Players injured by light poles at Naranja Park
Some time ago, we learned of an incident in which a player at Naranja Park ran in to a light pole, causing injury. This is the second time something like this has happened. The poles are not padded and they are mere feet from the playing area. Perhaps, the Town of Oro Valley lacks the experience of running “big time parks.” If they had the experience they should have known and acted on this simple fix to that particulate problem.
Council Member Tim Bohen has brought this to the attention of the current town council. We asked Bohen his thoughts on what needs to be done. Here is his response.
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Missed safety issues are costly to the town
“When Oro Valley misses a safety issue, we pay three times when an incident occurs. Also, our reputation for safety suffers- We need to investigate the incident
- We pay restitution to someone who may be injured
- We fix the safety issue so it does not happen again
Proactive action reduces injury and costs less
When we proactively detect a safety issue we pay once. We fix the safety issue and our infrastructure is in better repair. Oro Valley has slightly lower reserves. However, the infrastructure on our balance sheet is also improved by an offsetting amount. And we move forward confident that we have acted responsibly.
With the Town running huge operatonal surpluses, the two safety incidents I have seen resulted in serious injuries and cost our Town needlessly. Everyone knows inadequate safety is costly for the victims. But inadequate safety is also bad business for the Town as we run surpluses. Also, safety issues such as the root cause of the Leonard Lawsuit should never be resolved behind the scenes as we saw on August 18, 2021 [Executive Council Session- details not revealed by town as the Council met in Executive Session to settle this situation].
The lessons learned can be missed
A budget surplus is only a surplus if all of the work for which the budget is allocated is actually done. In these two incidents the Town needlessly deferred a small expense we can afford. Oro Valley later assumed a much larger expense in a later budget cycle while people were needlessly injured on Town property. This failure to act when we should is both tragic for the victims and poor management by the Town.”
Tim
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