What a special meeting! The fire fighters union there from far beyond our little area in a show of force, with all their bells and whistles, yet there was still no adequate explanation given as to why no other district was being considered for possible future consolidation. It seems the commissioners are rushing ahead with East Pierce consolidation plans without even asking to hear from citizens what their opinion is of that move. What benefit is there to we the citizens to consolidate? What actual savings are there? If it’s cheaper to consolidate services, then why did East Pierce try for $2.25/1,000 after absorbing the neighboring areas? If we are serving properly at $2/1,000, what’s the benefit to us? They weren’t able to get that money out of their citizens…yet….
Read the full article covering the meeting at http://www.ortingnews.com/article/news/909/
12 responses so far ↓
Where is the TRUTH? // August 21, 2009 at 11:19 am
Maybe readers would like to hear the complete story. What do you think Barb? I urge anyone who wants to know how the meeting to truly went to read the minutes from the meeting and get the real story and not selective portions of it. The is a lot of misrepresentation and incorrect quotes in her story.
Minutes // August 21, 2009 at 11:38 am
It would nice to read the minutes from the fire meeting but the last time they were posted was 6/2/09. The fire department website needs to be updated. http://www.ovfr.org/ At least we can see the city council meeting on Comcast 22 within a few days. It really would have been nice to be able to see this meeting on tv had the commissioners gone to the city council televised meeting as invited.
UNION // August 21, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Sounds like the union cares more about their ‘brothers’ than anything else and they’ll get their way by golly, no matter who gets thrown under the bus in the process. Interesting that Commissioner Jackson’s husband is a firefighters union leader. I’m sure that doesn’t influence her decisions at all.
THANK YOU BARBARA HANSEN // August 21, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Thank you Barbara Hansen for the series of articles on the fire department issues. The time it takes to attend the meetings, read the documents, then boil it down into information to keep us informed is very helpful. The hurtful comments thrown your direction come across like nothing more than taunts of school yard bullies. I hope you ignore them and continue your articles in Orting News.
CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT // August 21, 2009 at 3:35 pm
It seems like the only way for Orting to not get swept along by the whims of big brother PFD 18 is a seperation. 18 can go back to operating out of their firehouses on Cemetary Hill and McMillin instead of enjoying the comforts of their luxury accomodations courtesy of the new city of Orting Safety building. Then Orting will have the best options to either stand alone or work with Graham.
Observing from the side lines // August 21, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Barbara, Barbara, Barbara! I was at the meeting and your article is so slanted and untrue, quotes were misquoted. You turned everything around and made it sound negative when it could have been a great story about a postive new beginning. I’m asking the Fire Commissioners to please post the minutes as soon as possible so the people can read the truth, they deserve that.
matt // August 23, 2009 at 9:54 am
Amazing article, Barbara! Thank you so much for enlightening the citizens with your writings…
Too bad it is so obscenely false and misquoted though!
I have always been under the impression that a news article is supposed to be FACTUAL information only, not filled with personal opinions and vendettas as your articles are. I guess its hard to keep this subject free of personal opinions when your significant other is a close friend of chief shelton’s, and oh iforgot to add- also is a council member!
I cannot believe that the Orting news is allowing you to keep writing on this subject. Talk about conflict of interest….
I would urge the citizens who actually read this junk to attend commissioner meetings to hear the info for yourselves instead of hearing it through a one-sided small town columnist with a penchant for intentionally stirring the pot and trying to cause hate and discontent.
If you go to the firehouse and request commissioner meeting minutes you can get them. You can see for yourself that Barbara Hansens articles are just plain WRONG.
As far as the union bashing goes (and NO, i am not a union firefighter), give me a break. Yes the union president was at the meeting the other night. He also happened to be on shift that particular evening. As did all those guys standing in the back wearing uniforms. You think they all just throw on a full uniform so they can come down to the meeting and watch the show? Come on…
If you have attended meetings in the past you would also know that commissioner jackson’s husband was not there representing Tacoma as Barbara insinuated. He is in attendance at the meetings regularly, even when theres nothing exciting happening. He is, after all, a citizen of the district!
Heaven forbid the union does stand behind “their brothers” by the way. If you read the investigative report instead of simply taking your info from this for lack of better words “tabloid reporter” Barbara Hansen, you would know full well the info behind the allegations and resulting decision.
And do you really think it would be best to separate again? Running a fire engine with one person? Doing CPR by yourself? Going to a housefire with your closest backup being the one person that hopefully shows up to the station to pick up another engine and come help you out? Sounds safe to me!
Yeah lets seperate! Lets pull all the medics out of the city and let the private ambulances be the primary responders. I hope you remember it when youre having a stroke or heart attack or get in a car wreck and have to wait twenty minutes to a half hour for one to show up. (thats only if one can break free from running calls in tacoma and lakewood to make it out to orting)
And i gotta ask, by the way…. who exactly is getting thrown under the bus? guess im not really clear on that.
Give me a break here people. Quit listening to the biased Orting News junk written by barbara, and be proactive by actually coming to the meetings and/or requesting minutes.
Wow.
Alexander Beaverhausen // August 23, 2009 at 8:14 pm
The meeting Tuesday night was a real eye-opener as to how our city is being run. The county fire commissioners did an incredible job giving open, honest and professional answers to questions that often went well beyond being a matter of public concern. The City Administration and Council came off looking like spoiled children with their feelings hurt. It is clear that this series of events caused the City Admin to realize for the first time since handing over authority to the fire commissioners that the City no longer has ANY say in personnel matters… and it is killing them.
The “Questions for Fire District 18 Commissioners from the Orting City Council and the Mayor,” which was provided to those in attendance, really highlights what can only be described as incredibly disturbing behavioral patterns and an overall general arrogance by the City… but it does explain a lot about how this city is run. I almost choked on my drink when I read, “It is important for us to remain respectful of the Commissioners in this process but we want to ask pointed questions that may be interpreted as not respectful.” Unfortunately, the City seemed to believe that this statement gave them a “free pass” to make insulting and unethical remarks under the feeble guise of being a “pointed question.”
During the months of debates on whether the city fire department should merge with PFD18, I cannot find any quotes from even a single council member publicly stating that while they still had serious doubts whether the merger was the best thing for the city, they were willing to take that risk because of their faith in Randy Shelton’s leadership. But that is exactly what was said during the meeting Tuesday night! Why has that been kept secret from the public for all this time? What was said when the decision to merge was approved differs greatly from what we are now being told was the City’s driving motivation for supporting the merger.
“We were stunned by the sudden change in relationship between the Chief and the Commissioners.” Looking back over the past few months, I honestly believe that this is crux of this whole matter. Mayor Temple and City Manager Bethune just cannot seem to wrap their brains around this key fact: This was a PERSONNEL issue for the Commissioners, not a PERSONAL issue. Mr. Shelton’s termination had nothing to do with how well the Commissioners got along with Mr. Shelton or whether or not they liked him as a person. He could have been the greatest thing since slice bread up to the commissioners; what resulted would not have changed. The Mayor and City make it very clear that they believe that had there not been a falling out between the commissioners and Shelton, he would still be Chief, yet are oblivious as to the message taking that stance sends. Obviously, as long as you get along with those in power, you don’t have to worry about ever losing your job. The Commissioners based their decision to terminate on facts… not friendship. It is scary to realize that our Mayor and City Manager’s management practices are based on their feelings/emotions. The Mayor would have us as a community keep a score card in which we list all of the things we liked about Shelton and all of the things we didn’t like about him. Each item listed is worth one point. Tally up the totals and if the good outweighs the bad, he keeps his job. This has been extremely personal… “us” against “them”… for the Mayor, City Manager, and many of the council. Issues regarding the district’s contract with East Pierce and what was best for the citizens of Orting when it comes to emergency response were never mentioned by Mayor Temple or Mr. Bethune in their early statements to the press. The Fire Commissioners have obviously worked hard to keep this as professional as possible. They have attempted to keep the citizens’ informed while still showing respect for Mr. Shelton’s right to privacy and they should be commended for that.
The City, on the other hand, has the audacity to raise personnel issues regarding matters that it had no involvement in. How dare you attempt to smear Mr. Kraft’s reputation by commenting on matters that are not relevant to this issue. Mr. Bethune, this would have been the appropriate time to have stated, “This is not the way – it’s not right – to ruin his reputation this way.” I would love for Mayor Temple or Mr. Bethune to explain how, as outsiders not involved in either decision to terminate, they can say Mr. Kraft’s termination (with no true investigation conducted or Loudermill hearing provided) was appropriate; yet Shelton’s termination (after a thorough investigation was conducted and he was given the opportunity to dispute the investigators’ findings during a Loudermill hearing) has been treated unfairly?!? If Mr. Kraft chooses to sue the city for defamation of character, he’ll have plenty of witnesses thanks to you. That you would drag someone else into this to avoid admitting that Shelton’s actions are the reason he was terminated is pathetic! You actually attempt to imply that it’s Mr. Kraft’s fault that Shelton was terminated! Dear God, can our City actually be run by people suffering from such extreme levels of denial? Wait, no… let’s blame the union! Yeah, it’s the union’s fault! “We believe that the union membership went around the Chief and the chain of command and went directly to the Commissioners.” If members of the department wanted to file a complaint against the Chief, exactly who are they supposed to report it to?? Maybe the City would rather Shelton have conducted the investigation on himself? Oh wait, I just remembered something important… THIS IS NOT THE CITY’S BUSINESS! Mayor, if you wondered if your “pointed question” as to whether the union was controlling the actions of the commissioners made you look like a horse’s ass? One word for you: Clydesdale!
“Related to this concern is that employees received a large raise (approximately 25%) in a year when the City and most other public jurisdictions were laying off staff and freezing wages.” 1. This has NOTHING to do with the issue at hand. It’s a petty personal attack. 2. Hmmmm, was that large of an increase necessary to raise the pay level of our firefighters so that they are comparable to that of surrounding departments? I’m guessing even with the pay increase, our fire fighters are still among the lowest paid in our area. 3. The City actually chooses to brag about a wage freeze when our under-staffed, over-worked police force is about to lose two veteran officers to higher paying departments. I cannot understand how the Mayor, City Manager, and Council can say to the firefighters that they have the City’s full support… and then turn around and trash the union. HINT: The fire fighters and the union are one in the same. Kinda like Clark Kent/Superman.
“We are disappointed that the Commissioners have charged the chief with financial misappropriation.” If I thought for a second that you felt someone who took close to $20K deserves a harsher charge, I’d tell you not to worry as the State Auditor’s office will probably charge him with something else after it concludes its’ investigation. Not only is the City hurt because they don’t believe Shelton should have been charged with anything, the City takes it even one step further by insisting that Shelton be praised for the way he did not “misappropriate” money when he knew the State Auditor was reviewing the district’s finances. The man was found to have “misappropriated” close to $20,000, and our Mayor and City Manager want Shelton recognized for his “excellent work at meeting the issues of the State Auditor.” It is clear how Shelton would benefit from such comments being made, I just have not figured out how the citizens of Orting would benefit? Of course, one need only look at the way the City handles its’ own investigations into alleged misconduct by members of management to see that… uh…um, does the City actually investigate misconduct by management?
Mayor Temple, City Manager Bethune and many of the City Council have demonstrated a frightening inability to separate their personal feelings from interfering with personnel matters. The Mayor asked one of her “pointed questions” to the Commissioners that was something along the lines of, “What do you think is responsible for the Fire District’s sudden change in how it relates to the City?” I literally had to put my hand over my mouth from yelling out the response, “YOU ARE!”
Mayor, YOUR comments, more than anything else, are responsible for the great divide between the Fire Commissioners and the City Council. YOU, Mayor, could have prevented this from becoming such a negative fiasco had YOU controlled YOUR tongue. You chose to cause division when we needed you most to help guide our city through these difficult past weeks and it is about time that YOU take responsibility for YOUR actions. Mayor, the citizens of Orting need to hear from YOU that the City does not, nor will it ever condone such acts of misconduct as those Randy Shelton was found to have committed. We need to hear that this City is being run professionally. We need to hear that YOUR relationship and personal history with city staff is not the determining factor for whether allegations of misconduct get investigated in Orting. We need to hear an apology for the unprofessional way YOU have conducted yourself as the Mayor of Orting; allowing your personal feelings and relationships to cloud your judgement. We need to hear YOU accept responsibility for this, so that the children of our city see an authority figure actually taking responsibility for their mistakes instead of blaming others. We need YOU to acknowledge just how difficult of a task the Fire Commissioners were forced to undertake and to recognize the incredible job they did keeping their personal feelings from interfering with doing what was right. YOU owe them a big apology. Your inability to keep “personal” issues from interfering with “personnel” issues does not make you a bad person.. but it does show that you are not fit to lead this City any longer.
Mrs. Beaverhausen // September 10, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Just don’t worry about it, you obviously have WAY too much time on your hands if you are putting so much time and anguish into writing a novel describing your disgust for such a retrospectively insignificant issue. Either you have absolutely no life, or you are very directly involved with this issue, Mr. “Beaverhausen”.
Observing from the side lines // August 24, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Thank you Mr. Beaverhausen, it couldn’t have been said better.
Beavis // August 25, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I think Hansen’s reports are closer to the truth than the long winded responders above. They spent a lot of time & ink fortifying their version of the truth, maybe they have an agenda.
Keep on ‘em Barb.
tired of your psuedonyms // August 25, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Why all the venom, ladies and gentlemen?
If there is no basis for the concern, it will come out…in fact it would have by now.
Why attack folks for asking questions- it’s their right and their duty.
Indeed, the truth will out.
If you have the truth, why are you using pseudonyms and shooting the messenger?
Methinks he doth protest too much.
Like gas stations in rural Texas after 10 pm, comments are closed.