 |
Business Directory |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coupons |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Classifieds |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| | Author | Messages | |
smithtos
Posts:28
 | | 03/03/2008 10:27 PM |
 Alert | gilbertglcn and jim_green:
Let me see if I can clarify any confusion on this topic.
First, I believe we, Maricopa, hired Kevin Evans to run our city’s government. I believe he has good intentions on doing what is best for Maricopa. I believe he has the experience and the skills to do the job. I believe Maricopa residents have very high expectations for Mr. Evans. As Mayor, I will not only have a high bar for our city manager, but all city employees and their performance.
Second, I believe Maricopa residents expect Mr. Evans to make changes to ensure Maricopa is financially stable now and in the future. Every candidate has been singing the tune of financial responsibility as part of his or her platform. These types of changes are often difficult ones to make, however, they are often necessary in today’s economy.
My expectation, as Mayor, is that the City Manager and I will have a solid working relationship. I expect him to keep me informed of staffing changes and I expect to have input on critical decisions. If that requires a change to policy, then I will pursue that change.
Tying back to my original response, I believe that the city manager is the person most capable of determining changes to the organization structure. Unless, his suggestions appear unacceptable, his directives should be implemented, else he becomes an ineffective manager.
| | | |
|
| | gilbertglcn
Posts:228
| | 03/05/2008 4:45 PM |
Alert | ANY recomendation made by the City Manager on ANY budget related matter should be done in a public meeting. For you to support anything else, means you are in favor of continuing on as the City has done before. I do not care how great a City Manager is, no professional City Manager is going to eliminate Department heads just a few weeks after coming to a community unless there was specific direction from the Council to do so. Such direction could constitute communication, which would then mean there was a violation of the open meeting law.
Further, what is the liability impact to this action? What is the liability cost to consolidating police and fire? If consolidation is such a great idea, then what studies, review of communities that have successfully done this, and imput did Mr. Evans get before supporting this measure? These are all reasonable questions that should have been handled in public prior to any actions. Now as it stands, you have a Council who promised the Fire Union that if they supported the Tax Proposition which led to the Fire District becomming a City Department, then any professional owes them a public explanation before any actions to explain why the Council lied to them, and is going back on their word.
Why should any voter support liars? And at this point eliminating the Fire Chief's position is a signficiant change, which the Council said would not happen.
Again, you obviously support secretive government, and have not responded to the points on wasting tax dollars on severance packages going to staff if there was cause for them to leave. The City Manager is one person, and this community tends to not support Czars. This is a democracy, the Council and Mayor are elected to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the community. Saying that one man can do that best is insulting to the citizens of Maricopa. Your belief that we cannot understand and act on what is going on will hopefully come out during the election.
Please also note that in your last sentence you state; "unless, his SUGGESTIONS appear unacceptable". A suggestion means you are giving other parties the opportunity to provide input; whereas in this case there was none. It was not a suggestion, it was a Czar, who acted without any public input.
| | | |
|
| | godsey
Posts:27
| | 03/06/2008 8:54 AM |
Alert | gilbertglcn-
The main purpose for severance packages to these individuals is to keep them from suing the city. They include paperwork stating this. Here is an example, the following is a quote from the meeting on Rick Buss' severance package:
In spite of his vote, Dunn gave reasons why the agreement is beneficial to the city.
"One - he (Buss) can't sue the city. Even if he lost the case, a lawsuit would cost say $100,000. Two - We are currently involved in a lawsuit and as the main architect of our agreements we need to have him on our side, which he has agreed to do for no additional money. Three - I think the city can move on now that he's gone."
About the city's restructuring: One of 2 things is happening here. Either Mr Evans is violating several city codes such as those stated in Section H illustrating the Powers and Duties of the City Manager:
"3. To coordinate the administrative functions and operation of the various departments,
boards, divisions and services of the city government, and on its behalf to carry out
policies, rules, regulations and ordinances adopted by it, relating to the
administration of the affairs of such departments, boards, divisions or services. Such
powers and duties to be subject to the following provisions:
a. That the organizational structure under which municipal services are
performed shall be specified in an organization chart approved by the council.
b. That prior to any creation, combination, consolidation or deletion of any
positions of employment, written job descriptions or amendments thereto shall
have been approved by the council."
-and/or-
He has in fact communicated this information to the council and the council has violated Open Meeting Laws by not making them public.
Either way, laws are being broken.
To support our current government as Mr Smith is doing is showing a loud and clear picture of which side he will choose. The next Mayor is very likely to be the tie-breaking vote when our new council members and old ones split their decisions on some possibly major issues for the city.
On a side note, Indications are that these actions are already being looked at very closely and outside agencies are already involved to try to get this corrupt behavior stopped.
For now the best we can do is: CLEAN THE SLATE IN '08!!!
| | | |
|
| | N75194
Posts:56
| | 03/06/2008 9:03 AM |
Alert | | Can the city still get Buss for wiretapping the City Hall offices, in which DPS is investigating, or has that case been dropped? | |
Call Pinal County Elections to register to vote by mail. We need our citizens to show up to vote!
Don't forget to vote on May 20! | |
|
| | DesertDweller
Posts:2569
| | 03/06/2008 9:34 AM |
Alert | November 94, my information is that there was never any request for an investigation forwarded to DPS by the city. This would indicate that their allegations were unfounded. Based on all of the stuff that's happened since, I am really beginning to wonder.
One thing's for sure: cross the wrong people in this town and it costs you your job. | |
Stupid should hurt!
Desert Dweller - Senior Member - Posts: 2982 - Joined: Feb 2006 | |
|
| | godsey
Posts:27
| | 03/06/2008 9:59 AM |
Alert | DD and N75194;
That is my understanding too. There is no ongoing investigation into wire-tapping. It appears it was nothing more than accusations that were looked into and disregarded. | | | |
|
|  | CliffinAZ
Posts:451
| | 03/06/2008 10:12 AM |
Alert | 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. | | | |
|
| | JoeMan
Posts:65
| | 03/06/2008 11:22 AM |
Alert | Man this is scary! Like the twilight zone!
Godsey and Rick Buss team up together to fight city hall!
Ok, come on, who are you trying to kid here? What a set of drama queens we have here.
1. Who is hiding behind secrecy? Not Mr. Smith, he uses his own name for his posts. Obviously not Godsey, he wants everyone to know what an armchair quarterback looks like. No, the one hiding behind secrecy is gilbertglcn. Hmmm! Why?
2. Listen, the city is not going to go down the drain. Mr. Evans did not come here to fail. He is very successful at running a city and I’m sure he came here to succeed. Give me a break! Do you really think he hasn’t covered all his bases? Do you really think he’d come here and do something illegal in the first 2 months of his job? He’d find it pretty hard to find a job after that, don’t you think?
3. Regarding policy… I’ll bet policy was followed. I’ll bet these types of decisions, if required to go to city council, do so under executive session. Think about it, what entity (city or commercial) would discuss possible restructuring publicly such as to worry employees before a decision is made? That would not happen at the company I work for. I also talked with some friends who work in city government. Those types of decisions ARE NOT done publicly. That is not how you would let your employees know they have lost their job do to restructuring. Come on people, use your heads. Stop believing this crap! These people have motives for their actions.
4. What Godsey and secret gilbertglcn want are different, but similar things. Godsey wants to armchair quarterback a position as mayor. gilbertglcn wants his girlfriend to have her job back. Oh, he probably wants to give the city a hard time also.
5. I believe most have blown this ‘cross training’ police and firefighters out of proportion. Chief Melvin stated that in one of the newspaper articles. I believe him.
| | | |
|
| | JoeMan
Posts:65
| | 03/06/2008 11:27 AM |
Alert | | The city and the fire fighters will work out an agreement. To put scary spins on this is ridiculous! | | | |
|
| | gilbertglcn
Posts:228
| | 03/06/2008 11:48 AM |
Alert | Joe Man - I am not Rick Buss, so therefore your statement about "my girlfriend is incorrect". There have been no executive sessions pertaining to personnel related matters that the City has posted anyway, so if there have been meetings or communication, they have not been in an open forum. What kind of city spends months going over in public the branding of the city, but refuses to do the same when dealing with major departmental shifts and personnel changes? The answer is none of them. These were not personnel decisions, they were budgetary, if you believe what the City stated. So your friends who work in government, need to check their own city or county agendas, as every one of them handles budget changes publically. Each of them also discusses departmental changes in public, not behind closed doors.
Mr. Evans currently has the support of the council, and obviously the current council believes that will not change, which it likely will not. What may change is the makeup of the council. Which then could change the support. To state that the City will work out an arrangement with the Fire Department has no basis in fact, since the City has had over eight months since taking over the Department to come up with a new agreement.
Has the City looked at the question that since there was a Memorandum of Understanding in place prior to becomming a City department, and since the City has not replaced that agreement (just not come up with a new one), if the old agreement remains in place until such a time, if any a new agreement is reached? Generally in terms of agreements, the new "owner", which would be the City, has to take on any old agreements, until those agreements are replaced by new agreements. Since no such replacement has occured, the MOU would then continue on in force, since nothing has replaced it. As a new "owner" you cannot simply eliminate agreements - as you are only one half of the equation.
This is not an attempt at a scary spin. The firefighters are professionals and they would not have the City's attempt to railroad them impact the service they provide. The City has shown they are willing to sacrifice our service; just read what the Fire IT Director, Fire Chief, and others have said about the failure of the City to do the right thing. The City is what is purtting the scare into all of this; as they want everyone to be herded into a corner and shut up.
It is our right and our obligations as US citizens not to be herded and to speak up. Clean the Slate in 08, and do what is best, recall the rest! | | | |
|
| | godsey
Posts:27
| | 03/06/2008 3:52 PM |
Alert | Joe
I agree with you that discussions for these type of personnel situations are frequently done in executive session, as they should be. However: We have a city code that says the executive sessions can be for discussion only of these items and the final action cannot be done there. It must come public again for a vote.
Section 2-4-3 Meetings to Be Public
A. All official meetings of the council at which any legal action is taken shall be open to the
public. Notice of meetings shall be given in a manner consistent with state statutes.
Upon approval by a majority vote of the council, the council may meet in a closed
executive session for a discussion of the following:
1. Discussion or consideration of employment, assignment, appointment,
promotion, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of a public officer,
appointee or employee of the city, except that with the exception of salary
discussions, an officer, appointee or employee may demand that such discussion
or consideration occur at a public meeting.
2. Discussion or consideration of records exempt by law from public inspection.
3. Consultation for advice with the city attorney.
B. Minutes of executive sessions shall be kept confidential except from members of the
council.
C. No executive session may be held for the purpose of taking any final action or making
any final decision.
So if thats the case then we just broke another city code. That means another crime has been committed. The city cannot legally justify their actions because they are against city code. All the excuses in the world doesnt make it right or legal. If you have any info regarding changes to these codes that make these decisions legal. Please post them. | | | |
|
| | crazyforcopa
Posts:0
| | 03/06/2008 4:40 PM |
Alert | Here's where I'm putting my money:
gilbertglcn vs Mr. Evans - My money goes on Mr. Evans. Sorry, but there is no way a successful man would come to Maricopa only to circumvent the policy and lose his job. It's just not happening. gilbertglcn is a blow hard, with too much to say, and an obvious agenda. I agree with JoeMan. gilbertglcn is speaking behind a screename but wants to create chaos and fear. He has something to gain from his lengthy, blow hard, statements. Never trust a man with so many words.
Smith vs Godsey - My money goes on Smith. He is an upstanding citizen, huge volunteer in the community, spoke out in public against the council (not behind the protection of a computer), did fabulous work on P&Z, and respected by all who have worked with him! Godsey is simply a preposterous excuse for a man. Never trust a man with so many words and not enough action to support his words. | | | |
|
| | CliffinAZ
Posts:451
| | 03/06/2008 5:26 PM |
Alert | Crazyforcopa, can you name some of the things Mr. Smith has spoken out against? I'm not saying this sarcastically/out of doubt; I only moved here in May and am still trying to catch up on local politics. I also think that this sort of thing is very important for people to know in forming an opinion, particularly given the way that many feel about the current council and some of their decisions. | | | |
|
| | MaricopaTrainer
Posts:128
| | 03/06/2008 5:40 PM |
Alert | Mr. Smith-
I am 100% for a green Maricopa. I see that the Ethanol plant has been touched on. Although Ethanol is much better for the enviorment I have read numerous articles, studies and opinions by those who currently live near them. The list of health issues, noise and odor is long. This is concerning to me.
On that note what if anything would you do about the current state of the air in Maricopa? I know this is a touchy subject. But let's be frank. It stinks out here. Some people don't care and are not bothered. I am not one of those people. And it seems no one I have spoken to is either. So it would seem the unbothered people are a small group. It really affects the quality of life for many. It is not just the smell. The air here is unclean. Many people have developed asthma, allergies and sinus issues after moving into Maricopa from the Phoenix area. There are definitely options that would allow the ranchers to help keep the air cleaner while creating a profit for them as well.
In addition, what of the water? The water here is far from up to par. Quite recently our water has been brown and smelly even after running through the shower filter. Our water softener has developed a permanant brown ring on the inside. Really concerning. What would you do to ensure healthy water for Maricopa?
| | | |
|
| | TheSmokingGun
Posts:0
| | 03/06/2008 9:21 PM |
Alert | | I want to know what you will do to improve media relations in the city when you take over as mayor. How will you improve communication, encourage the lines to open a little and what will you do to stop the rumor mill from spilling over. I hear a ton of stuff from customers at my dry cleaning shop. It saddens me to know this town has so much potential but yet a handful of people want to break it. And I want to know what you will do about installing air freshners on traffic lights. | | | |
|
| | DesertDweller
Posts:2569
| | 03/06/2008 10:37 PM |
Alert | | TSG, I love your suggestion for air fresheners. Problem is, it's going to take a six-figure consultant to recommend the right fragrance. | |
Stupid should hurt!
Desert Dweller - Senior Member - Posts: 2982 - Joined: Feb 2006 | |
|
| | crazyforcopa
Posts:0
| | 03/06/2008 11:46 PM |
Alert | Posted By CliffinAZ on 03/06/2008 5:26 PM Crazyforcopa, can you name some of the things Mr. Smith has spoken out against? I'm not saying this sarcastically/out of doubt; I only moved here in May and am still trying to catch up on local politics. I also think that this sort of thing is very important for people to know in forming an opinion, particularly given the way that many feel about the current council and some of their decisions. The easiest thing to do is query his name on Maricopa Monitor, Maricopa Tribune, and Communicator to read about his statements in the call to the public at a city council meeting. I read on his website that he had commented to the city council and I wanted to see if the papers picked up on it. They did. Basically, he told city council that they were allowing their conflicts of interest, and personal agendas to get in the way of progress for the city. | | | |
|
| | smithtos
Posts:28
| | 03/07/2008 7:52 PM |
Alert | Posted By MaricopaTrainer on 03/06/2008 5:40 PM
Mr. Smith-
I am 100% for a green Maricopa. I see that the Ethanol plant has been touched on. Although Ethanol is much better for the enviorment I have read numerous articles, studies and opinions by those who currently live near them. The list of health issues, noise and odor is long. This is concerning to me.
On that note what if anything would you do about the current state of the air in Maricopa? I know this is a touchy subject. But let's be frank. It stinks out here. Some people don't care and are not bothered. I am not one of those people. And it seems no one I have spoken to is either. So it would seem the unbothered people are a small group. It really affects the quality of life for many. It is not just the smell. The air here is unclean. Many people have developed asthma, allergies and sinus issues after moving into Maricopa from the Phoenix area. There are definitely options that would allow the ranchers to help keep the air cleaner while creating a profit for them as well.
In addition, what of the water? The water here is far from up to par. Quite recently our water has been brown and smelly even after running through the shower filter. Our water softener has developed a permanant brown ring on the inside. Really concerning. What would you do to ensure healthy water for Maricopa? My Response: Regarding air quality, there are things that have been done and more to be done. A consensus of the people I have talked to relate air quality issues to odor, dust, and allergens. Odor from the cattle operations is something all valley cities have had to deal with. I’m not aware of any successful efforts to reduce the odor except that eventually development drives cattle operations to move to more remote areas. Throughout Arizona, this cycle has repeated itself over and over again. Dust is a huge problem. Sources include farm operations, construction, unimproved (dirt) roads, and recreational (off-road vehicles, dirt bikes, etc.). To combat the dust problem, the city has purchased certified street sweepers, started using recycled asphalt to cover existing dirt roads, and is working on guidelines to be used in the planning process. When schools, parks, and commercial developments are presented for approval to the Planning Commission it is stipulated that hypoallergenic grasses must be used. In addition, the CC&Rs that most of us are under require the use of low pollen plant species. It sounds like you are aware of other things that can be done. Please feel free to send me that information via my website and I will see if these things have been considered by the city. With regard to water, I live in Rancho El Dorado and I do nothing to treat my water; no softener, filters, or anything. It’s hard water, but not smelly or brown. At the February 19th City Council meeting, Global Water presented the status of the water system. A summary of the presentation is in the latest Communicator Newspaper, page 8. If you are having problems such as stated in your question, I encourage you to call Global Water and work with them to fix the problem. Obviously, as mayor, I will always put public health and safety as a high priority. | | | |
|
| | smithtos
Posts:28
| | 03/07/2008 8:00 PM |
Alert | Posted By TheSmokingGun on 03/06/2008 9:21 PM
I want to know what you will do to improve media relations in the city when you take over as mayor. How will you improve communication, encourage the lines to open a little and what will you do to stop the rumor mill from spilling over. I hear a ton of stuff from customers at my dry cleaning shop. It saddens me to know this town has so much potential but yet a handful of people want to break it. And I want to know what you will do about installing air freshners on traffic lights. My Response: Great question, but please look at my response back on 2/14/08 page 4 of this thread. | | | |
|
| | MaricopaTrainer
Posts:128
| | 03/09/2008 12:26 PM |
Alert | My Reponse: Regarding air quality, there are things that have been done and more to be done. A consensus of the people I have talked to relate air quality issues to odor, dust, and allergens. Odor from the cattle operations is something all valley cities have had to deal with. I’m not aware of any successful efforts to reduce the odor except that eventually development drives cattle operations to move to more remote areas. Throughout Arizona, this cycle has repeated itself over and over again. Dust is a huge problem. Sources include farm operations, construction, unimproved (dirt) roads, and recreational (off-road vehicles, dirt bikes, etc.). To combat the dust problem, the city has purchased certified street sweepers, started using recycled asphalt to cover existing dirt roads, and is working on guidelines to be used in the planning process. When schools, parks, and commercial developments are presented for approval to the Planning Commission it is stipulated that hypoallergenic grasses must be used. In addition, the CC&Rs that most of us are under require the use of low pollen plant species. It sounds like you are aware of other things that can be done. Please feel free to send me that information via my website and I will see if these things have been considered by the city. With regard to water, I live in Rancho El Dorado and I do nothing to treat my water; no softener, filters, or anything. It’s hard water, but not smelly or brown. At the February 19th City Council meeting, Global Water presented the status of the water system. A summary of the presentation is in the latest Communicator Newspaper, page 8. If you are having problems such as stated in your question, I encourage you to call Global Water and work with them to fix the problem. Obviously, as mayor, I will always put public health and safety as a high priority. I'd be happy to email you, but I'd rather respond here, Five noxious gases (carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane, and carbon monoxide) are commonly found in livestock and manure storage areas. For a community to be breathing this stuff in at the levels we are at the very least needs to be taken seriously. I realize a great deal of money would be needed to move the farms and there is a lot of debate ABOUT moving the farms. As some have said, yes they WERE here first. However there are other options. For example, a 98% odor annoyance-free requirement means an average person standing downwind at the calculated separation distance would detect an odor level equal or greater than the annoyance-free odor 2% of the time (14 hours per month) between mid April and mid October. Researchers at the University of Minnesota developed an odor dispersion model called OFFSET (Odor From Feedlots Separation Estimation Tool). OFFSET utilizes emission rates from livestock facilities, average long-term climatic conditions for Minnesota, and type of odor control practices in use to estimate the separation distance needed to provide a specified odor annoyance-free requirement. Annoyance-free odor is defined as the level of odor that an average person might detect if attention is draw to the odor. Vegetable Oil Sprinking:
Recent research has demonstrated that sprinkling a small amount of oil (2 ounces per 100 sq. ft.) in totally housed confinement operations can reduce gas and dust concentrations substantially. On average, this practice reduced total dust by over 80%, H2S by 27%, and NH4 by 30%. The decrease in dust not only reduced odor, but also improved worker and animal health. It is important that the oil is sprinkled and not sprayed at high pressures because aerosolized oil can be detrimental to human health. Also, when too much oil is used, surfaces become very slick creating a hazardous working environment. The main cost is labor, but automation could solve this problem. I do not know the lay out over there, if there are buildings or if it is entirely open. However these are only a very small number of MANY of the things that coud be done. There are even systems that turn catlle VOC's into usable methane that farmers can sell or use to produce electricity for the town in which they reside. A simple web search will reveal an extensive list of studies and research that yielded positive results. In regards to the water...I guess that is a good thing that you don't seem to have any issues with the water where you are. I have actually called Global Water and the response was that the water is fine. I guess my situation is just a closed but frequent incident. Perhaps you have a suggestion on how I could get it addressed? | | | |
|
| |
| | Topic is locked |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.6 |
|
|
|