
This story is much bigger than you think. While many of you are only seeing the surface of the $1,500,000.00 Grant accepted last night, there's a LOT more to it.
There's a financial side, a political side and more motives than you can believe.
While the Firefighters stood up there last night and clearly stated they'll have some 10 Firefighters retiring over the next 2 years and these new Firefighters call fill the gaps, will they?
Will the Firefighters mentioned last night actually retire, or will they stay on for as long as they can to retain a larger retirement package.
While it sounds good, come on now, seriously?
The City Council made it very clear, when the two years is up, are you prepared to let these people go. Hoppes replied, yes.
Now I've read most of the comments coming in attacking the City Council for voting yes but you know what Ladies & Gentlemen, I've been doing this Blog thing for a lot of years and for what it's worth, here's my opinion to those comments.
I personally believe they are coming in from the old Dream Team Camp. You remember those people, right?
Well, I believe what you're going to see is the following. I firmly believe Jim Ireton is NOT going to run again for Mayor. I believe Mike Dunn is going to run for Mayor and Matt Drew is going to run for City Council to try to replace Debbie Campbell. I also believe they're going to run another Dream Team campaign based on civility.
Now, is Jim Ireton aware this is going to happen, I'm not exactly sure right now. However, ALL he has been doing is promoting the "Council Of No's" and attacking THREE Council Members in particular. So, he's either setting the CITIZENS up with the idea three Council Members refuse to work with him OR he's setting it up for Mike Dunn to come into the race in which he will claim he can get every one working together and rubber stamp whatever he wants moved forward.
Keep in mind, they NEVER saw Joe Albero for Mayor coming, so believe me, are they holding more private meetings at the Chamber of Commerce and they're plotting for this election like they did last November 8th?
The BIG question to you is, do you really want to go back to the way things were under the Tilghman Administration? The answer to me is, hell no. However, if you're a developer with special interests, (including Sassafras Meadows) we might just be in for another round of developer reimbursements and the whole nine yards.
The title of this article spells it all out. Ireton threw several hissy fits again last night and got so ticked off at me for taking pictures he actually pulled out his cell phone and started taking pictures of me. Why, I have no clue. Maybe he's got a man crush on me, I don't know. All I can tell you is, the City Council moved forward with something I'm not so sure they're completely happy with.
Debbie Campbell asked the Mayor to please produce surplus numbers from the 2012 budget. The Mayor refused to answer her request. Tim Spies then asked the Finance Director to answer Mrs. Campbell's question and she simply sat in her seat and refused to answer the question. Mayor Ireton then shouted, I'm glad you recognize that you work for me and refuse to answer the question as I asked you to do.
Look Folks, it's this simple. You have an income. You place that money in the bank. You know what your expenses are each month and you pay your bills. At the end of the month there's a balance in that account. The City works no differently. The Finance Director has always been very good at delivering these numbers, yet now the Mayor is refusing to state how much of a balance the City has. It's your money, you should know and Debbie Campbell's request was justified and fair.
Remember now, it was Debbie Campbell who asked the question that led to finding the $400,000.00 mistake in the Grant. IF Debbie had not found the money and the grant had been moved forward two weeks ago, YOU would have been held accountable for the $400,000.00 error. Mayor Ireton's demands were premature and unprofessional. In the very least Debbie Campbell saved the day on this one.
Now, as for the comments coming in ragging on her, I think we ALL know now who they're coming in from. They are attempting to use Salisbury News as a bashing tool against her. Like I said, damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Now, getting back to the grant. Council President Terry Cohen stated it better than any one else. For the past SEVERAL years under three different Fire Chief's, the Fire Department has REQUESTED 66 Firefighters each year and the City Council granted ALL 66 Firefighters. Over all those years, not once did the Fire Department ask for additional Firefighters.
Now all of a sudden they NEED an additional 12 Firefighters? Think for a moment! If YOU were running a business and business was jam packed, wouldn't you expect your upper management to come to you over the past 5 years and ask for more people to keep things going? The BOSS, (the City Council) has NOT received such a request. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
The Daily Times stated today on line that the Council rejected the request two weeks ago. NO they didn't. They stated they didn't have enough information to move forward and place it on the agenda. The Daily Times has been labeling each Council Member in recent months. Why, because they're already gearing up for a Mike Dunn run for Mayor, just as they did years ago for the Dream Team.
ALL of it ties together, you just wait and see. We'll try to continue showing you on a regular basis what they're doing because I for one am not blind to their games.
The Council Majority is serving YOUR best interest. They, nor I, have ANYTHING against Firefighters. The Chief was NOT forthcoming with honest information on this from the beginning and that threw a wrench into it right out of the gate.
Finally, the decision has been made to support the Grant. The money will be available from FEMA for two years. The Firefighters being hired will know full and well that they are being hired for that period of time and the City is NOT liable to retain these Firefighters.
I don't want to hear two years from now, HOW CAN YOU LET PUBLIC SAFETY PEOPLE GO! If I am your Mayor at the time and ANYONE plays that game, I'll see to it you're removed from the Salisbury Fire Department immediately. "A half truth is a whole lie".
UPDATE: It should also be noted, the RESPONSE time published in the Daily Times today is inaccurate. Allow me to explain. The RESPONSE time numbers they were going by are times in which Firefighters were furloughed. They are NOT accurate numbers.