveal who they are
and what their plan is I won't be making space in
my calendar for one more meeting.
Thank you all again; it is people like you who make
Eatonville wonderful.
Positively,
Meridith Wright
My
View:
Water Rates to
Double
Early Next Year?
Sounds Like It...
by Dixie A. Walter
December 16, 2007
During the December 10 town
council meeting Bruce Rath stated that he has been telling people
"on the street"
water rates will have to double, probably sometime next year. Rath is
former appointed mayor and present council member, "Everybody is
going to be upset come March or April when water rates go up."
Adding, "In two years we went in the hole $500,000. Water has got
to double." Rath noted, "We should have taken care of this a
year and a half ago and everything wouldn't be out of whack."
Through the months there have been various
reports by Mayor Tom Smallwood and Town Administrator
Gary Armstrong about how much money has bled into working the
water treatment plant properly. Paraphrasing, officials said the
treatment plant's costing us more than we ever thought it would.
Since dollar numbers change like a chameleon, it's very difficult to
know which dollar number is in use at any one time. The figure I've
heard the most is the water department was losing $50,000 a
month. But it could be less or it could be more.
At an earlier meeting Armstrong said
the plant wasn't acting up as much as it had in the past. There have
been several very brief mentions about the plant and the problems
there, however, the brief mentions eventually add up and form a
pattern.
So there you go. Too many "town
leaders" through the years were banking on almost unlimited
growth in Eatonville. So they thought we have to have a big,
expensive water filtration plant to provide water for all the growth
that was racing toward us. Racing toward us but slamming into a brick
wall emblazoned with the words "Housing Market Crash."
Filter Plant
Has Been a Financial Drain...
During the housing boom council members and Jamieson Van
Eaton, public works director, repeatedly told us it would take up
to twenty new homes a year to pay for the water filtration
plant.
Evidently they had stars and
dollar signs in their eyes, since everyone pushed so hard to get the
plant. Now it's a money drain on the citizens of this town.
Why? Because the community
doesn't have the growth to support it. This is no secret and it's no
secret that for the past two years, or more, our elected
representatives failed to see the impending housing crisis. Or, did
they fail? Could it be they saw it and couldn't believe it? Did they
see it and not understand it?
There have been warning
signs for two years. Mayor Smallwood either didn't see this bust
coming or he's disingenuous. At the December 10 meeting he said,
"We didn't know about the economy." There's no excuse for
not keeping on top of the critically changing face of the housing
market fiasco and, thus, the economy.
Perhaps more
attention should have been paid to the town's own building activity
reports. In 2004 there were 447 building permits
"released." this figure excludes November and
December. In 2005, excluding the month of December, there were
350 permits "taken in." For the entire year of 2006, 322
were taken in. And this year 214 permits were taken in.
Town Administrator
Gary Armstrong announced, December 10, that 17 building permits had
been confirmed and would be picked up by the end of the year. Then
added, 12 of them were storm drain permits for the "town
houses." Both Smallwood and Armstrong have talked publicly about
the amount of permits which have not been picked
up.
This lack of foresight is very sad since
it means citizens have to keep digging into their purses and wallets
to continue paying more and more for the right to live in
town. Water rates will go up. The mayor said he didn't agree with
raising water rates. Yet at the November 26 meeting Smallwood said he
had, "no foresight to see storm, sewer, electric going up. Refuse
may go down." However, he did remind us "we're working on
that" regarding water rates.
A Vicious
Circle...
It appears the town leaders have put themselves in the proverbial
vicious circle. They had no alternatives in mind to
"growth." No plan B. Like wearing blinders, or ear plugs,
they didn't even listen to people who tried to alert them that the fat
days were dwindling down and the lean years could be here soon. Nope,
none of them would give credence to the folks who were trying very
hard to keep the town out of trouble. They still won't
listen.
Now that the growth has
stopped they must make you and me pay for it with higher utilities.
Vicious cycle: Citizens must pay for growth which may not come for
years. National experts say it could take several years before the
housing market comes back and it may never happen the same way
again. So, what can the town do to entice people to move into existing
homes? Make it harder to live here by raising rates? Many people who
live outside of town say their utility bills are about half of ours
and say they wouldn't move back into the town limits ever; it's too
expensive.
Newly elected Town
Treasurer Mike Schaub spoke to the council saying he talked to the
mayor about the budget but wanted to bring up some of his concerns
"in this forum." In other words, the citizens have a right
to know what is being said. Schaub pointed out the lack of wisdom
shown by the council making interfund loans then taking 15 years to
pay them. He explained that money loaned because of the current budget
shortfall and stretching it out over that length of time means there
is no access to that money. "The interest on these loans is a
very large cost." He recommended paying the loans
"quicker."
The incoming treasurer
also asked the council to go through the budget "prior to making
rate increases" and making sure everything is "cut to an
efficient level before raising rates." Naturally the
administrator and mayor defend the cuts they have made. But they
aren't enough, say the people who understand budgeting far better than
I.
Citizen Cindy Ames
spoke, pointing to the fact that since her family moved to Eatonville
in 1999 a utility tax was put in to pay for police and fire. Also,
storm drain rates had been raised. She asked the council to be very
careful "putting the burden on the citizens." The tax she
speaks of was supposed to last two years. It's been more like six or
seven.
Population of
People on Fixed Incomes...
And that's exactly what has happened and will continue to happen.
Eatonville has a significant population of people living on a
fixed income. Some can barely make it from month to month as it is.
What will a doubling of water rates do to them? It's a very valid
worry. Those folks have paid all their lives and shouldn't be strapped
in their golden years. And how will young couples starting families
manage in this town?
Making citizens pay for
any administration's mistakes won't help citizens, but may go toward
making people think twice about moving to Eatonville.
It looks as if
Eatonville citizens will also be pressured into a corner where they
will have to pay for fire and emergency medical services (EMS).
While Councilmember Rich Adams repeatedly makes pleas for more funding
in this critical area of safety services Mayor Smallwood sort of
tap-dances around the issue. His latest hand out, December 10, states,
"Fire and EMS needs to find a better way to fund and support its
operation. Levy lid lift, sales tax. There are things that we would
like to do but we will come to the council for a change in budget if
if have the fund." (Please see handout December
10 Mayor Handout
). What's really being said is that citizens who want these
services will have to reach into their pockets to pay for them.
According to Adams,
"The mayor has said under no circumstances will he lay off anyone
[town employees]. Interesting to point out that a number of town
staff have been attending council meetings lately, along with their
union representative, Alice Phillips, who has also attended a couple
of recent meeting.
The mayor does, however,
admits to budget cuts in parks and "fire and EMS." During
breaks in the long, long council's budget public hearing, I
heard people, who know about municipal budgets, say the budget just
passed December 10 could probably fall into trouble in January or
early spring.
This is very scary and
very sad. Adams said the 2007 budget worked properly during the
month of January 2007, then didn't work again the rest of the
year. "We gave you the keys to the car and it was brought home
wrecked." It should also be pointed out- when Adams makes these
statements no one refutes them.
(Publisher's
Note: Several citizens spoke about the budget at the December 10, 2007
town council meeting. Among them was Steve Lind who made reference to
a letter he had given to the council November 26. Lind also reminded
the council a transformer could go out at the substation and asked
where the town would get the money, "a quarter million
dollars" to replace it. Read Lind's ideas for cutting the budget Lind
Letter )
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