Different police cruiser issues just kept coming up in this meeting. Next item on the agenda was to surplus 3 old police vehicles. With little discussion city officials all voted yes to surplus them.
Next issue believe it or not was the purchase of 4 new police cruisers. Commissioner Galbraith expressed concern about purchasing Ford Crown Victoria which apparently are being phased out by the manufacturer. Police dept. spokesman replied that it saved two thousand dollars per vehicle because special equipment such a cages , brackets etc would be a direct change out with no extra cost just on these 4 police cruisers. Commissioner Fryman replied, “won’t you still have the extra cost in the future on all police vehicles?” The reply was “yes sir, we will.”
Mayor Thornton said, “why are we buying 4 new cars when we don’t know yet what we are going to do with home fleet?”
Mayor Thornton, Commissioner Galbraith and Horn voted “no”.
Commissioner Brooks and Fryman voted “yes”
Next issue was paying the monthly bills. Commissioner Galbraith questioned overtime in Police Dept. For the month it was stated there was 52% overtime. Part of it was explained by having 3 officers in school.
Another budget issue was with the Fire Department. Commissioner Galbraith questioned “why the retirement match was running at 67.7% when other departments were running about 35%?” The stated answer was this was under estimated during the budget process.
Again my fellow tax paying citizens, Where is all the money going?
Next issue was City of Paris Little League Program. There was discussion about getting the contract bid early mid-Jan in order to get an early start for Spring sign-ups. All agreed they would get it done by Jan 12th
Big Surprises happens to me toward the close of the meeting. Mayor Thornton gave assistant city manager a deadline of Jan 8th to give me answers to all my questions of the past several months that city officials have just ignored. He then turned and ask me was that ok.
Yeaaaahhh!! Finally they are acknowledging the public request.
Then City Manager Nagy looks at me and says, “Mr. Marshall I have a copy of the budget for you, and he then stated he had a copy of the budget on the hallway wall outside his office for all to see.”
It has taken several months of my persistence, but this is a small victory to get city officials to realize the public really does want to know what is going on in our local government.
Until next time,
Monday, December 28, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
12/22/2009 Commissioners Meeting
This meeting was about 2 hours 45 minutes long. There again was a lot of discussion it seemed about possible budget short falls in several topics that were discussed.
One of the first items on the agenda was to approve a lease/purchase agreement for a 2010 Ford F-150 truck. It seemed as they read through the “lease agreement language it really didn’t specifically mention the truck the city was to lease/purchase” commissioner Galbraith stated. The City Attorney questioned some tax language in the agreement. After a short discussion city officials decided to postpone the lease/purchase of the truck
Next on the agenda was the approval of a Holiday Gift Card for all city employees. Commissioner Fryman question why a gift card instead of just money. Fryman stated “a gift card limited how each employee could spend it” He pointed out with money they had a better choice as to what they would use it for. All city officials voted yes to give cash instead of a gift card. It was stated that the city had 120 full time employees, each to receive $100.00 cash. It was also stated city had 30 part-time employees, each to receive $50.00 cash.
Next all city officials voted yes to promote city employee Mr. Sexton to Electric Superintendent. It was stated his hourly wage would be 27.50 per hour.
Next item was a hot issue on the agenda. It was about Paris Police Officers taking police cruisers home with them when they are off duty. This is were things began to heat up because of the budget information provided to the commissioners and mayor by the city manager and acting police chief.
Commissioner Galbraith stated “they presented a lot of information in the reports, but no where does he see the same number twice. There needs to be hard numbers to be able to make a decision one way or the other he stated.”
Commissioner Horn expressed concern there was no inventory system in place to track police vehicles the city owned.
Commissioner Fryman stated “he felt there was mis-management going on in the police dept”.
Mayor Thornton was critical about several things in the report. He pointed out he was told they were paying insurance on 44 vehicles instead of 33 stated in report. He stated the number of vehicles keeps changing for home fleet from 6 then 11 and now 14? What is going on? The mayor also pointed out that since 2005 until now the Police Dept budget has double from about $1,000,000 in 2005 and it is over $2,000,000.00 now. The mayor stated “were is the money going.” The mayor stated “how can we tell the people of Paris that gross revenues have gone down 9% but the Police Budget increased 72% ??
I should point out that about 4 citizens were allowed to make public comment on the Home-fleet issue. All who spoke were in favor of the police officers taking the cruisers home with them
A motion was voted on to keep the home fleet for about 3 more months until more research on the matter can be done and presented again to the city officials. The vote was 4 to 1 to keep the home fleet for now. Mayor Thornton was the lone no vote.
Several others issue were discussed related to the budget that I will comment on in my next post very soon.
Until next time,.
One of the first items on the agenda was to approve a lease/purchase agreement for a 2010 Ford F-150 truck. It seemed as they read through the “lease agreement language it really didn’t specifically mention the truck the city was to lease/purchase” commissioner Galbraith stated. The City Attorney questioned some tax language in the agreement. After a short discussion city officials decided to postpone the lease/purchase of the truck
Next on the agenda was the approval of a Holiday Gift Card for all city employees. Commissioner Fryman question why a gift card instead of just money. Fryman stated “a gift card limited how each employee could spend it” He pointed out with money they had a better choice as to what they would use it for. All city officials voted yes to give cash instead of a gift card. It was stated that the city had 120 full time employees, each to receive $100.00 cash. It was also stated city had 30 part-time employees, each to receive $50.00 cash.
Next all city officials voted yes to promote city employee Mr. Sexton to Electric Superintendent. It was stated his hourly wage would be 27.50 per hour.
Next item was a hot issue on the agenda. It was about Paris Police Officers taking police cruisers home with them when they are off duty. This is were things began to heat up because of the budget information provided to the commissioners and mayor by the city manager and acting police chief.
Commissioner Galbraith stated “they presented a lot of information in the reports, but no where does he see the same number twice. There needs to be hard numbers to be able to make a decision one way or the other he stated.”
Commissioner Horn expressed concern there was no inventory system in place to track police vehicles the city owned.
Commissioner Fryman stated “he felt there was mis-management going on in the police dept”.
Mayor Thornton was critical about several things in the report. He pointed out he was told they were paying insurance on 44 vehicles instead of 33 stated in report. He stated the number of vehicles keeps changing for home fleet from 6 then 11 and now 14? What is going on? The mayor also pointed out that since 2005 until now the Police Dept budget has double from about $1,000,000 in 2005 and it is over $2,000,000.00 now. The mayor stated “were is the money going.” The mayor stated “how can we tell the people of Paris that gross revenues have gone down 9% but the Police Budget increased 72% ??
I should point out that about 4 citizens were allowed to make public comment on the Home-fleet issue. All who spoke were in favor of the police officers taking the cruisers home with them
A motion was voted on to keep the home fleet for about 3 more months until more research on the matter can be done and presented again to the city officials. The vote was 4 to 1 to keep the home fleet for now. Mayor Thornton was the lone no vote.
Several others issue were discussed related to the budget that I will comment on in my next post very soon.
Until next time,.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Taxpayer Transparency Act 2010
This is what my September 2009 website letter to Paris City Officials was all about. http://pariskentucky.blogspot.com/2009/11/website-letter.html Transparency in our local government. Now it's time for some of you to voice your support of my website letter to Paris City Officials. Let them know you want to see were your money is being spent!!! Tell your friends, get them involved too.
Now it is happening at state level-Taxpayer Transparency Act 2010
It is great to see that we have State Representives and State Senators that believe our Kentucky State Government should have transparency too!
State Senator Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and State Representive Jim DeCesare, R-Rockfield, announce prefiled legislation (BR 290 and BR 128) on Dec. 15, 2009, in Room 327 at the state Capitol that would require online posting of all state government expenses in a searchable database.
This is a "Must See" press conference video for you to see and hear on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/user/FreedomKentucky#p/a/u/2/uhmXqYjJ4YE
“I think this is an issue whose time has come,” State Senator Thayer said. “I think this bill can restore some trust and confidence in state government.” link to senate bill 290 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/10RS/SB40.htm
“We feel it’s important for the citizens of Kentucky to see where every dime of their tax dollars is going,” State Representive DeCesare said. “It can be done though an executive order, but we feel this needs to be mandated by law, so it can never go away.” link to house bill128 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/10RS/HB128.htm
We need to e-mail and make sure that our State Representive Sannie Overly e-mail sannie.overly@lrc.ky.gov and State Senator R.J. Palmer II e-mail http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S028.htm vote yes on these bills so it will become law!
It is sad to say, but to much corrupt spending at all levels of government is going on in this country. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BUT YOU HAVE TO SPEAK OUT TO BE HEARD.
Until next time,
Now it is happening at state level-Taxpayer Transparency Act 2010
It is great to see that we have State Representives and State Senators that believe our Kentucky State Government should have transparency too!
State Senator Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and State Representive Jim DeCesare, R-Rockfield, announce prefiled legislation (BR 290 and BR 128) on Dec. 15, 2009, in Room 327 at the state Capitol that would require online posting of all state government expenses in a searchable database.
This is a "Must See" press conference video for you to see and hear on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/user/FreedomKentucky#p/a/u/2/uhmXqYjJ4YE
“I think this is an issue whose time has come,” State Senator Thayer said. “I think this bill can restore some trust and confidence in state government.” link to senate bill 290 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/10RS/SB40.htm
“We feel it’s important for the citizens of Kentucky to see where every dime of their tax dollars is going,” State Representive DeCesare said. “It can be done though an executive order, but we feel this needs to be mandated by law, so it can never go away.” link to house bill128 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/10RS/HB128.htm
We need to e-mail and make sure that our State Representive Sannie Overly e-mail sannie.overly@lrc.ky.gov and State Senator R.J. Palmer II e-mail http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S028.htm vote yes on these bills so it will become law!
It is sad to say, but to much corrupt spending at all levels of government is going on in this country. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BUT YOU HAVE TO SPEAK OUT TO BE HEARD.
Until next time,
Monday, December 14, 2009
Please Don't Drink and Drive this Holiday Season
The alarming stats below comes from our Kentucky state govt website. If you see a person operating a vehicle while impaired, please call your local law enforcement agency or the Kentucky State Police at 1-800-222-5555.
In Kentucky last year there were more than 5,000 alcohol-related crashes, resulting in 2,754 injuries and 160 deaths. Twenty fatalities - eight involving alcohol - occurred during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Read this entire article at http://migration.kentucky.gov/newsroom/kytc/2009+OLUA.htm
Don't let someone you care about Drink and Drive!!
In Kentucky last year there were more than 5,000 alcohol-related crashes, resulting in 2,754 injuries and 160 deaths. Twenty fatalities - eight involving alcohol - occurred during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Read this entire article at http://migration.kentucky.gov/newsroom/kytc/2009+OLUA.htm
Don't let someone you care about Drink and Drive!!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
12/08/2009 Commissioners Meeting
Let me start by saying this 9 a.m. schedule for a meeting isn’t working to well for me. I was late again getting to the meeting because my morning schedule conflicts with it. The meeting was still going at 10:45 a.m. when I had to leave because of another commitment.
They just started discussing the flood plain ordinance when I arrived. It sounded like the mayor and commissioners were all sensitive to the idea that our city has enough problems with floods without adding anything to the ordinance that might create the possibility of more flooding.
There was a lady at the meeting who spoke out against the language in the ordinance that is being drafted. She made some very good points. I’m sorry for not remembering her name, but it was apparent she had researched the matter very throughly and knew what she was talking about. She raised a very valid point saying the language in the new ordinance seemed to imply ways to build in the flood plain fringe instead of just saying No Building In the Fringe period!
I must say she and another lady both were very convincing. The mayor ask that the two men from the company that is working for the city to draft the new language have a separate meeting with the two ladies. Hopefully this will happen and the new language will be clear and say “No Building and No Exception. That way a room full of lawyers can’t pick it to death and find a loophole for someone to build in the flood fringe. There is plenty of land for future expansion of our community outside the flood fringe area it was stated.
The next issue was deciding on who the city was going to use for city employees health benefits for 2010. There was several city employees attending the meeting to hear what was going on.
It seems several companies were asked to bid on a health benefit package, but the city only got two responses. Again this was a lengthy presentation to city officials on the proposed options for city employees.
After hearing all options open to them at this time, city officials decided to stay with the same company temporally for the first six months of 2010. During that time they will explore other options. Bottom line insurance premiums were going to be about 9 ½% higher next year. It was decided that employees would be response able for 50% of the increase and the city the other 50%.
I have no idea what other issues were discussed because the above two items consumed all the time I was present at the meeting.
I still am waiting for answers from city officials on my questions dated 8/25/2009 about the ABC administrator issues? Mayor Thronton acknowledge this at the 11/24/2009 meeting but they are still dragging it out for unknown reasons!
I still want city officials to address items I suggested in my letter to them about putting city financials on their website. I will continue asking questions and sooner or later they will have to answer them.......
Until next time,
They just started discussing the flood plain ordinance when I arrived. It sounded like the mayor and commissioners were all sensitive to the idea that our city has enough problems with floods without adding anything to the ordinance that might create the possibility of more flooding.
There was a lady at the meeting who spoke out against the language in the ordinance that is being drafted. She made some very good points. I’m sorry for not remembering her name, but it was apparent she had researched the matter very throughly and knew what she was talking about. She raised a very valid point saying the language in the new ordinance seemed to imply ways to build in the flood plain fringe instead of just saying No Building In the Fringe period!
I must say she and another lady both were very convincing. The mayor ask that the two men from the company that is working for the city to draft the new language have a separate meeting with the two ladies. Hopefully this will happen and the new language will be clear and say “No Building and No Exception. That way a room full of lawyers can’t pick it to death and find a loophole for someone to build in the flood fringe. There is plenty of land for future expansion of our community outside the flood fringe area it was stated.
The next issue was deciding on who the city was going to use for city employees health benefits for 2010. There was several city employees attending the meeting to hear what was going on.
It seems several companies were asked to bid on a health benefit package, but the city only got two responses. Again this was a lengthy presentation to city officials on the proposed options for city employees.
After hearing all options open to them at this time, city officials decided to stay with the same company temporally for the first six months of 2010. During that time they will explore other options. Bottom line insurance premiums were going to be about 9 ½% higher next year. It was decided that employees would be response able for 50% of the increase and the city the other 50%.
I have no idea what other issues were discussed because the above two items consumed all the time I was present at the meeting.
I still am waiting for answers from city officials on my questions dated 8/25/2009 about the ABC administrator issues? Mayor Thronton acknowledge this at the 11/24/2009 meeting but they are still dragging it out for unknown reasons!
I still want city officials to address items I suggested in my letter to them about putting city financials on their website. I will continue asking questions and sooner or later they will have to answer them.......
Until next time,
Saturday, December 5, 2009
City of Paris Budget?
I seem to re-call a newspaper article back in May/June time frame about a potential short fall in the 2009/2010 Budget. Since then very little has been said about it. It would be nice to know if our City of Paris budget is ok? Are they running in the black, balanced, or in the red? Who Knows?
As you know I requested City of Paris to post the financial information on their website this past September. This was just one of several items in my “Website Letter to City Officials.”
I noted to you in my post of 11/19/09 they did finally post the minutes of the commissioners meetings on the web. If you take time to read through the minutes they have a little financial information listed. They have Bills for Approval to the General Fund and Utility Fund.
One thing I see they are constantly doing is taken money from the Utility Fund and putting it in the General Fund. Some times they call it an advance other times it’s called an Allocation? Either way this looks a little fuzzy? Why are they doing this? I thought each fund was independent of the other?
Obviously this is just an observation from me, I certainly am not indicating wrong doing. I only am a concerned citizen wanting to see our tax dollars are being spent in the best interest for all.
Until next time,
As you know I requested City of Paris to post the financial information on their website this past September. This was just one of several items in my “Website Letter to City Officials.”
I noted to you in my post of 11/19/09 they did finally post the minutes of the commissioners meetings on the web. If you take time to read through the minutes they have a little financial information listed. They have Bills for Approval to the General Fund and Utility Fund.
One thing I see they are constantly doing is taken money from the Utility Fund and putting it in the General Fund. Some times they call it an advance other times it’s called an Allocation? Either way this looks a little fuzzy? Why are they doing this? I thought each fund was independent of the other?
Obviously this is just an observation from me, I certainly am not indicating wrong doing. I only am a concerned citizen wanting to see our tax dollars are being spent in the best interest for all.
Until next time,
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Election Year 2010
This coming year can be the year that your vote can make the difference. All the local and county offices are going to be on the ballot for you to cast your vote. This is the time to make your choice on who you want to make future decisions about Paris and Bourbon County Government.
They will be in charge of making decisions that can effect your personal day to day life. So put some time in the thought process before you cast a vote. Only you can decide what is best for you and your family. The main thing is to make sure YOU VOTE don’t let others decide your future without having your voice heard.
The past couple years has been tough on all of us with all the economic issues are country is facing. We need people in office making solid good decision for the whole community, not individuals who are just it for the “what is in it for me attitude.”
If you are not sure about how a candidate stands on an issue, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask? If they share your values then vote for them. If not vote for the one who does. Just because you think someone is a nice person, they may not share your same views on a particular subject. In that case, if you vote them in office, don’t be surprised when they do the opposite of what you thought!
I realize it is the Holiday Season and Christmas is just around the corner. It is not to early to be thinking about your future for the next couple of years. Enjoy the Holidays but think about issues that concern you and plan on casting YOUR VOTE.
Until next time,
They will be in charge of making decisions that can effect your personal day to day life. So put some time in the thought process before you cast a vote. Only you can decide what is best for you and your family. The main thing is to make sure YOU VOTE don’t let others decide your future without having your voice heard.
The past couple years has been tough on all of us with all the economic issues are country is facing. We need people in office making solid good decision for the whole community, not individuals who are just it for the “what is in it for me attitude.”
If you are not sure about how a candidate stands on an issue, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask? If they share your values then vote for them. If not vote for the one who does. Just because you think someone is a nice person, they may not share your same views on a particular subject. In that case, if you vote them in office, don’t be surprised when they do the opposite of what you thought!
I realize it is the Holiday Season and Christmas is just around the corner. It is not to early to be thinking about your future for the next couple of years. Enjoy the Holidays but think about issues that concern you and plan on casting YOUR VOTE.
Until next time,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)