I do want a fire chief.
But do I want this one?
That’s a hard pill for me to swallow right now.
I think the chief has done an outstanding job with his men and women.
I am proud of every one.
I am proud of his leadership skills with his volunteers.
So I am going to reach out to the volunteers right now.
I see the trust and respect that you have for your chief.
But understand by his own admission he said “he isn’t a numbers guy”.
(As quoted from the document).
And when I hear statements like that coming from the chief I have concerns.
He is the department head of an emergency services department.
He is in charge of his budget and that is numbers and you either can or cannot manage money.
The record is full of errors, misappropriated funds and un-authorized actions of the chief which have placed a financial burden on the city.
I am not talking about the fire truck or fire hall.
The chief has problems with documentation to establish financial facts.
The chief has problems with keeping up with reports required by his very agreements to council.
I have even read a report that the chief felt he only had to answer to other governmental agencies concerning the unauthorized 911 grant fiasco the chief got us into.
That to me showed a lack of respect towards his employer and this city.
It also showed a lack of respect for the office of fire chief and the men and women that serve under him.
Then we have this budget and all the fund issues and locating missing funds that keep being revealed.
Then I also have a problem with the man cave when nobody authorized anything other than building a new fire station. I never heard about the extreme fire hall makeover.
We were talking unlawfully borrowed money and I am not placing the unlawful part on the chief. Just the fact that it was borrowed money.
Well if I combine all of this together and it is clear to me that the chief may be a great firefighter and a leader of men, but he is lacking in his upper management skills and seeking approval before he does things.
But right now I cannot get over this budget.
I see funds missing.
The record is full of accounting errors and nobody seems to know where funds are.
Which leads me back to this.
The chief changed the billing dates on service billings we provided to customers and his excuse is; “he is just following orders just like anyone else”.
(As quoted in the document).
At that point I lost my respect and trust in the chief and I also think it showed disrespect for the not only himself. But it showed disrespect for the city, his position as chief, the office of the fire chief, the chiefs volunteers, a violation of the oath of fire chief’s and a violation of criminal laws.
So tell me how can I have trust and respect like you do?
Understand up until this time I saw what the work, professionalism and leadership he brought to this department was doing.
I saw what the level of professionalism was doing to not only the volunteers but the city as a whole.
I saw proud volunteers that looked and acted like professionals around town and have spoken with a few.
And I understand how you may feel loyal to your chief.
So can you tell me how I can ever overlook these facts?
Cody
19 comments:
Cody,
It is obvious that Cascade Locks does not have the revenues that are needed to fund a paid fire chief position.
It is also obvious that if we want to have a paid fire chief, we need to fund the position, not with the hoped for income from an enterprise style of department, but with some form of a tax or levy on all of us. This is how every other city does it.
However, there are alternatives, other than a full time paid fire chief, available to us and these need to be explored. The council needs to step up to the plate and research these options. Then they should bring their findings to the people and allow us to make an informed decision on the future of our fire department.
As far as Jeff Pricher is concerned, in any other city, he would have been relieved of his chief's duties for misconduct, misappropriation of funds, and insubordination.
But let's settle one issue at a time.
Gary
Humpy Dumpty fell off the wall.
Now because of all the kings’ men, we the people get screwed again.
But someone needs to figure this out.
I do not care how much administration is cut.
It started there and it went up from there.
They ordered it, they allowed it and council approved it.
So I feel the general fund needs to pay for this.
It’s there mess and they can clean it up.
Have emergency services bill administration for the fund deficit.
Have administration pay that debt over time as an expenditure.
Stabilize emergency services right now, do not break it.
The auditor said that street and water belonged to the emergency services fund.
Unless there is an official invoice for payment it needs to go there.
The electrical needs to stay in that fund and not be applied anywhere.
So what if the general fund is paying for all these loans now.
These past councils never intended to have emergency services pay for this in the first place.
They knew it could not afford it and council created it, now the general fund can just eat it.
I also feel that budget needs to apply to the county for an extension.
Just explain to them all the facts.
All these cuts by line item could bite them in the behind.
There could be a bogyman behind those doors.
Just look at the fiasco we are having right now getting financial information.
Corporations have comptrollers to look behind those doors before they budget.
I see people mad at what happened and wanting some pay back.
I feel that way as well, but I hope they have every piece of the financial puzzle to make these decisions on.
In any other city or business he would have been led away in cuffs.
The minute the chief told this to council, council should have place him on 2 weeks unpaid leave to investigate this matter.
The mayor should have called the state police and by now the books would have been opened.
Because our former administrator ordered (?) this action, every financial record of this city would have been gone over with a magnifying glass.
And the audit would have been for free.
But that could still happen.
I say 2 issues need to begin.
The first issue is to break the books apart.
Department by department. From the bottom to the top.
Just to see what we truly have or have not.
Then we build from there. Starting with the foundation and building up from there.
And emergency services, is a very good starting point.
And forming, administrating and setting policies of every department and function of government, needs to begin now as well.
If it comes down to a tax levy so be it.
But I want a paid professional because like I said I have no trust in government here on emergency services and I do not want anybody to go through what I went through.
Cody
Cody,
Has this blog been hacked?
You have always been long winded and a bit pompous, but do you really think you can double talk and contradict yourself in the same post on this topic?
While attending college I was assaulted, it scared s**t out of me (and cost me $10,000 in hospital bills). Therefore I have decided that for my peace of mind Cascade Locks is required to provide me with 24/7 police coverage without regard to the costs, my concerns are paramount because my well being is important to..... ME.
If I die in a car accident caused by poorly maintained city streets, do I really care if the city has a Fire Chief?
It's called BALANCE people.
Cody,
I agree with you on the need for an complete audit of the City's books and an analysis of the the City staff. IMHO the administration costs are out of control. Based on the staffing levels at other cities our size we have too many people on board.
Both of these studies will take time and cost money.
I also agree with you that our fire department should be under the direction of a paid fire chief, but again IMHO, that does not necessarily mean a full time city employee. There are other options and city council needs to check them all out thoroughly. The voters should make the final decision, not the council.
And as you say if the people want a fire department that requires additional funding via a tax or levy, so be it. Just so long as the voters get to make that choice via the ballot box.
The council can start this process by taking the 2005-2015 Strategic Plan off the table. This overly optimistic and very expensive plan was based on 2 scenarios, neither of which has happened. The casino is not coming nor has the town experienced any population growth.
Time to be realistic.
Gary
I think we are on the same page and thinking the same way.
But every idea that comes up is going to cost money we do not have.
I understand that the books are going to cost money to open. But with all the inaccurate information exposed this budget year alone just at the line item, there is no other choice that I can see. We have to know what is broke to fix it.
I am all for a part time chief. The only problem is do you know a chief willing to only work part time?
Not even our chief would go for this. I would bet he is already floating his resume after the Friday budget meeting.
These are people who have given up a lot of their lives to get to this professional position.
They do not want to meet their final goals in life half way.
The only way I see this happening is a tax levy. But that takes time we do not have.
This should have been done already by previous councils.
Truthfully this fire hall should have been created that way and a bond should have been floated by a vote of the people.
The strategic plan should go off the table and be known as the survival plan right now.
That casino has cost enough tax dollars and I feel if the tribe wants to keep it on the table; the tribe can pay us for it to stay there. Port included, as we need business growth and right now that is not based on a fairy tell. Their property needs to go into the property tax roles.
I also think that every call 911 dispatches us on be it car wreck, fire, rescue and the like needs to have someone to pay for it.
I have just read the fire code and outside of our city limits there are provisions to recoup costs.
I am not quite so sure we are getting back for all we give.
Enough so in reading, that even the volunteers could be paid.
I saw another lost revenue issue brought up in budget. We have been paying electricity, water, building and equipment depreciation as well as a paid employee’s time to train other governmental agencies.
While in the same breath being told how expensive it is for us to go to training schools.
That was lost revenue.
Thanks Gary for the comments.
It is going to take a lot of ideas to pull a rabbit out of the hat on this one.
I think the Port needs to step up to the plate as the city pays for their police, fire and ambulance service yet the taxpayers paying this have to pay to cross their bridge. What do you think?
Do you think a 10 year property tax levy to pay the outstanding loans would be an option?
Now we have such a small property tax base and most all higher dollar property tax is undeveloped land owned by the port tax free, so this hit would come basically from residential market at a high tax rate increase.
This would free up the general fund and could go towards other departments in crisis at this time.
Or do you think a 5 year tax levy to payback the arrearages of emergency services, as well as give it some start up money including a paid chief position is an option?
Then they have 5 years to get it together.
So let’s start here and talk about this.
Cody
Anonymous
No this blog has not been hacked.
There is a lot of discussion between people going on in my neck of our woods.
There are points being raised and I am not one to not consider everything.
I am at a loss here. Everything the city provides you comes at a cost to you.
In the cost of that service, or the loss of a service somewhere else.
If you hit a pothole and do not die and it is the fault of the city and you sue.
Then the taxpayers pay for it in a loss of services.
And yes it is a balancing act.
An act to date has not been done and we are witnessing the effect of that now.
Cody
http://www.absolutesafety.net/default.html
Cody,
Regarding a part time fire chief, the best solution might be to put our volunteer firemen under the command of an already existing paid fire chief - Skamania County or West Side come to mind.
Same for our ambulance service. It might be cheaper to contract or combine forces with the same existing agency as the fire department.
The point being that there are options that need to be explored. We might be able to provide a higher level of service at a lower cost.
Cascade Locks can not afford to provide coverage for Hood River County, Multnomah County, the US Forest Service and our own city without more revenue. So once again, if the voters of CL want a full time paid fire chief, then the council needs to sit down with all of theses agencies and negotiate a fair share of costs for each one of them. They get only the coverage they pay for.
The fire department is not in trouble because we aren't able to handle calls within the city limits and surrounding areas, the fire department is in trouble because of the person running the department. Jeff Pricher didn't have previous experience as a fire chief, he was a paramedic. Jeff may be able to go out on calls and be a good firefighter/paramedic, but he clearly cannot manage money. He DOES NOT have the skills to be the BOSS. Can the council please address that issue! The budget committee, besides the infamous 3 who vote 'no' just to vote 'no', keeps saying the same thing..Jeff has broken the LAW, he has shown us that the ENTIRE time he has been the fire chief he has put his department in the RED - and yet this SMALL group of people follow him around like he's some kind of god?! Every time Jeff is asked why he can't get his act together he has nothing to say.
Council, please do not make the fire chief a volunteer position, get someone into that position who can actually DO THE JOB RIGHT!
I have been out of town for a bit and am flabbergasted that this issue is not yet settled. It seems so obvious that Jeff is unable to handle being a department head and that a fire district is the answer. My eyes are aching from reading all of this but to the immediately previous poster:
Amen, and thank you for saying that.
And Cody, thank you for all your hard work.
Cody,
Nothing screws things up quite as much as a few facts!
1) Concerned about the late start scheduled for the budget com., I checked into an extension. There is NO possibility. Although, the feds are allowed to extend budget deadlines with extensions and temporary funding, WE CANNOT! July 1st is the deadline for our budget to be in place. That must take place after at least a five day notice and a council hearing. June 17th is the absolute deadline for a notice to be submitted. As it is, council will not be able to make changes that will require notice.
2) Staff did NOT have a budget ready and refused and or were unable to move the planned late start to accommodate more comprehensive scrutiny. "Plenty of time;" "earlier then ever." Our finance officer was sent out of town for a prepaid week of training for our new computer while the budget committee was waiting to be provided with anything other than THE CITY'S BUDGET RULES.
3) Not being provided with accurate or balanced information the budget committee must proceed at times skipping or skimming things that need more attention. That is our responsibility. The bottom line is these things can and will be looked into by the budget committee throughout the year. This, of course, will be a council discussion and decision. This is just a start, Cody, and not perfect to be sure!
We are doing the best we can with the information given, in the time we have to do it.
Sandra Kelley
Cody, I posted this earlier, it was on the blog and then disappeared. I do not believe that a fire district is our best option. The fire department already gets 45% of the property taxes. I am against raising taxes for our citizens. I think that a co-op could best fit our needs. Council directed staff to research options other than a paid full time fire chief, lets see what they come up with. If Pricher's overspending is shut down there will probably be enough money to fund emergency services. I have already asked about filing an extension for the budget, as we started so late, and was told we could not extend the deadline. I feel that this budget committee did a good job of effecting a change in our city. This is the first time I know of that a budget committee has asked for a line item budget. Budget committees in the past have never questioned staff about the numbers presented. Normally staff would just bring forward the line item information as it was in the past. I feel that we scrutinized those line items and did our best to bring the spending practices of those funds into compliance of the Oregon Statutes. We now have realistic projections of the value of the old fire hall. We also have realistic projections of revenues based on actuals not last years over projections. We are now going to begin to pay off the fire hall debt along with several other debts. This hasn't been achieved for the last three years and yet the city said they had a balanced budget. How is it possible to balance a budget if you don't show all of the debt and expenses? We corrected the "use of city property fee" from being taken from the street fund. This fee has been coming out of streets for years and years against budget policy. Many discrepancies were uncovered through out the process. Reducing the administration by 10% was something that should have been done years ago, it seemed that staff was growing faster than our city's population. This will allow our street, water and TV fund to have a little more revenue for repairs and upgrades. This will create a strong city with more stability. We all need to think proactive. Please don't think for one minute that once this budget is approved that the committee is finished. We have just scratched the surface, there is the high price of the city's health insurance and the extreme cost of preparing our own billing to still be investigated. When BPA gives a kickback to our electric department those funds need to go back to the rate payers. It will be good to have an early start on next years budget. Someone out there likes to name call but hasn't got the intelligence to debate the issues nor the guts to sign their name. You are nothing but a chicken sh-t hiding behind an anonymous blog. I'm glad I got you riled it gives me great satisfaction! Cody keep up the great dialogue.
Darlene Sullenger
Darlene
I have been tied up all day and I see both of these in my email but only one on the blog.
So you are correct.
So I went to the blog to address you alone tonight.
I just had another complaint blaming me for deleting.
I will work with Google tomorrow and find out what is going on and I will also go back and make sure all replies have gotten to the blog.
I just wanted to let you know before I sign off for the day.
I have lots going on today and all this week but I will put off my morning for this specific thing.
Thanks for letting me know.
Cody
Cody, That's alright, I re-posted tonight so don't worry about it. It's no big deal, keep up the good work.
Darlene
weird, I posted a thought but no message do I see.
Try, try again, RULES PLEASE are what I'm requesting from Cody as he runs this forum which I greatly appreciate.
While watching news these days people can engage, via chatrooms, in discourse on the subjects being viewed. However, personal attacks, racism, sexism, cursing, trolling to agitate and distract from the topic at hand, etc. antics are against the rules. A chatter who violates these rules is given a TO (time out) and their message is deleted. If the chatter persists in violating the room's rules they are banned from participating in the forum.
I suggest that you post rules outlining conduct for this blog.
It is my assumption that this is a forum for citizen discussion regarding "our city" and its body politic.
Hateful messages of vitriol add nothing of substance to a discussion. This is not the Jerry Springer show blog, right?
We can conduct ourselves better than exemplifying a "Bubba's baby mama mentality", yes? We grown-up adult people should be capable of civil discourse easily and with forethought as we have been given this private yet shared forum to express our thoughts.
It's a suggestion Cody. I know we can ignore hate messages but why expose ourselves to the nonsense.
Thanks for listening to yet, another point of view and for making this resource available to all citizens.
smile :)
I know, go start your own blog and have all the little rules you want and see how many of us come play with you.
Agreed, I will go Play somewhere else.
bye, bye
smile :)
Gary
Ideas all worth exploring.
Sandra
I agree with 1, 2 & 3 and that is what has me concerned.
I just don't want a lack of needed facts to screw things up.
I know you are all doing the best you can in these trying times.
But one thing is for sure.
Knowone can ever call this a rubber stamp budget.
Now I have to upload last nights council meeting. Then I will have tonight and tommorrows budget.
So it will be bye bye internet for me for awhile.
So please play nice togather.
How about some ideas to fix this mess we are in?
I'll start it off.
Bring the U.S. Forest Service to the table through a fire code provision which allows fire departments in the Gorge to recover expenses when responding to calls on other agencies land.
Although this could not be done for profit we could still set a rate of pay for our volunteers and collect money for them as well.
I am sure the volunteers would like that.
The city could even use it to support the volunteers in other ways such as training, safety equipment and the like.
Cody
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