Bill Adler who quietly donates his own money to many Oro Valley projects addressed the Council at the May 20 meeting on the issue of Community Funding.
To paraphrase what Bill said----How can we justify giving money to any of these outside organizations, no matter how worthy, when we are considering laying off Oro Valley workers?
Additionally, Bill noted that Oro Valley services are presently now unfunded, and as such how can we consider giving funds to outside entities?
We couldn't agree more with Bill Adler.
However, the Council obviously didn't agree and accepted the subcommittee's recommendation of donating $236,717, plus $25,000 to C-Path & an additional $16,000 for a total of $40,000 to TREO.
Also, a motion to take the amount of $72,000 from the Bed Tax revenue to donate to MTCVB.
As Bill said, how do you explain this to employees that are to be laid off because of budget constraints?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Council Votes To Reduce Police Take Home Vehicles By Approximately 25%
A few observations on this issue.
Until a Study Session scheduled for July 8, the Council voted 5-2 (Kunisch & Abbott) to have the Police Chief & Town Manager come up with a plan to reduce take home vehicles by 25% which is estimated to be a savings of approximately $35,000.
I would think that anyone either at the May 20 Council meeting, or watching the streaming video (as I did) would have no problem seeing that Council Member Al Kunisch was the self appointed shill for the police.
The Deputy Chief of Police seemed to be a good spokesperson, but too many questions could not be answered. One example was when Vice Mayor KC Carter asked how many times in the last year or more did any officer need to respond to an emergency call with their take home vehicle?
The response by the Deputy Chief was non responsive as he indicated that this policy has been in effect for perhaps 25 years.
Our friend John Musolf addressed the council and indicated he was confused as to how the eight officers assigned to the schools needed a take home car in case of an emergency. John wasn't the only one confused on that point.
To be continued----at least until July 8.
Until a Study Session scheduled for July 8, the Council voted 5-2 (Kunisch & Abbott) to have the Police Chief & Town Manager come up with a plan to reduce take home vehicles by 25% which is estimated to be a savings of approximately $35,000.
I would think that anyone either at the May 20 Council meeting, or watching the streaming video (as I did) would have no problem seeing that Council Member Al Kunisch was the self appointed shill for the police.
The Deputy Chief of Police seemed to be a good spokesperson, but too many questions could not be answered. One example was when Vice Mayor KC Carter asked how many times in the last year or more did any officer need to respond to an emergency call with their take home vehicle?
The response by the Deputy Chief was non responsive as he indicated that this policy has been in effect for perhaps 25 years.
Our friend John Musolf addressed the council and indicated he was confused as to how the eight officers assigned to the schools needed a take home car in case of an emergency. John wasn't the only one confused on that point.
To be continued----at least until July 8.
Marana Considering Raising Bed Tax---Except For Ritz-Carlton
Although we don't usually report on Marana goings on, we couldn't help but notice the town will be discussing raising its bed tax from 3% to 6%, the same as Tucson & Oro Valley.
What we found more interesting was their thought of excluding the new Ritz-Carlton Resort from this increase.
We wonder---- Does the Marana Town Council know anything about the pending Supreme Court decision on the CityNorth case?
You know---- the case the Goldwater Institute won in the lower court that stated, in essence, you can't violate the Az Constitution by giving preferential treatment to one entity and not others.
I guess Marana feels that the Ritz deserves special treatment while all their other hotel/motel properties can "suck wind."
We'll watch how this turns out.
Here's The Explorer article.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133a7830e00190754455.txt
What we found more interesting was their thought of excluding the new Ritz-Carlton Resort from this increase.
We wonder---- Does the Marana Town Council know anything about the pending Supreme Court decision on the CityNorth case?
You know---- the case the Goldwater Institute won in the lower court that stated, in essence, you can't violate the Az Constitution by giving preferential treatment to one entity and not others.
I guess Marana feels that the Ritz deserves special treatment while all their other hotel/motel properties can "suck wind."
We'll watch how this turns out.
Here's The Explorer article.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133a7830e00190754455.txt
Oro Valley Council Will Discuss Budget & Possible Layoffs At May 20 Meeting
Once again, some Oro Valley jobs may be in jeopardy as the Council will discuss the budget at tonight's meeting.
Although most of the previous discussions concerned the police department, hopefully that issue has come to an amiable solution----although at least one issue remains open: The use of "police take home cars."
Read The Explorer article on the budget here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133a18c0eec045036365.txt
Although most of the previous discussions concerned the police department, hopefully that issue has come to an amiable solution----although at least one issue remains open: The use of "police take home cars."
Read The Explorer article on the budget here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133a18c0eec045036365.txt
It's About Time! Oro Valley Sues Vestar For Damages At Marketplace
It's been a long time in coming, but Oro Valley has finally sued Vestar for damages in excess of $440,000 done to two water tanks during construction at the OV Marketplace.
Once the damage was done, we were not at all surprised by the attitude of Vestar, as enunciated by its Project Manager, David Malin. Malin, we should all remember is the one who did everything he could to deceive the residents of Oro Valley in believing Vestar would give us an "upscale" & "unique" shopping mall.
As we all now realize, this didn't happen. Instead we got a half empty shopping center with the worst anchor store we could imagine; Walmart!
Read about the arrogance of David Malin in this Explorer article.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133e807adae880029352.txt
Once the damage was done, we were not at all surprised by the attitude of Vestar, as enunciated by its Project Manager, David Malin. Malin, we should all remember is the one who did everything he could to deceive the residents of Oro Valley in believing Vestar would give us an "upscale" & "unique" shopping mall.
As we all now realize, this didn't happen. Instead we got a half empty shopping center with the worst anchor store we could imagine; Walmart!
Read about the arrogance of David Malin in this Explorer article.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133e807adae880029352.txt
Oro Valley Council Will Discuss "Free Food" At Tonight's Meeting
At tonight's council meeting, item 3 will have to do with the policy of feeding Council Members & Volunteers at early meetings.
"DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING REGULAR SESSION MEETING TIMES AND TOWN COUNCIL POLICY #7 REGARDING FOOD POLICY FOR TOWN MEETINGS."
The question may be, not whether the money is spent, but WHERE the money is spent. We would think, if food is brought in----as has been the case for years, the food should come from small Oro Valley based entities that would give the town a discount.
Read The Explorer article on this issue here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133e807adae880029352.txt
"DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING REGULAR SESSION MEETING TIMES AND TOWN COUNCIL POLICY #7 REGARDING FOOD POLICY FOR TOWN MEETINGS."
The question may be, not whether the money is spent, but WHERE the money is spent. We would think, if food is brought in----as has been the case for years, the food should come from small Oro Valley based entities that would give the town a discount.
Read The Explorer article on this issue here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/doc4a133e807adae880029352.txt
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