What can the voters expect now? What are the repercussions of trusting all those fine-looking, muscled, red shirts that swarmed the polls tuesday and intimidated many voters or just provided a card with the for the unprepared? What happens when voters don't pay any attention to the smallest part (but most directly affective) of the voting race and the least discussed publicly issues in our vicinity (as they usually try to keep things cool, calm and clean in the district)? What do we have to look forward to? Well, let me paint a very ugly picture for us, and yes, I mean us cos it's going to hurt now. No doubt on many fronts it's not pretty and the repercussions may resonate for years to come.The Ugliest Picture could look like this but I'm praying it won't. I am truly hoping that the likes of Donchenko and the whole personal agenda deal fails miserably now that it's been exposed. Certainly, Ruben has to realize to fulfill these promises would make him look like the buffoon he's already been! But if it goes through it'll be something akin to sheer stupidity, though at first it may work just fine, it'll be simply a sad mistake that such assininity occurred.
What this means now is that most likely:
1)They will vote themselves a 3% raise which will be immediately translated into a 3% or more fire tax hike in our property taxes.
- 3% doesn't seem like much but figure the average firefighter's wages start around $50k- $60K nowadays (that's why it's so attractive to be one again), that's an easy $1500-1800/year raise or broken down another $120-150/month in a family budget
- The Union Contract demands this now and it's on the table currently to be ratified. During times like we're in right now, and a time when firefighters are making a more excellent wage than they've ever made before, it's unheard of to demand an increase that will trickle down to hurt homeowners across the board. I know I don't need to pay 3% more on my taxes just to support a firefighters raise. Start living within your means, your salaries are twice mine and as much or more than my husband who works construction management 6 days a week (your average work week is 3 days)!
3% sounds small until it's calculated on the $1000 in taxes... then it's $300 more. I like my taxes low. SMFD has been famous for keeping our taxes low while other fire districts are renowned for how high theirs are. Welcome to their world.
- The worst part is once done, it can't be undone and we all just have to live with it. While the firefighters will get the wages they need to support THEIR tax increases and higher expenses, OUR local businesses, employers etc will suffer those same increases we're suffering and we won't gain any increase in our wages NOR will we be able to support our increases in those taxes then. So do you see the damages here? Think beyond your personal gain, please? That's why I despise union promises, and fear-based thinking. You serve the public now start thinking about them!
2) Ruben has promises to keep now…can he or will he? Chief Gover will be discharged, (they can do this without reason) and Deputy Chief Tim Berry will be made the Chief like he was promised.
- This is an obvious repercussion to Chief Gover but the worst repercussion is that someone with less good judgment and maybe more temper than is good for the position will gain a position not be the merit of his skills and abilities but by that "good ol' boy" favor system that Merv Kennell said the union was doing away with. What exactly will be started now and where does that put the future of every firefighter aspiring to management in the future? Play the game or else? Not much integrity there. Seems to me we're regressing to the Pre-Southern Manatee days!
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| Mark Ruben |
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| Deputy Chief Tim Berry |
3) Ruben will then make Battalion Chief Donchenko the Deputy Chief like he was promised after he makes Tim Berry the chief.
- This one's obvious. Donchenko can't stand the heat helped create but plans to waltz back in like everythings wonderful now that "his" side won so he can be the victor? Who in the world would follow that kind of leadership? It's obvious he abdicates his position when it gets too tough, why would anyone put him even higher up? Oh, I forgot, because he was promised it, and again, there's that good ol' boy system!
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| Ass't Chief J R Thayer |
4) All this will probably be met with opposition by Assistant Fire Chief Thayer who will most likely be discharged also based on false allegations against him from Donchenko on things that may or may not have happened a few years ago that will come up in this investigation, but Ruben has other promises to keep too.
- And another good firefighter manager will bite the dust after years of service because of what? That good ol' boy system... yep, good job Union.
5) perhaps Jerry Bennett may get his job back, that’s unknown… but he's smiling and rejoicing that his disrespectful words are true now.
- Or perhaps he doesn't want it back. Perhaps he has designs on some sort of settlement that might cost us taxpayers beaucoup bucks too. Seems to me there's a mentality running wild of being able bodied and not working. That's not the firefighters I knew in Southern Manatee. It's just sad.
So in essence the corruption will bloom bountifully in the department because the voters were completely deceived by the equally deceived firefighters (who by the way most weren’t even from our own department at all those polls) as Bob Sweat (Elections Supervisor) informed me. He said these were mostly firefighters from Tampa and St Pete unions covering all these polls with a sprinkling of a few of our firefighters in all this. How convenient that OUR voters are swayed by UNION firefighters who don't even live here, looking like those who are supposed to be trusted by us. TRUST is probably not a popular word after all this.
The firefighters for us have no clue what they’re doing except that they’re going to secure their jobs, their families and protect themselves. Granted that's a noble thing. But what have they secured if they bankrupt the very district they work for? If more homes go into foreclosure, more families move away or go into rentals (which is a trend currently), and more businesses leave, how much budget do the firefighters think there will be to work with? The previous commissions have performed miracles with their budgets and wisely planned and spent every cent so that they could get everything right. The firefighters have been led by fear to think there’s someone trying to take something from them and they’ve got to unite like this… it’s truly sad how well paranoia and fear work to completely disrupt something that was once really good.
So the big question now is: how does the union make this better? More questions to me are, CAN they make it better? Do they WANT to make it better and prove that a union can work and protect both interests properly? Can they dispel all the fears and myths on both sides? Can they make the picture prettier? Yes, they can but to do so they'll have to erase ALL the personal agendas involved here (and those people with those personal agendas will have to move on out!) and then rebuild based on the skills and talents of the firefighters we have. Now THAT would be like a Phoenix rising from the ashes and something to behold if this union could take that high road and kick these little personal agenda to the side NOW and move on to the greater good.
There's the challenge AFL-CIO Local Union 2546. Prove to me and the general public that you care about this district AND the firefighters by doing the right thing by keeping the right people where they are now! The Union can do by:
- dropping all these ludicrous, disruptive, several years old charges against Chief Gover and the former Chief Hennessy,
- AND not promoting putting Pete Donchenko back into any position of power,
- let Deputy Chief Berry work his way into whatever position befalls him ON HIS OWN
- and let the department run right without the good ol' boy promises of Commissioner Ruben interfering.
- Stop dragging Chief Hennessy's name through the mud and issue an apology for having started a smear campaign against him.
- and issue another apology for a dirty campaign overall, what's done is done but can be apologized for.
- and start fresh!
Somehow I just don't think the union is up to this challenge but it would be a wonderful picture to paint! What a refreshing view that would be to behold! Let the wrong fall by the wayside and the right move forward. Even the union could do that, but would they?
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