Rest In Peace, John Musolf

Former Oro Valley resident and irreplaceable LOVE contributor, John Musolf died in early October.

John was an immeasurable help to LOVE when he lived in Oro Valley. We met him at a Oro Valley Town Council meeting. John attended every meeting. John took notes. He participated in "Call To Audience" portion of the meeting. He was engaged in what happened to our community.

John Musolf
1937-2017

John loved to do research. In fact, he did so much research through his "information requests" to the town that then Town Manager Greg Caton changed the method for getting information, making it a much more difficult and time consuming process. That didn't deter John. He kept at it. He was a bulldog.

John was LOVE's first research guy.

John championed our concept that LOVE had to be factual. We weren't going to be "loose with the facts." No. We were going to be a fact-based news source. John anchored that effort. He got us the facts. We reported them.

John worked with us for 5 years. Then, life caught up with John. His wife Judy needed a bit more care than he alone could provide. It was time to move back to Wisconsin to be with family. It was the best for them given their situation.

And now he is gone, but definitely he is not forgotten.

So, from all of us at LOVE and from me personally, we wish John the lasting peace he has earned.

Richard
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John was 79 this year. He was preceded in death by his wife Judy. You can read more about John's life here.  Please feel free to share your thoughts about John. We've opened commenting for this.

Good Luck To John Musolf

Our friend and LOVE "big time" contributor, John Musolf, is moving to Wisconsin. He and Judy are moving to be with family as they deal the real life challenges.

John was our confidant.  He was the closest of the close. John understood Oro Valley's history, knew the players, and provided us guidance so that we wouldn't step on too many land mines.  We still stepped on some. Not John's fault.

John was a commenter. He started commenting on blog postings soon after the blog started. He never stopped.  He always wanted to set the record straight.   He always did so in a respectful manner.

John was a LOVE "Guest Opinion" guy.  It took a while for him to decide to share a guest view. But, when he did so, it was insightful, educational and honest.  He always had his "head in the game." He knew what was important to write about.

John was LOVE's researcher.  We're proud that he set records asking for information requests on important matters.  He didn't let some in town intimidate him is these efforts.

John was LOVE's press relations guy.  He would keep the press informed of things happening in Oro Valley.  He would provide them information.  The press appreciated his work.

John was LOVE's numbers guy.  Got a question on the budget? Police overtime?  John would get you an answer.  He knows numbers. They speak to him.

Above all, John's work was fact-base.  John's philosophy is to uncover the facts, share the facts, and then let the facts speak for themselves.

Thanks for all you did for Oro Valley, John.  May you and your family always be blessed.

Your friends...

The LOVE Family

John's Place: The Perpetual Life Of The Oro Valley Utility Tax

The primary reason for the enactment of the Town Of Oro Valley 2006 utility tax was insufficient recurring general funds to support 18.5 new positions. The 18.5 new positions had been turned down twice in previous council budget votes because of lack of funds.

The original utility tax rate was proposed at 4%. The 2006 Council placated the taxpayers by reducing the tax rate from 4% to 2% and by adding a sunset clause “promise” to eliminate the utility tax in two years. Tax revenue was forecasted at $1.3 million per year.

There were some immediate unintended consequences from adding this utility tax! The Pima County taxpayers (including Oro Valley residents) pay for the Amphi School District budget. The Amphi School District budget then had to pay approximately $37,500 per year utility taxes to Oro Valley for its schools located in Oro Valley.

The utility tax was extended on March 4, 2009 for “more revenue” needs. So much for any “elimination promises” to taxpayers!

On May 4, 2011, by a 5-2 vote, the utility tax was doubled from 2% to 4% by the Majority-5 (Mayor Hiremath, Council Members Hornat, Waters Snider and appointed Council Member Solomon) of council. The stated reason was “to enhance the diversity and stability of town revenues and to provide needed resources to maintain town service levels."

Again, there were some additional unintended consequences from doubling this utility tax! The Pima County taxpayers (including Oro Valley residents) pay for the Amphi School District budget! The Amphi School District budget then had to pay approximately $75,000 per year utility taxes to Oro Valley for its schools located in Oro Valley.

Incidentally, in 2014, the utility tax still supports many of the 18.5 positions (13 in the police department alone) that were added in 2006.

It seems that, once elected officials get ahold of a funding source, they never let go. Even when they promise to let go.  The revenue source has a perpetual life!

Do you think that the Town of Oro Valley’s experience with their utility tax has been a sterling example for the taxpayers to ponder prior to voting in the Mayor and Council member election in August 2014?
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John Musolf retired to Oro Valley in 2003, moving here from Wisconsin. He has a B.S. in Economics/Accounting from University of Wisconsin and MBA in Computer Management from the University of Phoenix. He has taught Project Management at a number of Universities. He is a “Bucky Badger” and “Packer Cheesehead.” One of his married daughters went to college at University of Arizona and he and his wife visited her in Tucson frequently. John was a management consultant (accounting and computers) and traveled all 50 states as well as the world internationally. He was a political activist in Wisconsin and continued on in Oro Valley. He believes in traditional values. He is an old codger (1937) being a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He will slow down when he becomes a great-great-grandfather. He has been married to his wife, Judy, for 54 years. His other interests include church activities and extensive reading and researching.
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Oro Valley Town Council Majority-4 Approve Massive Increase In Oro Valley Spending Cap

Oro Valley's Majority-4 town council members voted to approve the largest budget cap in Oro Valley history. It is $107.1 million.  It is 14% greater than last year's budget.   The "yes" voice votes of Mayor Hiremath and Council Members Hornat, Snider and Waters were registered at last week's council meeting.  Council Members Burns, Garner and Zinkin voted against this cap.

We have previously written regarding this budget.

Caton Chart Understates Proposed Wage Costs By $2.9 Million

There was little new information presented at the council meeting.  A chart presented by Town Manager Caton did not include the substantial increases in earnings per person for Oro Valley employees.  The chart (right) understates the 2014-15 personnel cost by $2.9 million.

According to this chart, as revised for the understated budget dollar amount,  direct pay per employee was $67,352 in 2008-09.  It is $80,117 in the 2014-15 budget.  That is an increase of almost 20% in an economy where wages have been stagnant, even decreasing during those years.

During the "public hearing" portion of the meeting,  Oro Valley resident John Musolf voiced his concern that this budget is outrageous.  He entered into public record some of what he had wrote in John's Place, last Wednesday.

Oro Valley resident Bill Adler has frequently advocated for an additional revenue source for the town.  During the hearing he said he was pleased with the relative health of the town. "It is clear from the graphs that the future is tenuous.  We're not going to achieve any significant surpluses. It is clear from the projections. So, I don't know where the money is going to come from to continue improving the town."

Generally at council meeting, Council Member Waters makes the motions to approve something and Council Member Snider second the motion. For this discussion, the roles were reversed.  Was this because Council Member Waters appeared overwhelmed during the night's proceedings.  "Must be a product of my getting up at 5 am" he joked at one point.  At 9:06 pm, Waters quickly arose to second a Council Member Snider motion to approve the cap.

After making this motion, Council Member Snider celebrated the budget:  "I think this budget shows innovation... I want to thank the staff... I think that this is a great budget. We are the envy of the State. We have a balanced budget with a slight surplus. It is nimble enough to allow us to adapt to changing conditions."

Two other views of this budget cap were presented.

Mayor Hiremath feels that this budget presents strategic spending at a time when the country remains in a recession.  The Mayor does not believe that the money should be returned to the public as a "dividend", such as reducing or eliminating the utility tax.  Rather, Oro Valley should spend this money on more services.

Council Member Zinkin, on the other hand, considers the budget to be overspending, ramifications of which will last well into the future.  Watch their remarks.

Tell us what you think.  Do you think the budget represents wise strategic investments or do you think it represents overspending?
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Guest View-John Musolf: "More Transparency Lost"

Two weeks ago , Oro Valley resident John Musolf wrote of Oro Valley Town Clerk Julie Bowers published support of an Arizona House Bill. The bill would add a charge for the time it took to get certain information requests.  John opined that imposing such a fee would reduce the ability of some individuals to seek public records.  In today's guest view, John discusses a change in the manner in which the town provides one of his information requests.  He concludes that, because it puts the burden of data sorting on him, it is a reduction in transparency.
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One of my contributions to the LOVE blog is to research Oro Valley public activities.

For example, on September 23, 2013, I filed a Request for Records with the Oro Valley town clerk's office for a copy of each Request for Records filed with the Town of Oro Valley Clerk on a weekly basis.  That request was fulfilled when the clerk's office contacted me each week to review those weekly public requests and have copies made if I desired them.   My request was a rather simple one. It was fulfilled easily.

On March 5, 2014, Oro Valley town clerk office employee Michelle Stine told me that I should get this report myself:

“PLEASE NOTE: The requested information in now available on the Town's website under "Fiscal Year Request" at the following link. 

http://www.orovalleyaz.gov/town/departments/town-clerk/submit-public-records-request 

Since your requested information is now available online, we will no longer fulfill this ongoing request. Thank you”.  (Source: email from M. Stine) 

I followed her instructions.  Getting the information I had requested, a copy of all information requests filed that week, was once a simple task. Now, it had become a nightmare!

The link she gave me took me to a new screen which has four tabs.

I clicked on the “Fiscal Year Request Tab”. Viola!   On screen was a list by requestor of the number of requests made year-to-date and the "time" the town took to fulfill the requests.  It was not a copy of each request for a specific week, as I had requested.  In fact, there is no way to get that information without ferreting through each request for the year and then manually identifying which ones were requested for that week.

To manually assemble a weekly report,  I would have to click on all 40 names at the end of each week. After clicking on each name I would have to scroll thru the list of public requests to find the current date a request was received for each name. Frankly, doing this is literally impossible.

In effect, the Oro Valley clerk's office has added a significant barrier to giving me information they could provide me easily.

I know that the The Town Clerk uses a computer program to retrieve Public Records Requests by weekly date.  I know because they have used it to provide this information to me.  Here's the report for 1-10-14.  They have not made this search functionality available to the public.

This is "more transparency lost."
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Guest View-John Musolf: "Transparency Lost"

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I made a "Call to Audience" presentation at last week's Oro Valley Town Council meeting. I reported that Oro Valley Town Clerk Bower was participating in political activity while representing the town.  She was quoted in a the local advertising circular in support of House Bill 2419.

As we previously reported,  this bill, sponsored by Rep. David Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, would allow a government agency to charge $20 per hour after the first eight hours required to fulfill an information request. The bill would not require that agencies charge for requests for the first eight hours. As we wrote in this publication, this bill would curtail Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA")  requests by requiring cost prohibitive time charges. It would have a “chilling” effect on filing FOIA requests that may exceed 8 hours.

Two town clerks were interviewed about HR 2419 for the article to which I previously referred.  Jocelyn Bronson, the Marana Town Clerk, said she doesn’t feel the municipality needs such a law in place.  Oro Valley Town Clerk Julie Bower said the bill would be helpful in deterring broad and unfocused public records requests.

Bower said she is in favor of the bill.  I quote:  “For the most part, the vast majority would not be affected by this, because most records request are very specific and they don’t take us very long to process,” Bower continued. “But there is an opportunity for abuse because we get a lot of requests from the same people, and they are overly broad requests that take hours to fulfill. I think this bill could maybe address that a little bit."  She further reported that three requests in January took more than eight hours to produce.

I made these three requests.  The requests were for emails that were sent or received by the Mayor and the six council members for a specific time periods.  I made this request to assess whether council members were using town assets to plan, discuss or coordinate the recall of Council Member Mike Zinkin. The request was not a broad. It was unfocused. It was not abusive.

One of the emails we found was one from Council Member Waters advising a strategy for communicating the position to remove Zinkin.  He said: "Make it personal."   A fews weeks later, at a council meeting, Council Member Snider did just that.  His use of the town's email for this purpose was a misappropriation of town assets. It was also proof that he, too, was involved in the recall.

My FOIA email request has brought to light other “questionable practices” described in other emails that the Mayor, council members and town employees engaged in which we will discuss from time to time in future LOVE postings.

Perhaps Town Clerk Bowers should worry less about curtailing FOIA requests and attend to her job of simply fulfilling these request, as she is legally required to do.
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