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My View of The Town Note: This is my opinion.
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A Citizens View of the Fire Department June 21, 2008 Mr. Lind, I am not willing to give you my real name or address. This is a small town and the Fire Department can do no wrong. I don't want my family or myself to have to deal with some angry people who feel like they are bullet proof.
I know that there are good people on the department, but the ones who seem to be pulling the strings do not have the citizens needs in the fore front. Dear Ms. Walters, I am writing to you to voice my utter frustration at the lack of action to procure ALS service for the Town of Eatonville. I am a little disturbed that only a few people have caught on to what is happening with this process. If you go back and listen to the Public Safety Committee and Council meetings you will hear the basic plan of hiring paramedics degrade into providing job opportunities for the volunteers so they won't quit. Now I understand that we are hiring a FF/EMT to do training? , and that this person is a EFD volunteer who the job qualifications were tailored specifically for and in fact he was the only applicant.
Mr. Lukas has stated several times that if he doesn't hire some of the volunteers first they will quit. It seems to me that the Eatonville Fire Department does not exist to provide job opportunities to volunteers, but rather to provide fire and ems service to the citizens who pay for it. Ask your self- what does hiring this "training officer" have to do with ALS service? If the levy fails there will now be even less money to hire paramedics.
Please listen to the last council meeting and the exchange Councilman Adams has with Mr. Lukas. He is dead on in his thought process and seems to be the only one who understands or will vocalize what is happening. Everyone needs to understand that what we need first and foremost is paramedics. After they are hired, trained ,equipped and running calls, then as money allows hire some EMT's from our volunteer ranks.
It is not right that a handful of volunteer firefighters are going to deny the citizens of Eatonville a badly needed service to extort some jobs for themselves. The bottom line is that we are moving backward and not forward in this process. If this trend continues I will vote no on the Levy and put my house up for sale and move somewhere, where the fire department serves the people and not the other way around.
Please research this, share the information with Mr. Lind and Mr. Jeffries. The information is there in the tapes of the old meetings. We are only going to get one shot to get this service in town and if it is botched now. It will be a very long time before we will get another chance.
Thank You,
What Happened at the April 28, 08 Council Meeting? Steve Lind The Council approved $258,114.59 in bills recommended by Town Hall and the Mayor, of which payroll was $72,226.09 with other charges of $185,888.50. The payroll amount is what is normal and paid twice a month. Also approved were minutes for the March 10th and 25th meetings. All of this was passed under the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda is a technique that has been used to limit debate and exposure. There were two annexations that were approved; the west Eatonville annexation which is on the road out to the triangle and the Baublits annexation. The West annexation followed the law and was done in the proper way and took over a year to get to this point. The Baubilits annexation did not follow the law as it did not first go to the Planning Commission as the Town Code requires (read previous article Town Halls Disorganization 1-15-08.pdf). The Planning Commission would have reviewed the Baublits annexation for the zoning if the code had been followed and in this way the citizens would have the ability to have input on the zoning. One thought that could have been reflected on would have been if a new C-4 zoning should have been imposed upon this property. This property is maybe the last place in Town where a new modern shopping center might be built or maybe a new school. If the zoning had been restricted to this then this piece could have been taken out of the Town residential capacity calculation. A consultant agreement was approved for engineering work with Morrissette Engineering. This is for curb, gutters and sidewalks on Rainier Ave. from Carter to Lynch. The Town will have to come up with $111,000 match to complete this project. This match is over 42%. The administration has already obligated the Town to this without consulting the Council in regards to what match percentage should be standard. Many times 5 & 10% matches are more normal and the Towns money can go a lot further if these are the standard. This $111,000 could have been leveraged to a $1,110,000 or even a $2,220,000. Where the $111,000 is coming from is not yet clear nor is it clear why we shouldn’t have let this match money build up until it could be more effectively leveraged. The planning by the Executive Branch appears to be flawed in this situation and they seem to be corrupting and taking away from the Councils policy role in dealing this way. Ultimately the citizens are the ones who pay for this kind of short term thinking. The Council approved a contract with Nybo Construction for $162,496. This I believe is yet another of these projects where the Town has to come up with a match of much greater than 10% maybe another 40% match. Originally it was a 36% match and at this point I don’t know what it is as Town Hall has not answered my inquiry. This project is for curb, gutter, sidewalk on Washington south of Center and on the west side of Madison south of center. During discussion of this Allison became upset claiming that she had a call earlier in that day that Nybo Construction was illegally working next to the river. It turned out that it was not Nybo at all, that work was not next to the river, and that Town Hall had issued a stop work order. Allison never apologized for what she had said but instead said that she stood corrected. Initially Council Member Bruce Rath and Bobbi Allison tried to pass a tax levy increase with only a first reading and not have a second reading as is contemplated in the Town code. After much discussion they decided to pass it in two readings so that the public will have more of an opportunity to participate. This levy is billed as providing money for Fire/EMS and to correct the problem where we have no paramedic coverage because we have lost our mutual aide. This loss was mainly due to either a specific decision by the last two Mayors or their ineptness in the handling of these matters. In any case the current Mayor has not been convincing in proving that there is not more money that can be shifted in the current budget to help fund this, he seems to think that his word should be taken on this subject. Given what has been said above and the tough economic time our citizens are experiencing many feel that what is being asked for is such as to cause the voters to turn down this levy for the much need paramedic coverage. The public needs to be making sure Town government hears them on this subject. The second and final reading will be at the May 12, 2008 Council meeting. During the deliberations on the levy the Mayor said “you can have it at anytime” in regards to his continuing as the Mayor. Some are wondering if this meets the threshold where he had resigned the position and now the Council will appoint a Mayor to complete the term. The Mayor and Town hall strongly tried to force a benefits increase for the Town employees in addition to the recent new union contract. This increase was for benefits to be paid for “Domestic Partners”. The cost that was noted would have been almost $7,000 per employee that would have taken advantage of this. This would have represented an 8% to over 20% raise per employee based upon their salary. Allison moved to pass this on one reading instead of two as in the Town Code with a second from Rath. This one reading by Allison and Rath is typical and seems to only serve to limit debate and the public’s opportunity to comment and would seem to benefit the executive branch in getting its way. The Council turned this down 3 to 2. Council Members Adams, Valentine and Pierce voted no while Allision and Rath voted yes. It was thought that given the size of the recent union contract, the tough times that the citizens are having that it was not proper to approve this. The Town Clerk McGlone took the lead in trying to push the benefits increase thru and was very vocal even to the extent of verbally interrupting Council members and attacking what they had to say. The Mayor did not do his job as Chair of the meeting in trying to control his staff which is a continuing problem. This type of out of control behavior by the staff probably sends a message to the citizens to watch out and not speak up and needs to be stopped. Further as one listens to Town Halls presentation of this subject there is not any presentation of pros and cons, just pros. At any mention of cons Town Hall puts up a vigorous defense that has no balance. The Mayor, Town Administer and Clerk seem to be acting more like representatives of the Union than Officials serving the Citizens of this Town. Some indication of how unbalanced Town Halls support of this can be demonstrated by the volume of paper, 15 pages for this versus three for the increase of taxes.
A Students View 3-24-08 Edited so that writer remains anonymous by their request.
Hello. I am at Eatonville High School. I am actively involved in school, as well as sports. With the rebuilding of the high school and all that entails, I try to stay as involved as possible on town matters. So, I would like to start by saying that I enjoy your website. On a less formal note, I would like to say that I really got a kick out of the Public Utilities meeting on the 12th. Bruce completely lost it. If the time ever presents itself, I would like you to pass a message on to Mr. Rath from the high school, (this recording is even on some iPods already): We were not impressed with your attempts of ridding the town of the EYSA program. We realize what an inconvenience it must have been for you to look down on those ugly blue storage bins, but what is really important in this community? Mr. Rath having a nice(er) view from his palace, or an organized athletic program for youth of the town? Also, the thousands of dollars that are unaccounted for continue to boggle our minds. And, finally, your uneducated outrage at the meeting the other night made people think even less of you. Learn the law before you voice your opinion and try to use proper language. I don't believe the words you expressed are of those that you would wish the youth, and future of Eatonville to hear. That is all.
I will remain anonymous from Eatonville High School. I applaud your efforts for all that you have done. Thank you.
Commentary on the Town Council Meeting of February 11, 2008 coming
Finally the meeting end! |
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Pivetta Walks, Nobody Talks Charlie Butler & Steve Lind 7/31/08
On July 17, the Eatonville Mayor and two Council Members with staff retreated into the rarely invoked “Executive Session” to privately discuss possible responses to Pivetta’s demand for final payment on their Rainier and Carter paving and sidewalk project. After a total of 50 minutes of private consultation with the Town attorney, the three emerged, made a motion, and with zero discussion or public comment, voted to holdback the final $18,428 or whatever as it was never clear of Pivetta Brothers’ contract.
Seems pretty straight forward small town logrolling. But with politics, there’s always more:
First, two council members (of five) doesn’t constitute a quorum, but a third Councilmember, Bruce Rath, “attended” telephonically to allow the Council to legally conduct business. Telephonic attendance in lieu of physical presence sets a new precedent for future Eatonville Council meetings. What remains unclear is the amount of effort the Mayor expended (if any) to “telephonically” include the two absent members: Rich Adams and Brendon Pierce.
Second, everyone involved, including installer, inspectors, Council, Mayor and staff, and any citizen walking down Carter Street during daylight, agrees the sidewalk portion of Pivetta’s one million plus project was totally bungled. Some sidewalk sections were redone multiple times, yet it still looks like the work was done by a child.
In a perfect world, the contractor (voluntarily, and without being threatened by the Town) would jackhammer the whole project and select a different subcontractor to re-accomplish the entire sidewalk. But, alas, Pivetta, not surprisingly, doesn’t feel like spending what could be $ ¼ million to “fix” Eatonville’s sidewalks. Therefore, for only $14,700, or basically the cost of the concrete used to form the sidewalks, Pivetta, by merely mentioning litigation, is allowed to walk away from this mess, while the citizens of Eatonville get to spend the next 50 years looking with embarrassment on sidewalks which look like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book.
Of course all of this could have been fixed under a Performance Bond which is typical and as discussed at Council is probably required by Washington State laws. This is such a basic mistake that in most any other municipally someone would probably be let go and have already gone. But this is Mayor Smallwood! If we had a Council Manager form of government then the Manager could be gone! But since this is an elected Mayor it is very hard to do anything.
It’s been a tough summer for the Open Public Meeting Act: Last month the Mayor and his staff made a bumbling attempt to prevent a journalist from recording a public meeting. This month, the elected officials disappeared completely from view (for awhile), officially to avoid providing sound bites for a possible lawsuit. “Executive Session” comments are not recorded, but one can imagine Town Administrator Gary Armstrong laying out the utter futility of trying to legally force a well-represented contractor to provide what they promised. Nevertheless, Pivetta Brothers must be laughing up their sleeve at Eatonville’s “punishment” of holding back a whopping $14,700 from their final payment. It is still not clear what the final amount will be.
Finally, there was no discussion of the disposition of the “holdback” funds. Where will this “windfall” be spent? Fix the sidewalks? (Probably not since that won’t even cover the demolition costs). Fix sidewalks somewhere else in town? Launder it through the General Fund and buy the Town Staff new computers? The possibilities are endless, but rest assured no one will voluntarily tell you where it went.
It is hard to be sure of any of the numbers due to the problems of getting information from Town Hall. Last fall when many citizens were upset about this and some contacted me I took the opportunity to go to Town Hall and make a request for public information and what I was given did not include even 10% of what should have been there. Apparently Pivetta had agreed to let the Town retain $14,700 in order to close out the project, I say apparently as I am not sure and don’t know how to find out. I think but am not sure as due to the lack of information that that left about $2300 more left to be paid. Both of these amounts fall far short of the cost of replacing the concrete on Carter which I believe is what many knowledgeable citizens believe needs to take place. Apparently the contractor made a statement that if the mayor would not call a special meeting before the scheduled one of July 28, 2008 they would file a law suit. In the end the Council apparently let them walk for approximately $2300. The best thing for the Town might well have been for this to have gone to Court.
It seemed pretty clear that the Council members had made up their mind in the Executive session as to the actions to be taken. To hear for yourself you can click here and list to the eleven and one half minute public part of the meeting.
Open Public Meeting Act Rescinded for Finance Meeting!
Washington’s Open Government… Eatonville’s Closed Government July 1, 2008 Written by Steve Lind & Charlie Butler Last Tuesday (6/24/08), Eatonville Mayor Tom Smallwood silently acquiesced as Council Member Bobbie Allison and Town Clerk Chrystal McGlone unilaterally determined a media member could not make an electronic recording of a Finance committee meeting unless and until each government official or citizen present gave personal approval to such a recording. For obvious reasons, a narrow criteria defines situations where a citizen or media can be legally prevented from attending or recording a public meeting. Of course, a Finance committee meeting is not one of those criteria…not even close. Washington State is unique in that it insists upon and allows all levels of Government to remain open. Permission for citizens to monitor and attend is codified in the “Open Public Meetings Act” (OPMA) (42.30 RCW) and the “Open Public Records Act” (RCW 42.56 which came from Initiative 276 passed in 1972). These laws are based on the concept that Citizens can control their government only if they remain informed about the decisions their government officials are making. The laws have been further strengthened and defined by a number of cases heard by some of the highest courts in the land. Courts have upheld that citizens (with few exceptions) have the right to attend and record meetings, and view copies of records. The exceptions basically apply to active law suits and other specific situations. Eatonville’s bureaucracy, Executive branch and some in the legislative branch (your elected officials) have a problem fully complying, but more disturbing, appear to have an attitude of impeding this important public right. Most recently Dixie Walter of ENN attended a Finance Committee meeting with the intent of recording the proceedings. Council Member Bobbi Allison asserted Ms. Walter could not make an electronic record without permission of each attendee. The senior government official in attendance, Mayor Smallwood, either through uncertainty, ignorance, or full support of Ms. Allison’s position, permitted this intimidation to take place without appropriate correction or reprimand. The Town Clerk Chrystal McGlone also took part in trying to shut down the recording. The Town Treasurer Mike Schaub, Ex-Mayor Cliff Murphy, and a citizen-speaker were also present. In other words, a whole lot of people who should have known better, stood on the sidelines, and watched the media get kicked around. While Ms. Walter was out of the room, someone tampered with (i.e. shut off) her recording device. In spite of your elected officials’ poorly orchestrated attempt to prevent it, Ms. Walter actually succeeded, for your benefit, in recording the meeting and you can listen to it by clicking on this link. This embarrassingly inept behavior by officials of Town Government reveals an underlying desire to control what the Public knows, reinforces small town government stereotypes, and disrespects the process of government and its citizens who trusted them with their votes. Even in losing this petty skirmish over a recording, the Town continues to develop its attitude of intimidation to those who dare pay close attention to what is said and done in your town government.
Click here for link to The Dispatch’s Article on this. Click here for link to The Dispatch’s Article on this. Click here for the link to ENN’s Article on this.
A Letter from a Concerned Citizen: “Who's Running the Town?” June 11, 2008 (Click here for audio of Nancy Ellis Statement to the Council) Eatonville is a Public Agency and a multi million dollar operation. It's taxpayer money that pays for its operation and it exists only to serve the taxpayer. On Monday June 9th I went to Town Hall around 12:10 and found a note on the door saying "Town Hall closed until 1 pm". Astounded and not understanding why there was no one there to serve the public during business hours, I went looking for the Mayor, our Town Administrator (i.e. the Boss). I found him in his office and I asked why Town Hall was closed. His reply was, "I don't know, I just got here." - followed by,"They do get lunch". With this conflicting response I wasn't sure if the Boss knew for sure what was going on or if he had in fact given permission for all his staff to leave and close Town Hall and didn't want to admit it. So, my response was,"Yes, but everyone at the same time?"
The Town of Eatonville is an $8 million operation, a public corporation paid for by taxpayer dollars, existing exclusively to serve the Public. Every Taxpayer of Eatonville is a shareholder in this public corporation and has the right to be able to conduct business during normal business hours. Closing Town Hall to make it possible for Town employees, paid by taxpayer dollars, to all go to the new restaurant at the same time for lunch is not a good use of public funds, does not serve the public well and in fact seems to be a breach of public trust. To make matters worse it seems the "Boss" of this Public Agency doesn't call the shots or even know where his staff is at times. Who's running our Town?
Nancy Ellis
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Is ALS going Backwards instead of Forward? No ALS emphasis as the Priority! June 21, 2008 April 1st is April Fool’s Day, but this year the joke was on the citizens of Eatonville. On April 1, 2008 Eatonville lost all Advanced Life Support Emergency Medical “mutual aid” from our partners. Overnight, South Pierce County became a very dangerous place to have a heart attack, stroke, or car accident. And there’s nothing funny about that.
The administration was warned of this decision by the District 15 Fire Chief during the first week of January 2008 in unofficial communications, and then officially near the end of the month. Given two months to craft a solution, the Mayor and his Bureaucracy put his own constituents at risk by failing to initiate any acceptable (to the Fire Chief) actions to prevent loss of mutual aid before the cutoff date. And since the cutoff date, the Eatonville F.D. has still taken no steps toward hiring any Advanced Life Support (ALS) personnel. Our partners wanted to see a plan that would quickly result in ALS being added in order to continue their mutual aid coverage. Maybe a plan, or budget, or interview process would have saved our arrangement….but nothing happened. Our Town Mayor seemed to say “Good Riddance.” The Council instructed on March 24, 2008 by a motioned by Council Member Bruce Rath, seconded by Council Member Rich Adams the Mayor to find $150,000 to start the process, and authorized the hiring of a full time Fire Chief working as a Firefighter/EMT and a Firefighter/paramedic. The plan was to initially hire a Chief to lead and shape the department, ride along with the ALS personal and train them. In the fall of 2007 the Mayor spent about $5000 to interview and process Fire Chief applicants. At the end of the process he stated (and has since reaffirmed) that any of the top five would be acceptable. He was ready to go forward and even offered the position to the number one candidate, who turned him down. He never offered the position to the remaining four supposedly “acceptable” candidates. In fact, information has come forward to indicate that he has not even responded to the #2 candidate’s inquiries regarding the outcome. Eatonville’s limited budget can only afford one chief and 24/7 ALS coverage with the passing of a levy. As in the past, the Town needs to depend upon its volunteers to pick up the rest of the slack. ALS services require considerable lead time for approvals, certification, equipment, and medicine, yet there has been no indication that our department has begun this process. What’s more, there’s been no discernable effort to recruit temporary “rent a medics” until full time ALS personnel can be hired. Furthermore, a required description and salary has never been presented to Council and, based upon past performance, there is no reason to believe that it has even been written in a draft form. Having never produced a plan or timeline, there is no reason to believe Eatonville FD has a proactive strategy to hire ALS. Since April 1st the Town has: 1) purchased a second used back up ambulance and 2) approved a levy measure, the approval of which will raise our taxes to support a paramedic program. The paramedic program has not taken shape yet, and has a long way to go before citizens will vote “YES” on a funding levy. As taxpayers, how can we support a levy to raise our taxes by $1.02 per $1000.00 assessed value when the administration, led by Mayor Smallwood, continues the pattern of missteps: Instead of starting a “rent-a-medic” program, he hires part-time EMTs for the day hours only. Instead of hiring a working fulltime Fire Chief, he hires an unqualified consultant as our new part time Chief (who was not even on the list that professional candidates had tested for). Instead of hiring paramedics to provide the desperately needed ALS service we have been demanding, he chooses to hire (possibly utilizing illegal hiring methods) a Training Officer from within the volunteer ranks. These misguided actions fail to get us any closer to ALS service. So why would the average citizen trust this Mayor to properly handle the tax dollars that an approved levy would bring? He himself has even stated that, “nobody trusts us!” And I think, on this point, he is right on target.
Or What is this tax increase! Steve Lind April 29, 2008
The above quote is Mayor Tom Smallwood during the debate on raising taxes during the meeting of April 28, 2008. There are a number of good reasons why the citizens feel they can’t trust the mayor, one of which I will be covering below. The short answer is because of the Mayor’s actions he has lost the trust of the citizens and to a large extent because his core supporters (council members Allison, Rath and Pierce), has been acting as his accolades instead of doing their job as a separate Legislative branch; they have also lost the citizen’s trust. Many citizens believe there is money that can still be cut in the budget and reallocated to better support the priority mission of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). A brief 2008 CE Extract
The Current Expense (CE) fund in the 2008 budget is about $2,500,000 of which EMS/Fire gets about $120,000 with Police getting about $647,000 for a total of $767,000. This leaves $1,753,000 in what I will call the Mayor’s bureaucracy. Many believe that a serious effort would yield most of what is required to run EMS/Fire. A serious effort might be thought of as cutting 20% which would yield $340,000 which would mean only $80,000 more would be needed to be raised by additional taxes. EMS/Fire is now projected to need about $800,000 to do the job. $200,000 will be financed by the upgraded department’s reimbursement for transports leaving $600,000 to be financed elsewhere. This $600,000 is $420,000 more than is currently in the budget. The Mayor proposes to raise taxes to the max to raise an additional $300,000 instead of cutting the current budget. This $300,000 with the $100,000 from the Current EMS levy would total $400,000 and therefore a total of $200,000 from current expense would be required to fix the EMS problem. The $200,000 is $80,000 more than is currently being budgeted and only about $14,000 more than was budgeted for 2007. There has never been a serious public effort to demonstrate there is not a way to free up more funds from elsewhere. In many ways this administration has lost the trust of the citizens. There are many examples including what I have said above, but the Council meeting of April 14, 2008 was a prime example. Council member Adams asked the Mayor about the selection of fire chief and why the number two person on the list that was established in October 2007 had not been given an update on status. The Mayor then processed to name an individual and asked Adams if that was who he was talking about and Adam’s agreed. The Mayor went on to say this individual never even made the list. I am in possession of an email from the Mayor to several of a list of the top five candidates on which the individual is listed as number two. Smallwood has previously bragged about how great the top five were etc. Given this type of history why should we believe Smallwood when this is just one of many questionable examples that can be found. The public would be well served to start telling Town Hall and the Council members to cut 20% of the Mayor’s bureaucracy so the Tax increase can be as small as possible. The citizen’s then need to show up at the second reading of the Tax ordinance, at the Council meeting of May 12, 2008, and speak out. And, in this way, hopefully they can insure the increase is as small as possible. They need to hear a detailed discussion, which Smallwood needs to publish well before the meeting showing the cuts and defending what is not being cut in a detailed manner. The Mayor needs to stop stonewalling on cutting his bureaucracy to the determent of the safety of the citizens! Citizens come before Town employees!
Eatonville behind schedule on ALS! Steve Lind March 22, 2008
This is the second article in a series in regards to the March 19, 2008 Public Safety meeting. The first article was about what Eatonville was doing right and appeared March 21, 2008; this article is about what Eatonville has not been doing. Eatonville is behind their own schedule on solving the ALS (advanced Life Support) problem! Eatonville is still scheduled to lose ALS on April 1, 2008 if major progress is not made! The Council during the February 25, 2008 meeting made it clear that they wanted to see positive movement and approved $150,000 for the hiring of a fire chief and on a firefighter. All the firefighters are Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) trained. The mayor said during the February 25 meeting that he wanted to hire the fire chief by the next week; he has not yet hired that fire chief. My research shows the reason he has not been able to hire the fire chief is that he has not offered enough money (from 3-19-08 meeting). This is in conflict with what he has said, but I do believe it represents the facts. During the public safety meeting on March 5 he announced that he had offered the job to his number one candidate, who was in attendance, and had been turned down. During the meeting it came out he offered about $54,000. This was far less than the chief was currently making. The offer probably needed to be about $15,000 more. I believe part of the problem was that we would be paying paramedic/firefighters about the same as the chief. The Council recognized when they passed the authorization for hiring a chief and firefighter that money shouldn't get in the way of moving forward. They authorized $150,000. The Mayor, even during that discussion, on the 25th of February tried to reduce the amount of money that would be used. The final motion did not represent what he had tried to do. During the latest public safety meeting on the 19th of March the subject of the amount of money authorized by the Council came up. Council member Adams, who seconded the motion with Rath making it, was insistent that the amount authorized by Council is $150,000. The Mayor was insistent that the amount was reduced by about a third. Those who have been following this discussion come to the conclusion that the Mayor continues to refuse to appropriate the required money to fund the fire and EMS Department. It seems that the Mayor continues to play games to maintain his bureaucracy instead of appropriating adequate funds as the Council has authorized and directed him. Some are convinced that the Mayor is doing this so that the Town’s effort to solve the problem will fail. In this way they believe that he thinks that he will not be held responsible and some outside organization will have to come in and take over and thus he as the Mayor will have no more responsibility. The big problem with this is that it appears that if this takes place the response times will not be what are required to save lives. The idea of “renting paramedics” was brought up on March 5 at the public safety meeting by Bud Lucas. During the Council meeting of March 10 Council authorized hiring Mr. Lucas to work on the problems of the fire/EMS Department. The Council has authorized all actions that the executive branch has asked of them. The problem is that the executive branch is not implementing those solutions. The mayor did not hire a fire chief or firefighter nor have they even gone out and started the calling process for the “rent a paramedic”. I along with others expected a report that reflected implementation of the “rent a paramedic” program. I heard no such report. This program should have been started and should continue to be pursued. Being a professional in the search industry I was particularly impressed with this idea. Being such a professional I'm going to be quite specific in the kinds of things I expect to see and do expect to see in the future which I know will make it successful. In this way if there is any doubt about what is needed then those who are implementing this program can refer to this article as a guideline or they can even call me for a free consultation. First of all I expect it will probably take something in the order of 400 calls to find people to man this program. Notice I said calls not ads and that is because ads are so ineffective that professionals like myself do not use them. It will take one to two weeks to place the calls. This is based upon 50 to 100 calls each day. Attached is a typical planning sheet I use in my business. In the search business employees are expected to turn in numbers every day of their production. These numbers include the number of telephone calls placed, the number of people talked to, and the number of people recruited. Reports also include data sheets which are very similar to resumes. Most resist at first staying to the script of giving only daily numbers and setting goals but if the manager holds to this in short time the desired results are obtained. I am sure if the Public Safety committee does the same the desired results will be quickly obtained. This is the kind of reports I look forward to hearing about at the next public safety meeting. I believe the public has become very disappointed with the lack of positive reports on the progress that has been made. One citizen’s description is that all that ever happens is a lot of talk and only lateral movement. But with reports as I suggested I believe the confidence can be restored. If the administration does not start making such reports the Council needs to get further involved in correcting this problem. Given what I have said in the paragraph above I would expect that within two weeks the paramedic program would be well on its way to starting. I am tired of long drawn-out meetings which accomplish nothing as has been happening at public safety meetings. It is no wonder to me that the public has stopped coming. I'm afraid that their lack of attendance will translate into negative votes during the Levy. I would expect the next public safety meeting need not take more than 30 minutes. The meeting should concentrate on what has been accomplished, the number of calls made, the number of people talked to, and the number of people recruited. A schedule for when the program will be implemented should also be presented. An updated salary schedule that reflexes the increased salary that will need to be paid to the Chief needs to be presented. Progress on hiring a new chief and firefighter and how many people have been interviewed and offered positions should be included. A detailed report on the levy and draft documents that will be required needs to be presented. The items above need to be talked about first in a check off the list routine without long drawn out political statements, rationalizations, scapegoating and rants. To hear an audio out take of the February 25, 2008 Council meeting click here. To hear an audio of the March 19, 2008 Public Safety meeting click here.
Eatonville due to lose the ability to deal with heart attack and stroke victims April the first!!! (2-13-08) Council Meeting of Feb 11, 2008 Over 20 Firefighters/EMT attended the February 11, 2008 Eatonville town Council meeting, most appeared to be from outside of Eatonville. During the public comment period the chief of the combined fire District 15 and 17 Bob Vellies spoke and read a letter stating that as of April 1 Eatonville will no longer receive mutual aid for Advanced Life-Support (ALS) patients, that is heart attack and stroke victims. Eatonville does not and can not provide ALS service therefore once District 15 pulls ALS services Eatonville will have no such service. The discussions highlighted that the situation had been developing for about five years and it quickly became evident that Town Hall and Mayor had understood probably for about two years something like this would have to take place yet they did nothing. One can only speculate why the mayor choose to hide this but a good guess might be that he wanted to get rid of the Fire/EMS (See Contract with consolidation). It would appear that the Citizens of Eatonville would be best served if the Town keeps Fire/EMS and adequately funds them (read agreement). Why did the Mayor not do this during the 2008 budget sessions? It is felt that for maybe $200,000 this problem could be averted. The mayor knew well prior to the meeting what was going to take place but took no actions to inform the citizens of this Town so that they could be present to get first hand information. Is this the kind of Mayor we want? I think not! It became very clear by the testimony given by individuals from our two local News sources that Town hall has been hiding information from the subscribers to the packet. Both Mike Jeffries of The Dispatch and Dixie Walters of www.eatonvillnews.net related some of the stuff that had not been included in their packets and it became clear as the dialog developed that this was by design. The Town Attorney was asked what his legal opinion was on these matters and as is common did not want to answer. It would be nice if someone in Town government would make a strong statement backing up the providing of Public Information and then back it up with real action. The Town staff did not seem to understand that the press and the public needs as much time to be prepared as the Council and there was a suggestion that they could have their information held separate from the Council packet. How can the citizens be informed if the media has things hidden? Is this what we want in our mayor? I think not! The next stumbling block was the consent agenda to pay all the bills. Only none controversial items should be included that have a complete backup and audit trail which never has happened since this mayor has taken office. The Auditor wrote this mayor up in the last Audit report because of this and it still has not been shown to be corrected. The Council should only be approving the payment of bills that have proper backup, audit trail documents and a certified signed statement from the mayor to the same which I have never seen happen. Bobbi Allison who has been on the subcommittee for four years that should have been overseeing this but has never brought this in public to the Council as she should have been doing to get this corrected. She seems to have not been doing her job and to listen at Council it seems to me as if she does not understand what a Council person should be doing. She usually has good energy and passion but in this case she needs to refocus both which will benefit the Town and its citizens. I know her to have a strong personality which could be used to correct these things if she would choose to instead of always acting as if she is just another member of the executive branch. We should all pay attention to her future actions and encourage her in a redirection to support her job in the Legislative branch (Council) as well as demanding of the Mayor to follow all the RCW’s. Because of many questions the Consent Agenda was not approved on the first vote which means the bills could not have been paid. Council member Rath wanted to leave it that way and move on but after much debate and maneuvering bill payment was finally passed.
(Story being developed more to come)
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Council Member Rich Adams on EMS/Fire 2-19-08 Due to past and continuing revenue shortfalls, the citizens of Eatonville will, in my opinion, experience diminished essential services in 2008. Mayor Smallwood’s 2008 budget proposal grossly under-funds Fire and Ambulance, yet the Town Council passed it 4-1. The Mayor’s budget prioritizes your tax dollars to fully fund Town Hall’s many departments (Building, Planning, Finance, etc., etc.) at the expense of Fire and Ambulance services. Basically, Mayor Smallwood chose to postpone hiring two firefighter/EMTs so Town Hall could retain its entire current staff.
As a former paramedic and volunteer firefighter, I strongly dissented with this decision since reduced funding will diminish the quality of Fire and Ambulance services for Eatonville citizens. Our town mission statement implies that government must provide for the safety and health of its citizens, so it troubles me greatly that our town representatives have avoided seriously addressing this issue, upfront and in the open (Council members did not receive Chief Vellais's letter until this week and as of this writing I have not seen nor heard about a second letter from other departments.)
I strongly urge Eatonville citizens to ensure your elected officials are acting in your best interests by attending and voicing your concerns (on this and other matters) at Town Council and Public Safety committee meetings.
“2008 Budget that was Adopted” Audio of Bruce Rath saying water rate to double
Will the Town be reporting any saving @ the Council meeting? See latest Report Below that does not track with all that seemed to be reported last years. Remember Town Hall overspent income 9 or 10 months of last year, reducing the savings with the Treasurer telling them they had used most of the saving up. Thus they wanted to borrow $350,000. How can the report below be saying what it does? This report indicates there will be an ending balance of $875,455, the 2008 budget says the beginning balance will be $657,782 and the people who have been following closely (including the auditor) the information provided by Town Hall believe that effectively there will be no savings to fall back on! What is the true position, remember the latest audit said the following “Failure to maintain accurate and complete accounting records resulted in the Town’s inability to produce valid annual reports for audit. Further, this prevents the Town’s citizens from participating and effectively monitoring its government. These concerns were reported to Town management during the prior audit period.”. ? Will Town Hall finally start putting out more complete reports? Attend Tonight's meeting and find out.
2007 Finance report (Not reconciled and maybe no 13th month). (we will have to wait to see if ending balances are final) Click on to hear the key 2008 Council budget debate.
2008 BUDGET (Comments starting December 20, 2007)
The budget passed in ordinance number 2007-27 has a number of problems. I was hoping that the Mayor, Tom Smallwood, Town Staff (Executive Branch) and the Town Council (Legislative Branch) was going to do a better job. I am hopeful that the new Council will straighten things out. The ordinance itself shows total estimated revenues of about $8.5 million. The grand total of the expenditures is about $8.3 million.
The language within the budget as published has some problems and is stated as follows: “The annual budget of the town of Eatonville for the year 2008, set forth by fund summary totals below, and it's fixed and determined in the preliminary budget for the year 2008, as revised by the Eatonville town Council copy, a copy of which is attached hereto, and by reference incorporated herein is adopted... “ it seems to this writer that the plain text language of this ordinance indicates that the Council has adopted a line item budget, as opposed to a fund budget.
There are a number of contradictions within the ordinance in the attached document. Page 31 of the attached budget shows revenues of $8,486,932.49 with expenditures of $8,355,192.16 for a net difference of $131,739.81. These totals do not match the numbers shown in the ordinance. For instance, the total expenditures showing in the ordinance document is $8,330,192.68, $25000 more than is shown on page 31 of the attached document, the current expense fund shown in the ordinance is $75,000 more than shown on page 31 of the attached document. Also, the storm drain as shown in the ordinance is $50,000 more than on page 31 of the attached document.
The enterprise funds, which include the electric fund, water fund, sewer fund, water and sewer bond reserve fund, storm drain fund and garbage fund total $4,769,700.68 which is about 57% of the overall total budget.
News Flash - Planning Commission Packets out to Public and Commission before 3pm Wednesday! Thanks Town Hall! (1-16-08) |
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Too Much Alcohol Causes Problems Steve Lind August 3, 2008
Late Friday August 1, 2008 a large group of people moved from the beer tent at the Art Festival to a down town tavern. Apparently they got so rowdy that a State Liquor Agent closed the tavern down. This led to the people moving out back to the alley where several confrontations took place. There were a number of people who tried breaking the fighting up including bouncers, the Eatonville Police Chief and another officer. One person was issued a citation. Apparently too much alcohol had been the root of the problem.
Saturday some adults were playing base ball in the area of the grade school. There were both adults and young children present but this did not seem to restrain the bad language and behavior that some of the adults were using. There had been some drinking of alcohol and afterward the containers were left behind, both in the trash containers and out. |
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