The Domino Effect.

Well the recall has gotten under my skin. Regardless of my being on a Committee can I allow my rights as a citizen to stop my right to free speech.

So let’s start here.

First off the E.M.S. fund has been has been employing one of the worst financial management practices any business could do. It is called carry forward balance calculation. Where the expenditures of this department where allowed to rise above the revenue being generated and it was just carried over to the next budget year with no end in sight.

                So if you forget the 2011 budget year as that “Net of Rev/ Exp” total is not known but will be around $60,000.00 depending on whose figures you go by. The four known year’s total of $289,222.00 average out to $72,305.50 a year. Money taken from other services to support this department, which leads to a decrease in services as it raises the cost of doing that business/s.

                Not to mention $345,075.00 which seems to have vanished?

                Now I believe that over $60,000.00 of this missing 2008 fund money was found in this budget when it was learned that this fund was billed twice for extending the sewer, water, cable and electric for Hood River County. So that will change this $345,075.00 total.

                So where the rest of it? As there is your paid Fire Chief along with some gas money.

               

                The way I look at it is in 2007 management and Council, should have began studying Return on Investment, Return On Equity, Return On Sales, Return on Common Equity, Return on Capital, Weighted Average Cost Of Capital, Return on Capital Employed, Earnings Before Interest & Tax, Return on Invested Capital, Return on Net Assets, Return on net worth and many other performance measure tools business use to determine the health of their businesses.

                But that is not what happened here is it?

                So instead of taking corrective actions, management and Councils have let this spiral totally out of control. Look at the 2009 and 2010 budget years and that makes me sick.

                To have allowed this to roll over and over all the while telling we the people that there were no problems and this department was never over budget was unconscionable in my eyes.

                So do not fool yourselves or be fooled by others.

                What happened in budget, by this Council and what has happened recently you only have to look to the past and you will understand why it has all happened.

                It is called the domino effect!!!

                None of us like what has happened here, but it is the reality of the past actions and inactions that put us where we are. This Budget Committee and Council had no other choice.

                So now everyone wants to place the blame on this Budget and Council. Blame them for something other Councils apparently looking at this could not fix?

                Well all I can say now is you may have your signatures, but let’s see you get the votes as I have lot’s more to come. Because now you have to deal with the facts unlike your accusations without proof of any facts to base them on and those facts I have many of, so I wish you all the luck!

                   Do not be used by people who want your vote to keep the books closed!!!

                Cody

July 25, 2011 City Council Meeting

July 18, 2011, Special City Council Meeting

Sorry this took so long but I have been swamped.

In just looking over the blog just now someone asked why I do not use a computer at City Hall and upload it from there?

Well there is only one good reason I can think of.

That would be a bad policy for this City to begin. Do you realize how easy it would be for a person to take any file on a removable media and place a virus in it and wreak havoc on this City?

So this answer is security.

I would not even propose that to the City.

As a matter of fact I would hope they have an employee policy that addresses this issue.

A second non political issue asked why the City does not provide the service.

My answer to that is I do not know.

The USB Video capture device cost $99.99.

The software I use to take out the breaks costs $49.95.

The software I use to convert and compress it to make the files smaller cost $39.90

A computer with a large hard drive, a USB port and a City Cable Connection is all you need.

The only employee time would be to start the program and edit which takes me no longer than 15 minutes to take out the breaks and walk away. Let it run for no more than an half hour for a 5 hour meeting on my computer.

Then less than a minute to start the conversion and compression software and let it run up to almost 2 hours for a 5 hour video on my computer.

Register a youtube video channel free in the name of the City.

Upload the video free.

Now on City broadband this is going to take a lot more time than on my service but it will work.   

I do not know but it might bog down their network so that specific computer may want its own internet connection with a bigger upload speed.

But they may have a commercial account which would handle it, so it should be done through the network administrator.

This is what takes time though as the files are very big.

Once uploaded you can put the link youtube gives you on the City web site or wait until it goes through the copyright check to frame it to the city web site.

You are done.

Total employee time would be less than 30 minutes the first time with instructions on the software.

Now if the City wanted to edit it to each agenda item and make it to where when people watch it they could do like many cities do. Anchorage, Alaska for example where all a person has to do is click on each agenda item and it takes you right there.

But that would add to the employee time spent and as editing would take longer as well as web site programming but it can as is done.

And you do not need to go through youtube.

Click this link.

Anchorage City Council

But look what they do with all other committees.

Click this Link.

Committees

Now isn’t this just so together?

Cody

Ok stop with all the crying.

I did not close comments because I wanted to silence the recall petitioner’s voices, after four were taken to Hood River County elections yesterday to be told that it must start in our City Hall and does not go to County Election Office until the signature verification process. You need to know the rules.

I also did not close comments because I am on a Committee and want to stop bad stuff about me from being said.

I also did not close comments because I am protecting this Council for all the reasons I have been accused of.

To all that I say;

It is not the Council that needs recalled. It is the bad policies, lack of a management, lack of integrity and lack of fiduciary responsibility that this City has been counseled by that needs to change.

But if you want a forum here it is, so the pot calling the kettle black, have at it.
While you are doing that I will be trying to create a government that runs more efficiently and effective. Working on means to create a result orientated government and finding ways to do more with less. Working towards a system of accurate and reliable financial information, so program cost and performance can be measured. So implications for decisions on programs and the impact of those decisions will not be blindly entered into anymore without having a solid means to measure performance of the city at all levels by implementing a little oversight.

So go ahead and have your forum while I prove my point in mine.

As far as what you say about me, all I can say to that is, have at it. I will not be a participant any longer, I shut it down as I felt it conflicted with me being a committee member.
Now after all the calls and emails of outrage will open up comments again as I do get the point that; I did this and that to them and now that I will be in a position to “get what you want you shut off our chance to call you on what you do”.

There you go I will be working to fix all that is broken that this council was left with.    

I am not protecting this council. The only thing to date I have seen on this council is they were left with a royal mess. Basically FUBAR!!!

I guarantee you that if I find anything like I did in the past council I will do the same thing to this council that I did to the last council and the council before and the council before and the council before……….

Have your fight for power while I fight for oversight, control, focusing on fiduciary responsibility and paying attention to the effectiveness and performance of our government, to get us out of the mess all the previous councils since I have been here have left us with today.

So I scrambled to get someone else to monitor this blog for me after all the outrage. If there is a problem that comes back to me I will shut it down.

The email notification of comments will not be going to my inn box anymore so I am out of it there now.

I am distancing myself the best I can.

I will not give my video capturing equipment away as I have a multi monitor computer and use it to watch Satellite TV on while working on my computer or to record programs I may miss to watch later.

So for now, as I said, I will record if possible and that I will have to put on the blog personally.
If video uploads prevent me from using my computer as it has. Then this is a problem I will have to solve and am working on a sollution for tha but it may take a little time for me to pass this off to someone else. It is being worked on though. I want to pass that buck and just keep it as I have had it for years Just me recording so I can really catch everything.
So knock yourselves out.

But keep it clean and keep it nice as if I get one complaint it goes down.

If you wish to contact me my email is codysteelman@embarqmail.com

Cody

Signing Off

For everyone’s information the “City Services Committee” was established by Mayor Freeborn.

Mayor Freeborn and I worked together to create this committee.

It went to his Council and it went through the legislative process.

It has met the requirements of law for public postings at the Store, Post Office and on channel 23 over the years as I have been requesting it to get rolling.

Since the City got the web site it has been posted under government/advisory commissions/city services committee.

That posting had been there, I would say around 2 years or maybe longer.

We screamed for volunteers.

The problem was no-body cared to volunteer.

I applied and was appointed to this committee by Mayor Freeborn.

Shortly after Mayor Lorang began his term he appointed me.

Mayor Lorang appointed me 2 times to be exact as it was a 1 year position and I was pushing for this committee to become active.

But it never went anywhere.

I was the only appointee.

Now I hope that this city can see the importance of this committee as it moves along.

This Committee has been an agenda workshop item of this Council for some time.

This Council had a workshop on this Committee in a public meeting.

These actions were publically noticed.

The City has run ads on channel 23 as well as the front page of the city web site asking for volunteers.

I asked for it to be publically noticed and saw the notices around town.

It was even posted on the front page of the City web site for around a month recently.

People applied and in a public council meeting the mayor appointed them to the committee.

We had the first meeting on July 6, 2011.

Details of the meeting will be published as soon as this Committee, votes to approve the minutes of this meeting.

These unapproved minutes are in the proposed Committee member packet filed July 15, 2011, at City Hall.

We are still in need of one more member as Mayor Fischer stated in the July 18, 2011, special meeting. 

When C.M. Masters said that the purpose of this committee had not been established he was mistakenly incorrect.

Resolution No: 1189, Approved by the Council, on the 10^th day of May, 2010, reflects the purpose of this committee.

Resolution No: 1189, Section 1, 7, States; “The City Services Committee consists of five members that serve for a one year term. This Committee will advise the City Council regarding matters of Public Works, Electric, Cemetery and the Emergency Services Department. This Committee may also be requested to advise the City Council on utility rate analysis and recommendations on the budget for operations and capital improvements.”

So all requirements of the law have been upheld and abided by.

This was no sneaky tactic by this Council in any way and it does have a purpose established.

Mayor Freeborn and his Council established the purpose.

C. M. Masters must have forgotten this as he was on the Council when Resolution No: 1189 repealed Resolution 847, he voted on it in Mayor Lorang’s term.  

All this council did was got a committee off the ground that should have been done years ago.

To the volunteers I am sorry I came down on you so hard.

But understand that as a tax paying citizen, with what was happening in that department, and the newspaper clearly quoted the volunteers saying they were not going to respond to emergencies, cones blocking the fire station entrance, witnessing Hood River have to respond to a beating at a local business, along with other objective statements from the volunteers in the paper and the headline read; “CL Fire: Not in service”. As a citizen I had every right to respond as I did, the doors were closed according to this article and the word on the street was it was on strike and every indication I had showed me it was.

If it happened again, just as it did, as a citizen I would do it again.

I hold government to a higher standard.

But in no way were my actions meant to be a bad reflection on the volunteers, of such a great institution built on a history of lives being lost and personal sacrifices being made to save others.

As I expressed I just thought you were making a mistake that could get you in trouble.

And I truly thank you for the sacrifices you make to serve in such a highly honored office for our City.

Now I understand the loyalty you had for the chief and I get it.

I am sorry that disciplinary actions had they occurred when the problems first happened might have prevented this.

I am also sorry that council’s here never set up a policy of standards for the chief to operate under which also led to this.

But understand that when government holds the people accountable for wrongdoings some people turn to anarchy when government will not hold government accountable to their own rules.

I hope every council before and this council learned something here.

Well it has been fun folks to say the least.

But I need to shut this down now.

I am on a public committee and now I have to represent the City and do not feel it is right to continue this.

I have not had time to upload the video to the web, but will in the next day as soon as time allows.

I have just been swamped like now up at 4:00 to be on the road at 5:15.

I am going to try to keep the videos on line but as you see comments have been turned off.

Signing off

Cody

I Wish You The Best?

I hope you volunteers realize that this sit down strike may have you writing a check you may not be able to cover.

You see Oregon follows the Wagner Act which sets the policy of promoting collective bargaining in government and providing a statutory right to strike in the private sector only.

I will quote the intent of the act concerning governmental employees as written by Franklin Roosevelt to the president, National Federation of Federal Employees.

“Militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees…. A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking towards the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.”

You volunteers also did not look at the fact that Oregon is an “at-will” employment State.

“Oregon courts have long followed this general rule of "at-will" employment. This means that generally, in the absence of a contract or statute to the contrary, Oregon employers may discharge an employee at any time and for any reason, or for no reason at all. Simpson v. Western Graphics, 293 Or 96, 99, 643 P2d 1276 (1982); Nees v. Hocks, 272 Or 210, 216, 536 P2d 512 (1975).”

So when you state in the paper that if the chief is let go you will not respond to calls, not only did I hear an employee treat an employer with utter disrespect in telling the employer how the employer is going to run the business.

Threatening that the employees will not respond to calls, if the employer refuses to abide by what the employee wants, which to me is known as blackmail.

I heard an employee try to take away a legal rights of an employer.

It is apparent to me that you volunteers did not get any planning training before taking an action.

Because all this action has done as I see it, is put your personal livelihood at risk from criminal and civil lawsuits.

So council your first goal might be to train these volunteers planning, organization and conflict resolution.

Now if I were a volunteer, I would stop worrying about the chief and start worry about myself, get back on the job and let the council deal with the chief in accordance to their rights as an employer. Then pick a chief from among the volunteers to recommend to council, until this council can work this mess out.

I would even propose to council to paying a volunteer what is left for salary in the budget, to be a chief if the right volunteer steps forward who can meet the approval of the State Fire Marshall.

If we do not have one then council is going to have to deal with that fact.

Because acting to strike before pre-negotiations, in a public hearing, with a neutral mediator and a recommendation of the mediator, all must occur before a public agency can strike.

But in the case of emergency services, unlike a teachers union with a pre-negotiations safety net to comply with the Wagner Act exemptions founded in the 70’s, you would not even be allowed this as you being emergency services cannot strike.

I ask you to think about what you are doing as you could be putting you and your families at risk the way I see it.

Trust me it may not be worth it for you to drag yourselves into this mess the way I see it.

Come to terms with the reality and let’s sit down and work it out.

Ask council to form a volunteers committee to address your needs.

Let’s do something though before this gets out of hand any more than it is.

I will support you in any way I can, as long as that support is an improvement of integrity, professionalism, financial, moral and ethical standards lacking in this departments management and in the best interest of the city and the volunteers alike.

Now I cannot tell you what to do.

You are all adults and can decide for yourselves.

But the way I see it you only have one option here.

Cody

July 15, 2011, Cascade Locks, Oregon, Special City Council Meeting.

July 07, 2011, Special Council Meeting.

July 6th Tourism Meeting.

The tourism meeting held July 6^th had such a bad audio problem that the broadcast was ruined.

The fact of the matter is this entire broadcast is one very annoying hum from the beginning to the end of this meeting.

Now I can go ahead and up load this to the blog if you like but the hum is louder than the speakers and gets on ones nerves.

Let me know what direction to take here.

Cody