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!!
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