Does this help?

Posted By gilbertglcn on 03/10/2008 2:02 PM
Sorry bear down, I am not Rick Buss. My posts are not personal, I, as well as many others, would like answers to why the City believes it is acceptable to reorganize a governmental body without any public input. I take a little bit of time because I care about the community. I, along with others have not caused the City any grief. Remember, the City is here to serve the citizens of the community, not the other way around as you seem to want.

We all have a responsibility as citizens of a democractic society to step up, ask questions, and vote. If you do not want me to do that, tough. IYou may not support living in a democracy, but I do. The City has the responsiblity to the citizens, we have the right to know what is going on. Things such as; What was looked at to determine this reorganization was the best way to go?

Please call Mr. Evans and find out for us.

Why reorganize into these specific departments?

Please call Mr. Evans and find out for us.

What factors were used in determining the people "promoted" into the new(non advertised) positions have the expertise and experience to do the job?

Please call Mr. Evans and find out for us.

Why were told at a public meeting that the budget would not impact a specific department, only to be told four days later by the City that reorganization was needed due to the budget?

Because the finance man (Kolman) was not aware of the restructuring that was about to happen.  (That happens all the time.)  It may have been as much of a surprise to Kolman as it was to you.  But if you don't think so.... Please call Mr. Evans and find out for us.

What studies were used to determine that it is in Maricopa's best interest to cross train police and fire, despite public records that show it is costly and not effective elsewhere?

You haven't been paying attention on this one.  Melvin said this cross training has been over analyzed and taken beyond what he meant for it to mean.

Why is Maricopa the only City to not inform the public of changes due to budgetary constraints, and not have public input on these budgetary changes?

There was a city council meeting discussing the budget changes.   So, if you are not satisfied with the information...  Please call Mr. Evans and find out for us.

This is not insider knowledge, this is information that we as citizens should be able to gain responses to as this is our government. If yo do not like people participating, then I suggest you take your own advise and stop posting anything political on the forum.

There are very important decisions being made behind closed doors without any logical or sensible reasons being disclosed to those who are directly being affected by the decisions--us, the taxpaying citizens of this city.  For example, the decision to essentially combine the police and fire department makes no logical sense to me, and will result in a failure to attract high-quality candidates for the jobs.  If I had a passion for firefighting, what possible reason would I have for even wanting to work in Maricopa, where I'd have to serve half of my time in a profession I had no interest in belonging to in the first place?  I wouldn't even consider it an option against any of the other cities, which would give me the opportunity to practice my chosen profession full-time.  Thus, in my mind we are now definitely deterring high-quality firefighters from even considering us as an option.  This (bad) decision was made without any real public input until after the fact, and to my mind without a convincing justificaion.

The public is not served well by this process. We have a major problem of accountability to the citizens of Maricopa at this point.  I cannot vote for anyone who supports the status quo, because it is very obvious to me at this point that the status quo is resulting in major decisions that do not appear to make sense, or serve Maricopa's citizens very well.