Well it's official you can go to the site below and see the Ladder truck and the Hillcrest Pumper Truck are up for sale. I guess as I predicted previously Bruce is going to make it has difficult as possible for a future council to have the option to reverse their decisions.
http://www.canadianpublicauction.com/current-listings/?aid=&make=&category=EMERGENCY%2BVEHICLES&serial=
15 comments:
While they are disposing some of the front line equipment, on the positive note, we have three new pick-up trucks in the fire department. It looks like the goal of providing more service with less equipment and less manpower, at a substantially higher cost, will be met. The only part remaining to assess is whether there is indeed more service. Higher costs will be easy to assess next year.
So, can I guess that part of your election platform will be to return to the old system of fire departments?
Can't go back to the old system, but do we really need and can we afford the new system. Over managed, understaffed and only part way towards their dream since they stopped buying the fancy equipment. Will take good equipment and a good crew over nice shiny new equipment with a questionable crew (and management).
No one is proposing to go to the old system. If there is one professional person out there, who can make a case for the way our council handled this restructuring, it would be good to hear from that person. The real costs are sill unknown and it will take a very good person to untangle this mess.
Couple of comments:
Would have been very interesting to see the restructuring plan that Ken Brands never got to present publicly which I understand was supported by the Fire Departments.
Second by the Municipalities own numbers they will save $37,000 a year by not operating the Hillcrest FD.
We will spend 6 times that amount on the new entry signs, probably spent 20 times that amount on consultants over the last two years. I could keep going and will at some point.
Let us look at two military strategies which deny defending forces much chance of resistance even if the enemy is routed.
Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to symbolize a curse on its re-inhabitation.
Scorched earth policy is a military strategy which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. It is a military strategy where all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the people in the area.
Emperor Decoux & his cronies certainly regard the rest of us as enemies. The scorched earth policy has certainly been used, firemen & volunteer boards targeted, equipment being sold off & parts of our infrastructure being closed, sold or under consideration of sale. His henchmen have been put into place, how long will we have to pay their wages & where will we find the money to do so? Do we continue to maintain the lords above at the cost of our seniors, infrastructure & lifestyle?
It is my opinion that this has been a concerted effort by Decoux to avenge some real or imagined slight incurred at some time in his life. Whether it was as a child growing up here or the fact that his boss at the university was a bred & born Pass resident, something has certainly got him twisted. His entire concept seems to be a desire to drag us poor stupid mountain hicks into the 21st century, regardless of any or all consequences. It is without a doubt that he knew pursuing the course he has would result in only one term hence the push for all the changes.
The biggest question of all is why the unanimous support of all the councillors? Are they all that gullible that Emperor Decoux was able to sway them or so stupid they couldn't see the consequences? Why is it that until the rate-payer's petition, there was never a hint of a dissenting voice? Even now at this late date, most are still maintaining closed ranks with Emperor Decoux.
This community will never be the same regardless of the results of the next election. What we had is gone, destroyed by men with illusions of grandeur, whether we can rebuild something that resembles a community remains to be seen. While I hope for the best, unfortunately I anticipate the worst.
“You have to believe in yourself. ”
― Sun Tzu
We don't want to go back. We want to keep moving forward. Every time there is a new council, not only here but everywhere, they do things you don't particularly like, but you never go back. Obviously the previous councils were not doing what people expected either, or they would have gotten voted back in. We just need to live with our decisions. No one has a crystal ball. But I still think it was too expensive to keep all these separate little fire halls going. I do belive something needed to change.
I can't understand why you bloggers keep publishing comments from Doomsayer. He does not sound all there to me, and usually has a book.
Anon 0553am. Give your head a shake. We do not know what Mr Brands fire plan was but it did not involve total dissemination of the Fire Departments. Nor did it fit into the Mayor's pre announced plan to amalgamate the fire group, one of his main election platforms. Not to mention the influence of Transitional's Mr Robin, self serving as it was. Ah, how soon we forget.
Cost appears to be secondary, since once they started into the dismantling and rebuilding, things got out of control. Both from a personnel and facility/ equipment standpoint. They justified their actions by switching the chairs in Administration at the expense of operations, a totally self serving move. Look at our Service Group. The Adminstration is there to serve them, not the other way around. Totally misguided and self serving.
Doomsayer has it correct. They are wiping out all signs of the previous fire department. They hired consultants with the solutions given, and then asked them to find the problems, be it the Bellevue Senior Centre, etc etc. They wiped out the volunteers, likely by a mistaken belief that all would rally to THEIR cause.
What will rebuild for the ashes is unknown, unless that Silent Majority the Mayor says is there keeps the program going. You say we don't want to go back, but did we really go forward. I doubt it.
Anon 0922 am. That's because you do not understand a smart well read person, who is one of the better contributors to the blogs. He may need a "few ounces of courage" to make the words flow but you do not appreciate talent when you see it. Good for him.
Some of the people in this town are driving me nuts. 5:53 they shut down HFD to save $37,000 a year thats according to their numbers. If we were broke I could live with that. But when you look at the amount of money we have spent on Administrators, Consultants, Brands, Studies, New pickups, Writing stupid bylaws.
I am getting really tired of this, the only reason this turned into this great big pissing contest was because the Firemen would not do TITV councils way and then they boycotted the parade last summer.
The Emperors ego was scorned
Dean,
re: 6:13
Answer the question why don't you?
6:13 and 11:50
Yes I will provide an answer. The question was.
"So, can I guess that part of your election platform will be to return to the old system of fire departments?"
Answer: The old system? No, from what I was led to believe the first Fire Chief Ken Brand and most of the volunteer Firemen were in agreement on a new system providing a more efficient Fire/Rescue Department.
Unfortunately after paying out somewhere in the range of $50-60,000 for Ken's services the powers to be did not want the public to see is recommendation.
Did the old system need improving absolutely things could always be done better.
If I am elected I will try and convince my fellow council members that the system put forth by Ken Brand should be made public.
Second if the only real issue stopping Hillcrest from having their own Fire Hall back is $37,000 a year. Yes I would support that, keep in mind that is less than 4% of what we will spend on administration this year.
So there you have my position. Go to the people of Hillcrest and ask them if they would rather have their Fire Hall or an extra 4% in administration.
Cut dollars where we must, essential services should be last on the list not first.
I didn't realize they could just sell municipal fire equipment. Who buys it? Like poor counties nearby?
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