Huh?

Wait a second here. Isn't this just the setting of their levy rate? Because of deflation, the city needed to establish "substantial need" in order to increae their levy rate by a full 1%. Umm, FYI--that's the limit that was established by the Tim Eyman Initiative I-747, so they are doing was is codified by law.

I'm not sure I would say this is out of order, as they are simply taking advantage of what is allowed by law. I calculated that my property taxes would go up by $4.00/year.

NOW, if they were trying for a levy lid lift, via a proposition to the voters--I'd be pissed. But 1%--which is already allowed by law--c'mon. Lighten up a bit.

N Highline falling apart

One change the citizens would like to see regarding their fire department is the time of the commissioner meetings, and I tend to agree with them. Because then, more people would see the mismanagement spewing from the commissioners and the Chief. They have obviously changed the meeting times so the public can’t hear Commissioner Alishokis actually say that he wanted to take away funding from the fire district (not an exact quote, but that was the gist of it). (This is a great concept, but really doesn’t work in these economic times) You missed the fact that the commissioners appointed a commissioner to fill the empty spot that no one knows anything about and passed up the opportunity to appoint Dave Lawson, the man that ran against Ray Austin. Dave received 40-something percent of the votes. Wouldn’t it have made sense to appoint Dave since he obviously had an interest in a position and has experience on this board of commissioners? You are also missing the fact that none of the commissioners will give us a straight answer when asked questions about our future.

Oh! Did I mention that Local 1810 and 3780 (Firefighters and Battalion Chiefs) proposed a balanced budget that would actually put NHFD $140k in the black? This budget eliminates the Chief’s position and the training secretary (Which we don’t need either, let’s contract that out to Burien!) and actually puts another firefighter on the street. Both locals did a tremendous job on this budget. Did you all know that the district has been minus a firefighter because of retirement and the district hasn’t replaced him, yet, the Chief is still making close to $200k per year? Isn’t that backwards? It appears they don’t want to, either. Also, funny thing is, the training secretary happens to be married to Commissioner Alishokis. I smell a slight conflict of interest there. No wonder he doesn’t like this budget.

Hey, there is a mountain of information I could give you, but I don’t have that kind of time. How do I know all of this in the first place? I am a firefighter for NHFD and I am slowly watching this top-heavy ship sink and being held under water by the Board of Commissioners.

As I said in the beginning, I completely understand the angst regarding Commissioner Meeting times. I strongly urge you to make the next few if at all possible. I have never seen so many people at the last bunch of meetings. Union members (from all different fire departments), citizens, business owners, and families are just some of the groups attending. I also urge you to tell everyone you know about these meetings and encourage them to attend. The more community solidarity, the better. If you want the real story about what is happening and what could happen to the future of your fire department, ask a firefighter or Battalion Chief. Feel free to email me at anytime. dub.c.firefighter@gmail.com

For now, I must remain anonymous, I’m sure you all understand.

What?!!

I thought the whole deal with their meeting times was brought up before, and a whole slew of citizens made their concerns known. Didn't the commissioners at NHFD even consider changing the meeting times to the late afternoon or evenings???

Oh, and let me get this straight, the FIRE CHIEF makes how much!!! Close to TWO-HUNDRED THOUSAND a year!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you frickin' kidding me??? I had heard he made quite a bit, but had no idea he was making MORE than Russ Pritchard did when those same commissioners bumped his salary the last year of his retirement. I couldn't believe THAT story didn't make this newspaper as a major headline back then, but the fact that Scott LaVielle makes close to $200K a year for running a two station fire department, should be a major headline in this newspaper.

Hey Highline Times writers, are you aware of this absolute fleecing of the taxpayers??? Please do an article on this, so this unbelievable behavior can be brought to light.

Sounds like total mismanagement in the NHFD. You got ridiculous financial mismanagement AND nepotism involving a fire commissioner and his employee wife.

Unreal...

More mismanagement

This is a continuation of the above post. You can catch updates on Facebook. Look me up:

I wanted to mention something first that I forgot to include in my first post. "Chief" LaVielle spent $2500 of the NHFD citizen's money to fly to Texas just so he could accept an award. He wanted one more thing to put on his shirt and felt it was a necessary expense. The trip, in no way, benefitted the district. He did this even after he reported that we will have an $800k shortfall in 2010.

Now for the current happenings:

The commissioners are dragging their heels to schedule a meeting with the unions as requested and as agreed upon at the last commissioners meeting. Their excuse this time is they think the Chief needs to be a part of it. It's just more stall tactics. No surprise. There is rumor that there will be a special meeting next week, so stay tuned.

This little item really pissed me off. "Chief" LaVielle authorized all personnel files of NHFD employees to be shipped to the district attorney. This is for a lawsuit that is brewing against the district, which I believe "Chief" LaVielle is named in it. He failed to tell the administrative assistant AND both union Presidents. Included in the files were all of our medical records. There is no reason that they need our medical records. The union demanded we get the medical records back immediately, and the "Chief" said he would look into it sometime next week.

A "feeler" meeting with the newly appointed commissioner, Rob Spiers (pardon me if that is spelled incorrectly), was less than hopeful. He basically stated that he has a closed door policy. He also thinks we need to move slow. Both he and Ray Austin think it is imperative we need a Chief to operate. I agree, let's find a Chief (Chief Marrs) because we certainly don't have a Chief right now. We have a mismanager that can't make a decision and hides behind his "charisma". He thinks being everyones buddy will get him out of any situation. I think his time is up.

Burien tax rate

Yes Chris, you are correct. The Burien Council is merely setting the 2010 levy rate at the statutory limited increase of 1%. Horace Parker probably voted for that Eyman initiative that is strapping local public services throughout the state. Any tax increase beyond 1% requires a vote of the people -- so Horace gets his chance to spout off then.

Beyond his intentional misinformation about how tax rates are set, Horace continues a tradition of making unfounded inuendo about public officials (and candidates for public office). He accuses the city council of serving their own interests; but, as usual, offers no facts - just his word.

Just what are those interests the councilmembers are self serving? I'd like to know.