Letters to the Editor 05/13/2015

To the Editor:

As the newest member of the Cloverdale Fire District board of directors and a 20-year veteran of the department, I must respond to the misinformation being published by the campaign to unseat the incumbent board members. I take personal affront to comments made pertaining to the ability of the current board.

First, the constituents, who the board represents, approved our 20-year plan by voting overwhelmingly to provide the funding to make it happen. The specifications for the buildings as well as the engines have been formulated over a five-year period (not 20 minutes) and have been discussed at almost every board meeting during that time. The 20-year plan was unanimously approved by all board members. The funding provided by the bond is allocated for specific capital expenditures and cannot be subverted for other projects, therefore financial oversight does not require the expertise that candidate Rob Malone claims the board does not have.

Second, at the request of board member Keith Cyrus and a cost of $4,000, an independent survey of our 20-year plan was conducted by a reputable firm and the results confirmed our plan met the needed response and firefighter safety goals as required by law and set by the department. The survey's top priority was engine replacement.

Third, each station will have one each of the three primary-response vehicles and the station covering the vast majority of calls will have the additional equipment utilizing the additional bay described. The board's job is to provide policy and fiscal management, not to micro-manage the operations of the district. District operations is the job of the fire chief, Thad Olsen, whose management has reduced response times overall and provided for greater firefighter safety and response effectiveness.

It appears that Mr. Cyrus, who has not voiced a negative vote against any issue in five years, has somehow distorted the proceedings of the district board and is supporting an Aspen Lakes employee for reasons other than public safety and firefighter safety.

As this election draws to a close, the incumbents would like to thank all the community members who called or emailed us with messages of support and those voters who took the time to contact us for clarification of the issues. And certainly we thank the folks who sent financial contributions to help fund signs and newspaper ads. We could not have done it without you.

John Thomas

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To the Editor:

There has been some chatter regarding my intent to serve out my term as a board member at Cloverdale Fire District.

I have served as a support volunteer from 1995 to 2001 and as a board member since 2001. My goal was, as well as other board members, to provide the best, safest and most cost-effective way to provide fire and medical protection to our constituents. The 20-year plan that has been approved has been gone over with a fine-tooth comb and submitted to our voters, and was well-accepted by a large majority.

It is time now to go forward with this plan with the winning team that has so diligently prepared it and presented it to our district.

We have come a long way and have a long way to go to implement the plan, see it through the construction phase and final completion. To change the board members at this point in the overall plan would not be in the best interest of our fire district.

To return to the ridiculous insinuation that I intend to step down and resign my position after the election, (it) is not factual.

Should I not be able to complete my term because of illness or other reasons, I would certainly notify the board of my intention and make a suggestion regarding the person I feel would be suitable to complete the unfilled portion of my term.

It's very sad for me to hear and read about the unfair and unjust accusations that have been made regarding the capability of our current board to follow through with this plan in the best interest of our district and our faithful constituents

Tom Barrier

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To the Editor:

As a volunteer with the fire district I have attended most of the Cloverdale Fire District Board meetings over the last five years. I've looked over some of the old minutes of the Board meetings, all of which are public record.

I found that as far back as 2011 Director Keith Cyrus has voted along with the rest of the board members present at each meeting on any motion that has come up, with the exception of abstaining from voting on the funding of the purchase of the new pumpers. According to the minutes he has not cast a dissenting vote. In fact, he voted to approve the building plans that he says lacked sufficient review, along with the three other board members that were present.

After reviewing the architects' proposal at the August 13, 2014, special board meeting Director Cyrus seconded a motion to retain the architect for the station remodel/replacement. That proposal specifies the remodel of station 601 with two new bays and a new building with six bays for station 602.

I have personally spent over 200 hours working on the specifications of the new pumpers under the fire chief's supervision. Firefighter Spencer Cashwell and I made a presentation to the board at the February 18, 2015, board meeting about the new engines. This presentation included engineering diagrams, photos, and specifications on the new engines. At that meeting the other four board members voted to accept the specifications and fund the purchase of the engines. I have brought a copy of the 126-page specification sheet to several board meetings.

The fire chief has a copy in his office. I am sure that any board member could look at this document at the fire station. If not, I'd be happy to share it with any of them.

Clinton Weaver

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To the Editor:

I'm puzzled by Rob Malone's run for the Cloverdale Fire District Board. He has no fire experience and hasn't found time to volunteer. He wants to replace Jerry Johnson who was a firefighter for 30 years. This sounds like a really bad idea. I'm voting for Jerry and Alycia (Downs).

Bruce Berryhill

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To the Editor:

The recent (Cloverdale Fire District election campaign) mailer from Alycia Downs and Rob Malone uses the words "Appropriate Oversight, Fiscal Accountability, Transparency in Actions" to define their campaign.

As a volunteer firefighter and director of the Friends of Cloverdale Firefighters PAC who campaigned for the overwhelming passage of the fire district bond, I shall provide transparency through the smoke and mirrors.

The Rob Malone and Alycia Downs campaign is being funded by the Friends of Cloverdale FIRE DISTRICT PAC. The name is coincidentally similar enough to miss the difference, but it's being supported by Keith Cyrus, who didn't actively support the bond campaign, and refuses to believe Cloverdale's primary structure fire engines are substandard and unsafe.

Facts are facts whether you believe them or not, and the engines are by definition substandard because they don't meet current industry safety standards. The fire service has changed greatly, and what was acceptable 50 years ago has been left in the past. During the bond campaign, Keith refused to allow signs supporting the bond on Aspen Lakes property because he said they needed to stay "non-political," but now you can find many political signs on the same "non-political" property.

I'm also not sure how it's poor fiscal accountability to replace an engine which was damaged, with an engine which improves your capabilities, and is now planned to be sold for more money than was spent from fire district funds. The engine has become unnecessary with the passage of the bond. Although armchair quarterbacking is always 20/20, it rarely recognizes the factual realities at the time of the decision. The fire district simply didn't have the funds to purchase what was needed, but thanks to the voters, now it does.

Here are the transparent facts. The Cloverdale voters overwhelmingly support equipping their firefighters into the next 20 years. If you voted for the bond then please cast your ballot for John Thomas, Jerry Johnson, and Tom Barrier to make sure your firefighters have the equipment they need.

Damon Frutos

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To the Editor:

Paved trails, single track, get outside into the woods, allow neighbors their privacy, provide wheelchair access, use money wisely, connect communities, divide communities . . .

A small town in Colorado has yet another interesting take on trails. Installing what they call Single Track Sidewalks, the town of Eagle is gaining recognition for its extensive trail system. Read the article in the February 25 edition of Outside Magazine or at http://www.outsideonline.com/node/1930586.

Lorna Clarke

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To the Editor:

Just a letter of thanks to all that attended the family memorial fundraiser for Shemiah Gillan last Saturday at Hardtails Bar & Grill. We had an awesome turnout and through donated goods, services and help from friends and family, we were able to raise $4,137!

Way to go, Sisters and the biker community!

Thank you,

Steve & Darcy Macey

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To the Editor:

Thank you for the wonderful coverage of the Sisters Seed to Table program in (last) week's paper ("Kids get their hands dirty on the farm," The Nugget, May 6, pg. 1). Your article vividly captures a busy day of field trips at the Tehan property, and illustrates the impact that hands-on garden education can have on kids.

That said, I feel that it is important to give a little more due credit to the founder and tireless leader of the Seed to Table Program, Audrey Tehan. Over the last two years, Audrey has humbly built this program from the ground up - writing grants, developing curriculum, teaching in the classroom, chopping and serving lettuce in the school cafeteria, and managing the substantial Seed to Table garden-all for a very "modest" salary.

Audrey's dedication -to her program and to the Sisters community - is inspiring, to say the least. In her subtle way, she is helping to shape an entire generation of Sisters students.

Benji Nagel

Mahonia Gardens

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To the Editor:

I and my family, a son and daughter living in Sisters with their families, all eight of us seriously support and request a roundabout at the intersection of Barclay/McKinney Butte drives with Hwy. 20.

This community has been home since 1966 for us.

The information open house showed excellent preparation and presentation; safety and functionality were effectively presented as prime considerations!

The character and qualities of our community, important for us to sustain, call for roundabouts to the exclusion of traffic lights and a traffic-light strip. Sisters is a small town, sensitive to retain that mark in a magnetic locale and environment; a haven for art, and/or/but with a need to remain local, and all the good that can come with that.

Emil Smith