We find troubling news in this morning's Standard-Examiner: The Emerald City Fire Department is essentially... well... broke. According to this Ace Reporter Schwebke story, a recent independent audit reports serious across-the-board deficiencies in infrastructure, equipment and staffing which, if corrected now, at today's costs, would sum up to about 5.7 million bucks. In addition to that, the OFD seems to be experiencing employee morale problems -- something about a "retention problem" with newly-hired (and newly-trained) firefighters.
Department Chief Mike Mathieu is however keeping a stiff upper lip, despite his department's financial embarrassment. Like department heads in most underfunded Ogden City departments, (The Economic Development Department excepted) he's maintaining a bright outlook:
“I don’t think public safety is being compromised,” he said.Well yes -- for our Ogden City Firefighters there's always the old "tin cup." Thank goodness for those federal grants -- and we're keeping our fingers crossed.
Nevertheless, he vowed to leave no stone unturned in his search for funding to beef up staffing, purchase new equipment and renovate aging fire stations.
“I’m looking under any rocks that I can for money,” Mathieu said. [...]
The city is using a $375,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-disaster mitigation grant and a local match of $125,000 from its capital improvement budget to upgrade Station No. 5.
That work should be complete in June. The fire department will use the renovation project as a template to determine specific costs for seismic and structural improvements at other stations, Mathieu said.
Councilwoman Jeske offers her own sober evaluation of the OFD's pressing pecuniary problems:
Although the department has applied for several federal grants to address some of its most pressing needs, there is no guarantee funding will be forthcoming, which means the city may have to step up to the plate, said City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske.Jeske's suggestion seems sensible enough. Stepping up to the plate (providing adequate funding) is the manner in which other cities fund their fire departments. We'll presume, at least for the moment, that most other cities don't compel their city fire chiefs to lurk around the local federal building, begging for spare change.
“We can’t depend on grants to remedy the problems,” she said. “The city is going to have to take the bull by the horns, and we are going to have to fund it one way or another.”
And speaking of "taking the bull by the horns," we're going to reprise on the front page some comments received in an earlier WCF comments section, in which Gentle Reader Ogden Resident posted a link and discussed Emerald City's newly-released Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. According to that report, Boss Godfrey will be writing off some $6.3 million in RDA debt, funds that were advanced from the Ogden City General Fund to the RDA for various of Boss Godfrey's downtown "pet projects." As gentle reader Ogden Resident notes, this is $6.3 million that will never be directly returned to the public treasury.
Let's see now. The Ogden Fire Department is "short" $5.7 million, and Ogden City will be "charging off" some $6.3 million in "uncollectable" receivables.
Coincidence? Misplaced priorities, perhaps?
And a gentle (but possibly unecessary) reminder to our Emerald City readers this holiday season: We hope you'll all pay particular attention to fire safety this year.
And one thing more: If you see Chief Mathieu standing outside a store today, along-side the Salvation Army guy -- as you finish any last-minute Christmas shopping -- we hope you'll be sure to drop a little change in his cup.
30 comments:
It's a shame that Chief Mathieu has to resort to looking under stones to find financial support for the department.
Fact of the matter is that Godfrey has neglected the Fire Department the same as all other departments and city services, except for the fantasy development department.
Chief Mathieu does have a positive attitude about the worn out equipment and such, but he has never had to respond to an emergency in one of those old worn out undependable fire engines, I have to disagree with him about the publics safety being at risk, If you cant rely on the equipment to get the personnel on scene, let alone function on arrival, then the publics safety is at risk.
Not only is the public's safety at risk, also that of the firefighters.
I'm afraid that after their support of VanHooser in the last election, firefighters may be at the very bottom of the list for city funding. It shouldn't be like that but we have a vindictive little weasel on the ninth floor.
Continuing to take shots at the fools and such that put the lying little weasel back on the 9th floor, you silly idiots.
All this ill concieved rinkydink developement, for the sake of just doing something, has put all public safety and infrastructure way behind.
The Feds gave Ogden one of the greatest gifts a city could hope for in the old defense depot. Something that should have enabled Ogden to not only catch up, but surpass the rest of No. Utah with funding infrastructure and Public safety needs far into the future.
To illustrate the imaturity of this lying little weasel take a good look at whats been done with it. More than a million seven hundred thousand dollars anual expenditure for a wind tunnel and penny arcade.
I would liken lying little matty's actions to that of a 19 yr. old that just spent the money dad gave him for tuition, on skis and a season pass. And just like dad, the Council has to bail him out by now raising the water rates to pay for something that was in essence covered.
And I notice that there has appeared so far in the SE not a word about the recently released Ogden City financial report, noted by Rudi in today's lead entry. However, the SE did run a piece on the front page of the Top of Utah section about a recent audit of West Point's finances. But in re: Ogden's financial condition/report, so far nary a word....
To All, on All Sides of All Issues, including office-holders and people who did not vote as I did, and yes, even [for the next 36 hours anyway] Republicans:
Please choose whichever of the following you find most pleasing:
a. Feliz Navidad
b. Merry Christmas
c. Happy Hanukkah
d. Seasons Greetings
e. Happy Holidays
f. All of the above
along with a wish that any you're gathering with this evening will have landed safely and/or will be off the roads and warmly arrived enjoying appropriately fortified cold-repelling libations by night fall. Stay warm, people.
curm:
Don't forget Isaac Newton's birthday!
Dan:
Or the recent Winter solstice. [Bumper sticker seen last week: "A 23° 26’ axial tilt is/the reason for the season."]
Ol' Issac recommended for certain illnesses a concoction of earthworms stewed in urine. I think I'll celebrate his birth a little late this time, well after Christmas dinner.
Curm:
Even ol' Isaac wasn't right about everything. Let's remember and celebrate him for some of his better ideas!
seems to me that ogden resident proved that godfrey lied about the city not being responsible for rda debt. six plus million dollars worth of proof.
city council members better realize that the residents will hold you members as responsible for this write off as godfrey.
quit being such putzs.
Disgusted:
The odds of voters recalling two years from now, much less four, the details of or meaning of the recent Ogden financial statement are slim and none, I'm afraid.
The reason why Ogden City Government is broke.
Its ran by Republicans!!!
Wake up...
Hey Democrat...your grammea needs repair....was it ever thus?However, because I'm magnanimous (and a Republican)
I just want to wish y'all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS....HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR, and that goes for our fair city too!
I've missed chatting with you lately, but I see that y'all are in good form....better than the fire dept, our infrastructure, the general state of affairs and the financial future of Ogden.
Let us pray that we have seen the last of the little one's visions except as they dance in his big head with sugar plums on Christmas Eve kept warm by his Descente ski cap.
Dang....I hate to sling a barb...and then misspell my own....
That's what I get for liking a few of you Democrats......sheesh
Sharon:
Good to hear from you. Merry Christmas, Sharon.
Thanx, Curm....it's a beautiful day!
Hope you have merriment and love to fill your's.
On this Christmas morning, the SE has chosen to lead with a very curious story across the top of the front page. Here's the headline:
Ogden defends land deal
Harmer: Agreement with Leshem ‘made sense’
What's curious about the story is this: it adds very nearly nothing to what has already been reported on this story in the SE and the SL Trib. Almost nothing. It repeats the Administration's defense of its agreeing to act as a purchasing agent for Mr. Lesham to secure options on RDA phase two properties. It repeats the administration's argument that it did not have the money to acquire the options so was happy to have Mr. Lesham front the city the money in return for the city buying the options on his behalf. It ignores [again] the matter of the city having agreed to this secretly, without informing the public. It repeats Mr. Harmar's non-denial denial that "he assumed the RDA board was aware the options could be transferred." Which of course dodges the matter in question entirely. The issue is not did the Council know the options "could be transferred." The problem is, the Administration transferred the options without the knowledge or permission of the Council/RDA board. On why that was done, Mr. Harmer and the Administration he toadies for are still silent. And the story reports that the Council/RDA Board has [a]retroactively approved the transfers and [b] changed the RDA procedures so that any future transfers will have to be approved by the board first --- both of which matters have been reported by the SE earlier. And Mr. Lesham was, the story says [as usual], unavailable for comment.
The point of a follow up story is to advance the story, to bring to readers more information than was available before, to [so to speak] kick the can a few more paces down the road. Today's SE story adds almost nothing to what has already been reported. Which raises the interesting question, for me of what the story was done at all, and why in the world it became the lead story in today's paper. What do we know, after reading it, that, as readers of the SE, we didn't know before? Not much.
The story quotes Councilwoman Wicks: “Maybe Mr. Leshem is the best developer or not (for the river project). We haven’t had that discussion,” she said.
"But we haven't had that discussion yet." Exactly. But then, this was not news either.
what bothers me most about todays headline story on the river development project are two matters.
1 the city acquired options for 100 to 1000 dollars per option. not much money and yet they said they didn’t have the money. thirty eight options at even the 1000 dollar per option amount the city clearly has or could have borrowed from other city funds via a transfer as they have done in the past. such as general fund transfer to rda. also the rda made a 250000 dollar loan not long after they were acquiring these option to the windsor hotel on two bit street. pure bs cover-up excuse.
2 council or rda members voted retroactively to pass the transfer of options. they could have simply refused to retroactively transferred the options. most land owners down there were speculators that were trying to make a quick buck. the city didn’t need to bale these investors out. lame excuse by the rda board to justify their vote. these board member idiots are either in on the game with the administration or too intimidated by the administration or too stupid to understand what they are doing. we need to upgrade to caliber of our city council members.
starting to think the board members are in on the game. when the mixed use ordinance came up for vote none of them liked it but yet they passed it for use only on the river project. objections raised being about the mu ordinance was that it was geared toward one large developer only on mixed development areas rather than setting standards for all that developed in that area. seems we got that one developer. Seems to me this was their plan all along rda board and administration.
rda board seems to like to work behind closed doors too. talk with both pairs of lips.
I understand that numb nutz IS going to have a WalMart on Wall Ave! Thus, more competiton of retail against retail in the same city! Look what is happening in South Ogden! The place is going great guns....what new retail does Ogden have? We give our tax dollars away like drunken sailors hitting port after a yr at sea!
When I asked Peterson what his plan is for the Mt Ogden complex, he said he 'was going back to the drawing board'. I wish I'd asked him what his plans are for the Wall Ave properties! We still don't know! Yet, everyone else has to 'show and tell' what their plans are for any properties they acquire.
Do we know for sure that Godfrey actually won reelection? After all the chicanery and manipulation of the process, I don't think we can ever be sure. And then McEweun has been uncooperative and downright as sneaky as Godfrey!
I sure hope I didn't vote for that guy!
WHEN will the Council fire Godfrey as RDA Director? Having the Council and RDA members one and the same is a crime perpetrated by the Legislture! Maybe they were naive enough to think that crooks like Godfrey and his henchmen wouldn't take advantage of the taxpayers? This is a deal that puts crooks' salivary glands on overdrive! Next time you observe Godfrey, Harmer, Patterson and the rest of the sycophants, watch out for the drool hitting you in the face when they turn their heads in your direction. Kinda like the Exorcist.
Understand that Lesham is in India...visiting family, getting a job as a telemarketer, or getting financial advice from his spiritual advisor?
Dan:
Hope you are planning to celebrate Isaac Newton's real birthday, 4 January. His birthday is 25 December only in the old style Julian Calendar, which hasn't been used by England or the US for hundreds of years. By the calendar we up-to-date cool hip historians [and very nearly everyone else except Berber tribesmen in N. Africa and apparently physics professors] uses in these modern times, his birthday is 4 January. Well after Christmas dinner, I might add.
Clearly, your posts above were part of a sneaky physicists plot to trick people into celebrating Newton's birthday twice. Nice try, compadre.
Does anyone know when the Citygate Associates gave the report on the condition of our fire dept. to the city? How long has the city been sitting on this report and for that matter the SE?
ogres:
Don't know, but the report is a public document, and so you should be able to get a copy, possibly on the city website, and the submission letter, dated, should be included.
Or you could email a couple of Council members with the question. Which is a good one. I doubt the OFD sat on it during the election, but the first report may not have gone to the OFD but to the administration. Depends on who commissioned [i.e. paid for] the study, I imagine. Maybe nothing to this at all, but surely work asking and finding out for sure.
I saw the report several months ago! The OFD has been in trouble for a long time.....thus placing the firefighters and citizens in peril.
The report came out lst spring, I believe April or May.
The Council is still waiting for recommedations from the Mayor on the report. They could be in for a long waqit as we can see by the time frame of the report to hit the news.
The Mayor doesnt want to invest in the basics that the City is responsible to provide, it's not sexy or cool. He wants everyone to think that all is well in Ogden, when in fact it is not due to the obious neglect over the past eight years of his reign.
Sorry about the spelling above, lazy fingers today.
Sharon,
Is the Walmart on Wall Ave a done deal? Another Walmart will be the death of additional businesses, small and large, in Ogden. Most of the Walmart inventory comes from China, which is another winner for the local economy.......not!
On a positive note, hope everyone had a fine Christmas. It sure was a beautiful day. Also, a huge shout out for Tom Owens' generosity and a pat on the back for all WCF members who helped the Marshall White program. Well done!
curm:
I'm well aware of the calendar ambiguity regarding Newton's birthday. But ultimately, when to celebrate is a matter of opinion, not fact. I prefer to go by the calendar that was in use in England (where Newton was born) at the time. So what if the position of earth in its orbit is not the same when I celebrate as it was when Newton was born?
And, as you say, we could always celebrate twice.
Birdlips, I agree with you about the kiss of death for many local businesses if we get a Wal Mart to greet the Front Runner passengers.
Harmons is struggling, so is Smiths and Albertsons, Wangsgards and Stop and Shop will suffer a great deal also.
We might get a few extra tax dollar revenue from people passing through town, but the others who have been here for many years contributing to the tax base will surely die on the vine.
Trading dollars is how I see it, but Wal Marche' wont see he likes of my ugle face in their stores.
Buy Local:
The Godfrey administration actually had a good idea: that the way to bring people to downtown Ogden was to offer there things they could not find at the Layton Hills Mall or easily in surrounding towns and other places. To build back downtown Ogden with businesses offering unique appeal. Of course, they went off the rails, I think, with a sound idea by deciding that a $45 a ticket wind tunnel ride was the way to do it, along with a flat-land gondola ride from downtown to WSU, but the fundamental idea was a sound one.
Of course, the downtown Wal-Mart idea completely violates the Administration's original idea of building downtown Ogden with unique draws. You can't drive five miles out of Ogden north or south without running into a Wal-Mart. There have to be --- what? ten of the damn things? at least? --- between here and Salt Lake. What's next? To cut a special deal providing a public money subsidy to move an Olive Garden to 25th Street, next to La Ferovia? I wouldn't put it past him.
Buy local!......should be the mantra for all individuals concerned with a vibrant local economy. Walmart and local businesses are at odds with each other. Unfortunately, cheap prices usually win and the local businesses takes a hit.
A Walmart in downtown Ogden will set the “tone” (for quality) in Ogden. Does downtown Ogden really need to be associated with cheap Chinese products and Walmart? Think about China’s manufacturing practices and the quality of their goods. A lead paint mentality, poison pet food, abysmal working conditions and a complete disregard for the environment. Concerning China and the USA , there’s a massive trade deficit and the continued outsourcing of American jobs. No need to mention how much US debt China owns.....yet. But, I digress.
Walmart also destroys thriving American manufacturers. Check out what happened to Rubbermaid:
.....when WalMart first expanded through America as the low cost big-box store, it was a good partner with its (American) suppliers. In 1994, RubberMaid had a great relationship with WalMart because RubberMaid provided excellent quality, high valued items for a reasonable price and much of its product was sold through WalMart. Back then, RubberMaid was rated the #1 company in the US because it was able to compete on efficient, yet high quality products for the American marketplace - and WalMart helped as the largest retail outlet for RubberMaid products. Yet, when RubberMaid was forced to increase their prices due to the costs of their basic supplies, WalMart refused to accept the new prices and dropped many of the RubberMaid products from their stores. In a fairly short time the loss of WalMart as an outlet led to the demise of RubberMaid.
Waangsgard's is my favorite “big box” store. They've managed to retain the local flavor of Ogden, not only in their deli, but in the items they offer throughout the store. Try to find custom nuts and bolts at Walmart. It ain't gonna happen. Shoot, Waangsgard's still hires boxboys (and girls.)
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