Did you catch this?
I missed it until someone called my attention to it. George Brown, Monroe's city manager, had like a guest column in the Evening Snooze the other day about the results of the city operational assessment. It didn't anything specific but sounded like he was saying "brace yourself."
The public rollout of this document has been pushed back a little. My guess is there's a lot of posturing going on to try to soften the blow on some departments. My guess also is that if I'm low on the totem pole at the planning department, police department, fire department and DPS, I should be brushing up my resume.
Has anyone heard if this thing was going to take a look at the city ambulance function?
The larger question might be whether council will act on the findings or pick and choose?
The public rollout of this document has been pushed back a little. My guess is there's a lot of posturing going on to try to soften the blow on some departments. My guess also is that if I'm low on the totem pole at the planning department, police department, fire department and DPS, I should be brushing up my resume.
Has anyone heard if this thing was going to take a look at the city ambulance function?
The larger question might be whether council will act on the findings or pick and choose?
posted by The Observer at 5/27/2007 03:29:00 AM
34 Comments:
Observer,
I hope you are correct, and many in those departments are brushing up their resumes.
My favorite story about the callousness of layoffs, referred to in companies as "downsizing" is Tenneco, formerly known as Monroe Auto Equipment.
I heard that they put a young person in HR in charge of the process. It was his job to make up all of the severance packages and boxes so employees could pack up their stuff. He got to set up appointments with the soon to be ex employees, give them their lecture, box, and sent them off with a security guard so they could pack up their belongings.
At the end of a gruesome couple of days of breaking the bad news to fellow employees he was finally done, his boss called him into his office, handed him a box, and told him I think you know the drill, good luck.
I hope the city handles this sad but necessary process with more compassion than this, but no matter how gently the news is broken a laid off employee can’t help but feel anger, betrayal, confusion. We in the automotive industry are now pros at this process, and understand that we are all just interchangeable pieces in a bigger organization, and nothing is personal. I’d be happy to give recommendations to many of the unfortunate victims of this necessary process. It is important that when you are fired / laid off / downsized you look at it as an opportunity, not as an ending.
It is unfortunate that economic conditions are necessitating this, but to move our city forward the budget must be cut, and the payroll is the one, big, obvious opportunity.
I can only hope that council doesn’t just make enough cuts to balance the budget. They need to make enough cuts to balance the budget and have a large enough surplus (~1,000,000 / yr?) so we can start fixing the roads and infrastructure at the appropriate pace.
Again – this is unpleasant, but necessary.
Regards – Will Never Be David “Most Evil on the Planet” Smith
What other option would council have other than to act on the findings? After this long of a wait, and with the financial constraints of the City, they must act as soon as possible. The council seems to know that they need to keep the City from going further in the hole, and they also seem to know that the taxpayers want infrastructure improvements. It seems that this is going to have to be implemented as soon as it is in the hands of council. It seems that from past communications with some of the council, their main concern was to let employees go through retirement and buyouts, instead of layoffs. I would hope that this can work out, but I guess we will all have to wait and see how deep these cuts go. I really don't care to speculate as to the departments being affected, however, I do believe that the departments that the Observer has mentioned will all be affected. I also believe that since this was a total assessment, the ambulance function was probably looked at. I guess that the ambulance function is what the Fire Department is hanging their helmets on, due to the number of firemen on duty to implement the ambulance service, but I also believe that someone may want to contact an ambulance service to start looking at the City of Monroe for a new contract.
I'm interested what everyone else sees coming.
The smart thing for the consultant to do is to benchmark the city against the townships. If he/she does that, we have four tmes as many full time staff as we need. Sure you can argue we need police because of the orchard east but look at Detroit Beach and Estral Beach and the Sheriff Deputies go out on all of the shootings etc.
A volunteer fire department would work for us if you agree that some things would better off if they did burn. The old Time Container is closed and has no sprinkler water. It is apt to burn just like the rest have. We don’t have enough water flow to fight that one anyway and a few houses will take a bad hit if the wind is from the East. Heck this would stop Compora’s bitch, or would it?
I think I heard of a "paid on call" type of fire department. It is being used in Adrian, and they have a third of our fire department with a city of comparable size. If anything, we need to close the two other fire stations, other than the main one, and also need to bill out the services for our fire marshall when he goes into the townships. Why should we pay for their services, and in return, we pay for county taxes, and get no police support?
I think that the "brace yourself" you speak of could be true whether there are five or fifty cuts. The little guy on the totem pole is the one who has to look out. The Jim Coins of the city work force are the ones who need to be sent packing. Luckily for the city, he finally retired. I'm sure that there may be more of the Jim Coin type of employee, who has milked the system for years and did very little at his job, and I hope this study addresses them.
I think that in order for the council to feel comfortable making these cuts, they need to be assured from the community that this is in the community's best interest. I for one intend to call my councilman and let him know of my support in this effort to keep my taxes from going up and to keep employing the right employees for our size city.
Let's call the ambulance service for what it was: nothing short of a way for the fire department's union to insure that it's people continue to have jobs.
There was no reason for its' implementation as a private ambulance service was already servicing the city.
Take the police liaison out of the schools and put him out on the street, and look at the number of supervisors, most of them could probably go back on the streets.
The Monroe Evening News editorial supported a part time legislature. Time. to think about part time police officers and firemen
I honestly believe the police could be cut back. If there is a major situation we have back up in the form of the Sheriff and State Police. All the city residents pay for them, and should get some benefit. I am not convinced a cop needs to be sitting in Veterans Park for 40 hours per week for safety.
As far as the fire department I'm not sure you can close the extra stations. I would be pretty peeved if my house burnt down because a train was blocking the tracks. I suppose the main response could come from a township - but that leaves them coming on back roads the long way around. It could work, however, if some street connectivity issues were taken care of.
There are many useless positions in city hall, also. I am not at all sure what the four members of the planning department do all day. Seems like some only do a few site plan reviews each month, and you would think it was a major task. Seems like the judgment criteria to determine if your case is recommended for approval or denial is if you are personable and staff likes you. SSIHM – Yes – go ahead, who cares if it doesn’t match the future land use map. Evil Dick Seib, no, we must make sure the continuity of the future land use map is protected. Also – as the residents of the Orchard can attest to the new Zoning Ordinance is “user friendly” but is so vague in the definitions that everything must go to the ZBA and circuit court for interpretation. I don’t think we need four people to screw things up this much. One could do a fine job.
I totally agree that I hope the benchmark was the townships. Populations are similar, yet somehow they don’t need the staff. Strange.
I want to know what departments are going to be cut. I don't believe the "low man on the totem pole" bit. We need to get rid of the top, highest paid, I send my kid to private school. By cutting the highest paid staff members and looking for replacements who are not at the peak of their career would make more sense. If we can get fresh, new ideas, we will prosper more. It becomes more about doing a good job instead of having a good job.
Everyone wants to know what departments are to be cut. It would be nice to cut the highest paid, but then they would transfer into another position, and the low guy would still get cut. Thank the Unions for that. In this situation, you cannot cut the guy who gets paid the most, and does the least work, although that is what I would suggest. Looks like the councel is going to have their hands full, and we need to give them good ideas as their constituents.
Constructive Ideas for downsizing / cost savings along with ideas on how to make money:
1). Part-Time planner.
2). Eliminate the "Historic Preservationist Position".
3). Bid out part of snow shoveling (sidewalks - DDA(?)).
4). Reduction of the City of Monroe's Police Force by 5%. (BTW -an "anonymous" poster earlier mentioned the need for police because of the "Orchard East" - notice that each Saturday the MEN prints a scatter plot of all crimes reported in the City of Monroe - the "Orchard East" does not have the highest incident of crime (although there is that perception)).
5). Reduction of the City of Monroe's fire by 5% - elimination of the fire (ambulance) services which is unnecessary and a duplication of services - further, the City has a representative on the 911 board - did this board not vote for and accept ambulance services(?) could that not include the City of Monroe (?).
6). Right size all departments.
7). Reduction of City Council and Mayors pay by 5% and elimination of any and all expense accounts (until the current deficit is eliminated).
8). Implement a "user fee" of not more than 2.00 for Munson Field (park) for non-City residents. Pursue an "americore" service to fulfill staffing (supervised by Parks and Rec) to staff "guard houses".
9). Use the "Jazz Festival" as what it is; money making venue. Rent space at the parking lot (old United Way building) to vendors to sell food, drink, what not - stop cow towing the interest of SMCC.
10). Move the "adult" part of the MCL (Dorsch) into the second floor of City Hall. Seek out opportunities with EMU, MSU, MCCC, UofT, and so on to "rent space" for off campus classrooms. Utilize Dorsch as a "children's library" with reduced hours. (Then sell the United Furniture Building).
I would think this would be a good start.
Interesting comments, you could be the planner the City should hire for the part time planner. Your short comments are more insightful than anything the current planning department has done.
Definately we need to sell the United Furniture building.
Does that guy still want it for his trucking company office?
Nope!
anonymous (two anonymous' ago) said:
Interesting comments, you could be the planner the City should hire for the part time planner. Your short comments are more insightful than anything the current planning department has done.
Thanks but I have been told I have communication issues.
Forgot,
11). Do not fill the HR Director's position. She is leaving. Hire a PT contracted person (i.e. something along the line of a staffing solutions).
12). Request the assistance from the DDA / DMBA to operate the Lotus Fountain.
13). Contract for street sweeping services or make these positions part time.
14). Reduce the number of City owned vehicles. Do we really need enough cars that operate out of City Hall to take up an entire row of the Scott Street parking lot?
15). End the current City of Monroe support of and control of (i.e. mailings / writing agenda for / running meetings) the Orchard East Community Awareness Group. Block watch meetings are great - but, can the City afford to have a police officer of the assistant to the City Manager sending out meeting notices, writing the agenda and attending meetings? May seem like a small expense but how much does 40 hours (meeting attendance), mailings (how many?), paper, printing cost the citizens in a year period?
16). Do we need to spend the expense of getting a "CALEA" police department? Does this accreditation give us extra funds from someplace? If not what is the point? Does this lower our liability insurance rates? If not what is the point? How much does it cost us in time and resources to prepare for this review? Is it worth it?
Sure I will think of more later.
Alacajun,
You want to run for council or Mayor?
You appear to be both literate, informed, and capable of independently analyzing data. You don't live in Compora's precinct, by an chance?
Regards - Still Not David "Lounge Lizard" Smith
There it is. You wait long enough and the juveniles that have been running rampant in Monroe politics show back up. Nice.
anonymous, thank you for sharing that you have had enough of "negro" culture. Sadly, your ignorance regarding who attends and benefits from the Jazz festival is nonexistent.
Thank you for sharing the ignorance that must be, you. Please in the future adopt a screen name so that I may know who's post to "skip over". Please also take the time to read my screen name so that you will know who's post to avoid.
It would be great to have constructive conversations without the stupidity that has come to symbolize Monroe politics. Sadly, it seems that this won't occur during this election cycle either.
Alacajun,
You want to run for council or Mayor?
Indeed, you appear to be both literate, informed, and capable of independently analyzing data. If you live in Compora’s district you could fill a black hole that sucks in intelligent comments and then pukes out hate and venom. Our “star” has a periodic cycle of about 20 minutes.
Regards - Not David "Hollywood Stalker" Smith
Let's see. 1. Part time planner. Definitely! (hire a consultant when needed)
2. Eliminate Jeff Green's position. Definitely (not sure what he actually does, except going against any investment in town which may not be strictly in accordance with the Sec. of the Interior Guidelines, regardless if it benefits the city)
3. Bid snow shoveling. (Good idea to bill the DDA for this, as well as billing them for the parking enforcement officer, and maybe even a police officer's wages)
4. Reduce police. Not a great idea, so we should see what the study says to that. I like the security of having our police.
5. Reduce fire. Close a substation or two, good idea. If the ambulance service is not making money, get rid of it.
6. Right size all departments. Excellent idea. I think that the study will address all departments, and it needs to, since we can;t rely on the supervisors to say where their own departments can make cuts.
7. Mayor makes $15,000 and the council $7,500. Sure, they can be cut, but hey, why not have them work for nothing? Some do work harder than others, so maybe they should be paid for performance, meetings attended, functions representing the city, etc.
8. User fee will probably not be well received, and could reduce the amount of softball leagues at Munson. We've already noticed fewer teams here and more in Frenchtown, so better be careful.
9. Jazz Festival is a huge money making opportunity. Could absolutely rent space to vendors at higher prices, or we could just set up a beer tent on the tennis courts, and put all of the profits into the parks and rec funds. Probably only be $50,000 for the Jazz festival weekend, so that makes too much sense.
10. Absolutely sell the UF building. Keeping Dorsch as a kids library and moving an "adult" library to the third floor is a good idea. The computer space which was the number one area of concern to Dorsch patrons could be easily addressed with the city IT department.
11. Bring back Debbie Manns to fill the.... Oh, I forgot that she thought she could take care of the HR department, but soon found out that the city needed that position, just not Lybic. Better fill that position, but possibly with additional duties, or with someone in the finance dept. who has additional duties.
12. The DDA could be responsible for the fountain. Or possibly a corporate sponsor, but probably not a non profit.
13. Get a better street sweeper, and you could probably reduce the number of times that it has to go around. Possibly more of a vacuum and less of a dust mover.
14. Perhaps scheduling vehicles could help with the numbers, but I don't think that would work with certain departments, such as building dept. where different inspectors need to use vehicles more frequently and at various times. Same with engineering. What is in place can probably be tweaked, but that is probably a call that the supervisors need to handle.
15. Every non essential committee should provide their own support, via a committee secretary. Committees such as the CPC & ZBA should still get support due to their importance and legal issues. Also, it seems that the Old Village Plat Association meets in City Hall, and they should have to pay for the use of City Hall since they are not a City entity.
16. Somebody needs to check the costs vs. the benefits of this CALEA Accreditation. If it only makes our police department look good, and has no benefit, then we need to do without.
Some additional areas:
-Privatizing the lawn mowing and snow removal of city owned properties.
-Getting rid of the company being paid to run the ice rink and let our parks department handle it.
-Privatizing infrastructure improvements, but remain under the control of the engineering department.
-Cutting ALL overtime, by operating on a modified swing type shift. I saw city employees working on the weekend, and I'm sure they weren't being paid single time. I saw the city electrition working on Memorial Day. Wonder what that cost in extra pay. The police and fire departments are the worst with overtime. They need to reduce in order to cut, but it needs to be done. I don't think two police officers at every intersection was necessary at the parade. Put up barracades and be done with it.
-How about cutting the clerk/treasurer department, and mixing the employees (reduced) with the finance department.
-Work with the unions to allow volunteer receptionist, or at least two part time employees, who would not require health benefits.
-STOP RUNNING THE CITY AS AN EMPLOYMENT AGENCY (these jobs are much more lucrative than any car company jobs)
-Aggressively sell off stagnant pieces of city owned property which sit and soak up city resources to maintain. If you can't sell them off, give them away. Paying a DPS crew to cut grass on a vacant lot worth $500 probably costs $100 per cut. Dump 'em.
Just my observations and comments. I have to agree with much that alacajun wrote about, with slight twist.
Alacajun's statement to the childish poster is correct. This forum could be a place for constructive conversation and could be useful in communicating ideas to help with City/County issues.
I would ask the "Observer" to remove all attacking posts, as they have no place in an intelligent, productive forum.
It would be nice to be able to come in, browse, interject, contribute and even disagree, in an adult manner, no matter which Mayor or councilperson you support or disapprove of.
cityresident, I like all of the additions but would love to add;
4. Reducing Police. I also love the security of having a good police force. However, based on any city of comparable size in addition to the Monroe's Uniform Crime Report statistics (FBI) it would seem we are overstaffed but, I can wait for the report. I am concerned that Lt. Stewart was hired as an administrative personnel after he retired. I believe that it is fine to hire part time personnel but my question is if this was done to help smooth the CALEA review process which must be done this year (August, I think). If true I question the appropriateness of this?
5. Closing part of the fire department would be a cost savings only until someone dies because a fire engine is stuck at a train track (Eastchester, Kentucky, Toll St.). I think the City may have avoided the bullet twice in last couple of years (Spanhauers Auction House (Monroe St.) and a Private home (Winchester)) after structures burned and low pressure resulted in problems.
I don't think it would be a good idea, at this stage, to get rid of Canlan Ice Sports. Yes, this is expensive but they are the leading Ice Sports management corporation in North America. Besides, do we have anyone in the City with the experience to run hockey? How are the leagues we currently run going? Part of this is high fees for participants - spread the cost out to everyone that uses parks and recreation amenities.
I would LOVE to sell off the property that is on the City rolls but, I would think that if the property is non conforming for building purposes, I would suggest we "split" the property 50 / 50 and "give it" (literally - give it away) to the two adjourning property owners. This will get the property back on the tax roll and will build good relations with the community. Additionally, as you have pointed out, that property is currently costing the City too much as it is.
Not David Smith - Thank you. I would love to run for Council or to sit on any committee / work group / board that is designed to help this City. But, being that we all have responsibilities there is no way that I could run for office, I don't think that it would be compatible with my current employment. I do hope that those in office read some of the post on this blog and give consideration to the post - maybe that is the best I can do for now.
I have a compromise on the fire department. Close the station on the East side, since it is so close to the main station, less than half mile. Get into discussions with Frenchtown to assist on calls in the East end. Also enter discussions with Monroe Township and Frenchtown to get into some sort of sharing of the ladder truck, because between the three municipalities, you have three million worth of trucks, which together get used a handful of times total. Sell off two and share the third. Put the money saved into CIP projects. This intergovernmental agreement is also in keeping with Granholm's "threat" to reduce sharing if these agreements do not happen. The response time, in any scenario, would be better than the county receives.
Canlan seems to be doing a horrible job at the ice rink. The employees are still the same as when the original management was there, so the employees would not change, only the management. Put the recreation department operations in the ice rink, and that in itself would raise awareness when kids are getting signed up for ball. Add in the ability to factor in more programs, soccer, basketball, events, festivals, fundraising, hall rental, etc. and you can make more money just by promotion. Canlan is simply not promoting the ice rink, and they have not given any good reasoning, except that hockey is down. Well, promote hockey AND figure skating, as well as convention rentals on the building. Privatize the pro shop, and rent the upstairs. Could work!!
How much different can setting up a hockey league be from setting up a baseball league. It's not like Maureen Carter is out on the fields teaching how to play baseball, so why would we expect her to teach hockey. Just manage the facility.
The city is currently splitting the non conforming lots and also making the adjoining property owners add the new property to their property descriptions so they cannot be split off and sold again as a non conforming lot. It simply needs to be stepped up and moved along faster.
Thanks. I did not know that the City was already getting rid of non conforming lots. Hope they do step it up - soon to get that property on the rolls for fall taxes.
I love the idea of the ladder truck. I did not know that Frenchtown had one. What an amazing excess for all three departments. I still think closing a station with the Current rail lines would be a problem. Frenchtown could get to the Orchard from I75 but that is a huge change in response time for only one part of the City - the would look bad to the residents.
I guess the thing with Canlan is that they are doing a much better job of promoting the facility. The Chamber of Commerce Building Show was a success and more events like this could / should occur. I just fear that when you look at the current existing leagues; baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer and other programs; baseball clinic (Dave Sontag's), Rec - Ed items, enrollment has continued to go down and these programs cost less to participate in (equipment cost / players fees) than either hockey or figure skating. Yes, the economy is bad and that explains some of it but, Canlan has stabalized youth hockey numbers and (unless my understanding is wrong) there adult safe hockey has slightly grown (meaning from zero to something). They have begun to introduce more tournaments (tourism plus) and I would fear cutting them lose a year or two early.
Privatizing the pro shop should be examined and I would think that this would be a net gain. I also think that renting out offices / space upstairs would be a perfect idea. The City did have carpet for indoor soccer but I don't believe they have it any longer and don't think that it was ever used.
I would think that this facility has many more functions to be utilized for than just ice sports -sadly we are not doing that.
Alacajun,
Sorry to hear that.
I’m in much the same position. My full time job does not allow me to dedicate the time a council position would demand. Maybe it would be a good retirement job, but then some in the community want youth and new ideas over old age and wisdom.
I don’t think the compensation for council and mayor should be altered. If done correctly it is a tremendous time commitment to investigate the issues and make informed decisions. It is the time factor that would keep me from considering it, also. It would be grossly unfair to my employer, the city, my family, or probably all the above to do so. I don’t expect people to represent me for free. I assume the compensation they do receive is close to minimum wage as it is. Also – if you go to a conference or training session someplace the entire city jumps on you for it expecting you to pay for it out of your own pocket. Lunacy!
I think the solution to the ice arena is simple. It should be either sold – hopefully for enough to get the city out from underneath the debt payment, or converted to a new use.
It was silly for the city to become involved in the Multi Sports Complex in the first place, but then it is easy to know that now. The initial financial projections didn’t predict this situation, or I am sure the council would not have proceeded.
My proposal would be to solicit bids to sell the property to an operator that believes a profit can be made. That would get it off of the liability side of the ledger and back on the tax roles. The new owner would have to pay their property taxes regardless of if they turned a profit. The profit motive would be incentive for them to actively promote the facility, unlike what Canlan and the previous operator did.
An alternative to this would be to convert the property to another use. In the past the water department was looking to improve their facilities. Could the compressors, stands, Zamboni, and equipment be sold off, and the building be converted to use in a new roll? The building does have locker rooms, and it appears to have large overhead doors to get equipment in and out. Why not use it for something we need, and reassign the appropriate debt to the water department?
Just a thought.
Regards – Still Not David Smith
Since the City and the County's IT networks are connected, I wonder if the City could save money by merging their IT dept. with the County.
Does the city have an IT department?
It seems like all the companies I know outsource that work.
Maybe the county and city could save a bundle by getting rid of that non-value added department.
Have no idea if the City has an IT department but so this is a great idea.
If the will / desire existed then I believe converting part of the Multi Sports complex into another use would be easy. I would first consider the idea of moving DPS into the larger half (north side ice) - indoor storage for vehicles, maintenance, what not. This would place DPS in or near the center of the City and would fulfill giving them an office that was wheelchair accessible (not to mention in a better location to have control and access over the war of 1812 area).
The south end ice could either be maintained (which I think would be a good idea) and then managed by the Cities Park and Rec. Department - who's offices should also be moved into the complex.
Sell off the equipment that you do not need and convert the debt into water / dps or whatever (does it really matter; it still has to be paid).
Use the rear of the facility for standing (paid per item) disposal of things like tires, oil, computers, paint and so on. We will have DPS staff on site to control this.
If the debt was converted to water than it comes out of different funds than it does now.
It does still have to be paid - but not out of the general fund.
Want to save 10,000.00 today? Here we go. As a shut-in I have been doing some looking into CALEA.
What did it cost the City to get "accredited"?
8,400 If you pay in lump sum
4,390 For two installment payments
5,425 For three installment payments
4,030 Annual continuation fee (36 months - August for the City)
Who participates in CALEA (State of Michigan)?
Monroe (55 officers / 22,076 population), Norton Shores (32/22,527), Port Huron (72/32,338), Grand Blanc (44/8,242), Plymouth (48/9,022), Traverse City (36/14/532), Grand Blanc Township (54/unknown), Meridian Township (52/unknown), Canton (114/unknown), Cadillac (19/unknown), Kentwood (97/unknown), Huntington Woods (19/unknown) and Portage (82/unknown).
No, Detroit Police? No, Michigan State Police? No, Flint, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Benton Harbor, Livonia? Why?
Is this an expense that we need? CALEA's website states that being accredited MAY help with liability (may? is that like being a "little" pregnant?)
CALEA's conference is July 25 - 28 in Montreal - will we have a representative?
Accreditations are nice but it seems to me that if we must pay for membership into this club and that viewing the sites shows many of the nations largest police forces (NY, LA, Chicago, DC, Atlanta) do not participate is this an expenditure that we need?
With the price of gas continuing to go up could the police department not use the minimum of 4,030.00 it will cost this year (annual continuation fee) to purchase fuel? Do we REALLY save this much in liability insurance?
I wonder if anyone ask these questions three years ago?
My mistake: Atlanta and DC are both participants. Sorry for the mistake.
A few years ago my wife got rear ended by a teenager, did significant damage to my car, and my wife ended up in the hospital about 1 hour after the wreck when the concussion really set in.
The officer, probably CALEA certified, decided not to issue the teenager a ticket. He listed on the police report no damage, no injuries.
I attempted to contact the officer for the better part of a week to get the police report corrected, and encourage the police to issue a ticket. I could never get the officer, he went on vacation. From his watch commander on up everyone refused to question the officers judgement. Tim Laitur refused to act as the city attorney, telling me the chief told him to stay out of police business. When the officer did return I was told it was too late to amend the report - so sorry, and who cares anyway?
Turns out the teenagers mommy was a well known to the local officers, and the cop essentially did her a favor by not issueing her son a ticket so her insurance rates were not affected.
If this is the treatment / impartiality we get for this CALEA certification, we as tax payers should keep our money.
I'm pretty sure a State Boy would have issued a ticket, but not Officer Barney from Monroe.
This same officer is known to sit in Veterans Park issueing speeding tickets all day and night long. Who is the victim of speeding? Generally it is just a revenue generator.
Strange you would issue a speeding ticket, but its OKAY to hit and injure other citizens.
How is that for professional? After that experience as far as I'm concerned I would rather deal with a State Cop anytime. Apparently this certification didn't stop this type of corruption and lack of professionalism.
Have you taken this to an attorney? If not, you were negligent as well. Were you just interested in a ticket being issued, or were you going to sue? I find it hard to believe that if this damage was so noticeable, the officer did not issue a citation. Smells of something, but not sure what.
Yeah, well I know that sounds about right. Smells of something funny, a bunch of s__t. A law enforcement offical using his powers to get what he wants. I know his daughter has been picked up in Toledo for a DUI. Been stopped several times here in Monroe, but that nevers seems to get out, does it.
Have ya seen him driving around in his yellow car...oh, his daughter's car. Must of confiscated it, won't look good if your daughter is caught DUI here in Mayberry.
Nope - I just wanted a ticket issued and a law enforced. There is a law you need to be in control of your vehicle at all times and maintain a safe following distance. I just wanted it enforced, the youngster to realize the consequences of plowing into other cars.
The police kept telling me I could still sue for damages even though they didn't issue a ticket. They refused to believe that my only goal was justice, having the law enforced as it was written. As far as they were concerned I was an evil guy just out for a law suit, and they were going to do nothing to facilitate my efforts.
It never occurred to them that they were not doing their sworn duty to enforce the law. My arguments that they issue the citation - a judge can dismiss it if it is not warrented didn't strike a chord. They were Judge and Jury in this case - something I consider an abuse of power and an ethical violation.
Since I believe Tim Laitur qualifies as an attorney, I was not negligent. I didn't need to talk to a personal attorney since I didn't intend to sue anyone. I did get my deductible from the youngsters mommy, which is all Michigan really allows under the no-fault statute. My insurance company got to pay the hospital bills and the lost wages and fixed the car. No one compensated me for living with an extra grumpy wife for a week.
So - we live in a small town, and its not what you do - its who you know. Officer Barney recognized the youngster was connected, and did a favor. I was supposed to recognize what was going on, and keep my mouth shut. Apparently I'm not as well connected as his mommy because I couldn't motivate anyone to do the right thing.
So - if this CALEA is a certification of what a good and ethical and professional department we have, I am here to refute it. It is only as good as your connections - and hence a waste of money.
Wow. I say everyone who contributed to this post (with one obvious exception) should file to run for office.
I always knew this depth of thought existed in Monroe.
It's funny how we have to hire and outside expert (yeah, i know, it's kinda redundant) to come up with the answers we already knew.
But it's only money.
Every job has its perks. Guess you got hit by the wrong kid.
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