ATTENTION GOLDER RANCH AND NWFD TAXPAYERS! THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS!

The title of this posting is courtesy of our friend Mary Schuh, the lady that keeps her eye out for things like this, and editor of the Pima Association of Taxpayers.

When Mary speaks, we should all listen!


ATTENTION GOLDER RANCH AND NWFD TAXPAYERS! THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS!

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING SUDDENLY SCHEDULED!!!

Northwest Fire District Training Facility

8165 N. Wade Road

Marana, Arizona

Monday, November 30, 2009

1800 Hours


V. NEW BUSINESS

Tab # 1 A. Executive session, pursuant to A.R.S. section 38-431.03 (A) (3) & (4), for discussion and consultation with the Board’s attorney and to instruct the attorney on the Board’s position with respect to items (B) and (C), below.


Tab # 2 B. Discussion and possible action regarding the possibilities for and ramifications of consolidation, merger, joint operations, and / or administrative and operational consolidation with the Golder Ranch Fire District. This discussion may include: the available statutory authorizations [A.R.S. sections: 48-820 and 48-821 (pertaining to fire district mergers and disposition of assets and liabilities); 48-822 (pertaining to fire district consolidations) and 48-805 (B) (17) (pertaining to intergovernmental agreements for technical and administrative services)]; the territorial boundaries of the two Districts; the assessed valuations of the two Districts; the property tax rates of the two Districts and the potential impact on the tax rates if the two Districts consolidate or merge; the potential benefits and harms that could result from consolidation, merger and joint operations, as well as the impacts on the Districts’ administrative and operational personnel. Golder Ranch’s Certificate of Necessity to provide ambulance services to the public may also be discussed.

Tab # 3 C. Discussion and possible action to schedule a joint public meeting of the governing boards of Northwest and Golder Ranch Fire Districts to discuss, jointly, all of the matters in item (B), above. The venue and agenda for this joint meeting will also be discussed.

Two Additional Candidates For Oro Valley Town Council

To date, there are three candidates for Oro Valley Mayor. They are Paul Loomis, the incumbent, Dr. Satish Hiremath & Mike Zinkin.

We know all three. Without doubt, we support Mike Zinkin for Mayor. Although Dr. Hiremath is a good man, concerned for the community, we believe he is lacking the experience that Mike has. Those of us that are familiar with the record of the mayor do not want four more years of what he offers.(Read more about Mike Zinkin on uppur left corner of blog)

Two Council candidates are noted in this week's Explorer. They are Mark Finchem & Joe Hornat. We don't know Mr. Finchem. Previously, announced were Mary Snider. Additionally, incumbent KC Carter, Lou Waters, and Dr.Don Emmons plan on running for the three open Council seats.

At this point the ONLY candidate worthy of our support is Dr. Don Emmons DVM. We have gotten to know Dr. Don in the last few months. We know what he stands for, and we know he believes what we believe: The people of Oro Valley are its most important asset.Don is a fiscal conservative and will ONLY tax us as a last resort. Don doesn't believe any new tax is required. He believes our "out of control" spending MUST be curtailed. We need Dr. Don Emmons on the Town Council. (Read more about Dr. Don on upper left column of blog)

Here's The Explorer articles on the two candidates.

http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/11/25/news/doc4b0c69db04a1e027798422.txt

http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/11/25/news/doc4b0c6c07409be757259179.txt

As We Previously Reported --Town Council Votes For Management Study Of OVPD

Not surprising that the spokesperson for the Oro Valley Police Union has joined in with Councilman Al Kunisch in questioning why their budget---that is almost 50% of the whole town's budget should be looked into.

Kunisch says; "What's broken, why do we have to do this?"

We say, "Let's see if the police budget is "broken," or at the very least, overstaffed." Doesn't a $12.3 million budget deserve just a little scrutiny?

As Councilman Bill Garner said; "We're not going to know where we're at until we do some focused study."

I addressed the council on this issue and noted "ROI"---Return on Investment. If we can do a study that will potentially save us hundreds of thousands of dollars, then I ask: Why not?"

Obviously Councilman KC Carter thought otherwise, as he cast the only "no" vote.

Read The Explorer article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/11/25/news/doc4b0c6b998c45a494173445.txt