Friday, June 14, 2013

Fire Equipment Auction-CNP grabs the dollars

Well what does obsolete Fire Equipment sell for, you know the stuff that is well past it's prime no value to our community, to costly to get certified, not adequate for fire fighting needs etc, etc. If you don't have a good reason for getting rid of the stuff the politicians or the administrators will find one.
So surprisingly (My source at the auction) tells me that the majority of the equipment was purchased by "Fire Departments"?.
Ladder Truck went for $5,500
Hillcrest Fire Truck (Pumper) $12,000
Coleman Tanker Truck $30,000
Coleman Suburban $4,500
Coleman support truck $6,500
Hillcrest Suburban $800
Pick up trucks for anywhere between $300-1,200

If it wasn't for the Coleman Tanker this would have been a complete disaster for the municipality.
Even if next council choices to stay with three Fire Halls why would you have not kept the Hillcrest Fire Truck has a spare that $12,000 will pay the salaries of our bloated administration for 2.8 days  

Note: Keep in mind one very important number $4325

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, it sounds like our old stuff is good enough for some fire departments. Not shiny enough for this one I guess.

Doomsayer said...

Bloated is exactly right!
I understand (could be wrong?) that the secretaries are getting in the neighborhood of $18.00 to start. When you consider all salaries go up from there, how can we afford the office?
Definitely pruning time!!!

Anonymous said...

I don't believe that price is out of line. I think Doomsayer, you are nit picking. Go for the 100 plus salaries why don't you. Administrative people are peanuts on the whole realm of things.

Anonymous said...

Dean, very good question. Why would any fire department buy our old fire equipment? Maybe to use as back up? Thrifty we are not.

Anonymous said...

Doomsayer

Understand that the average CUPE member in the office might be making $40,000 a year. I am assuming when Dean talks about administration that is not what he is referring to.

C.V

The Doomsayer said...

Funny how people get up on their high horses about the salaries upper management in our municipal office get yet feel high salaries for the rest of the staff is just fine. The money just isn't there anymore.

This is a community where many of the working people here get minimum ($9.75 per hour) or just above minimum wage, often working 2 jobs to make ends meet, many seniors are just scraping by & our infrastructure is falling apart. I know of seniors who have had to leave the York Creek Lodge & live in a room in the Grand Union because their old age pension no longer covers York's fees.
Are any of these people happy seeing their tax dollars going to top notch salaries, regardless if it is front end staff or management? I think not!

Mine wages are certainly earned, long hours, shift work & hard dusty work justify every penny but with a larger percentage of taxpayers in town earning much less making it that much harder to pay taxes, we simply can't continue to pay the municipal office expenses, regardless of level.

As I said before, time to prune, at all levels!!

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”
― Winston Churchill

Anonymous said...

Seems like Bruce is following in the steps of the great Genghis Khan... It is always important to remember that "one pillages before you burn".

The decision to liquidate could have been postponed until after Oct, but we have been saved a fortune by skipping more consultant's fees, on this brain fart, in order to embellish the books.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, without lower paid secretaries, you cannot justify the job classification for the higher paid white collar boys/girls. This is by design. If you think foe one minute that they are concerned about what we think, forget it.

The bottom line is "what type of fire department do we now have, and is the equipment we NOW HAVE sufficient to meet our needs." Only the ex firemen and the present fire gurus can determine that. But for sure, we the residents have been short changed in the process. Doing the right thing has been replaced by doing what we want to wipe out the past. Way to go, Bruce.

Anonymous said...

CAO over 130k
Cfo aprox 110
Director of works 120k
Director services 100k
PLUS benefits etc.

Anonymous said...

We can't go back, but if we go forward with the new unaffordable system,now in place, we will go right over the cliff. We need someone at the top who understands where the money comes from not just how to spend it.

Anonymous said...

Wow the grass is growing like weeds at the old station 22 hall- like against the bylaw high- volunteers use to maintain it:(

Anonymous said...

Fire truck went all the way down the road to the MD of Pincher Creek. You would think somebody that close would have realized how obsolete the truck was.

Anonymous said...

Doomsayer, You are a joke. Let me guess, you made your living working in the mines where you earned every penny. You speak out of both sides of your mouth. You whine about workers on minimum wage yet you think the secretaries should have there wage cut.
The problem is not the wages that people get old chap. The problem is that we have hired about 3- 5 new administrators. They cost us at least 300,000 - 500,000/year. If you cut 3 secretaries wages by 2/hr you save a whopping 12,000/year. I know you mean well dooms, its just that sometimes you do not think things through.

Anonymous said...

I agree. I think Doomsayer is totally out of touch with some realities.

Anonymous said...

The problem is each high paid Administrator or Manager HAS to have a secretary or administrative assistant. They come as a team. A regular second tier Administrator would suffice. This is all part of Empire Building. What is the "zero base" staff we need to run the show, that is the question. The answer is a lot less than we now have, if one considers the income the Munkcipality gets. There is a disconnect here.

Appears that we need three secretaries to do what one used to do, even with those high speed computers. What gives?

Doomsayer said...

It would appear that Anonymous @ Sat Jun 15, 06:55:00 AM & Mon Jun 17, 12:32:00 actually have a grasp on the situation in our municipal office, just what I have been saying.

Anonymous @ Sun Jun 16, 06:29:00 PM & Mon Jun 17, 08:56:00 AM; the Emperor's Glee club is taking new members, why don't you apply? Or are you there already?

Putting a band-aid on a portion of the problem while ignoring the hemorrhaging from the rest of the office doesn't fix a thing. All positions from the top to the very bottom need to be addressed & redundant spots eliminated. Endorsing above average wages paid for by a declining tax revenue for any position is something this community can no longer afford.

As was questioned by Anonymous @ 12:32,
"Appears that we need three secretaries to do what one used to do, even with those high speed computers. What gives?"

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
― Winston Churchill

Anonymous said...

Doomsayer, I am Anon 6:29 I also agree with 6:55 and 12:32.
Maybe you should reread my post and tell me where I am actually wrong and it what world does it lead you to believe that I support this council.
I think this is simply a case of someone disagreeing with your weak argument, proving your point wrong and you retaliating.

Anonymous said...

With the number of homes located in areas not supplied with municipal water, in the event of a fire would the Coleman tanker truck not provide additional water. It has been used numerous times, by the previous fire dept., for small grass and bush fires. Not sure selling this was a smart thing to do.

Anonymous said...

it was sold because it is a standard transmission and none of the high paid firemen know how to shift gears.

Anonymous said...

Why don't we let the fire fighters do their job and manage their resources. They know what they need, not a bunch of Pass hating bloggers.

Anonymous said...

anon 7:31 It is not that simple. Council has a hate for the old volunteer fireman. Council has at least doubled the budget for worse fire protection.
And we are NOT a bunch of Pass hating bloggers. The exact opposite really. We love the CNP and are worried that the damage by this council will be quite hard to repair. We elected this council to represent us, when they started to go in a direction we did not like, we let them know, they ignored us and continued to do as they please. We the people formed the ratepayers to try and get some satisfaction, they ignored us. A very large majority of adults signed a petition asking for council to stop their ways, they ignored us.
WHO DO THEY REPRESENT?