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If You Have Nothing Worth Saying, Say Nothing At All
Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009, at 5:11 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
The title tells you why I have been silent these past several weeks on the blog. It is not that I haven't been busy, just that there was little to say and little time to write a blog.
I have been busy with one of my grandsons. He has some problems and we are trying to find remedies. I am still researching the schools, the operation of the school corporation, and what needs to be done to optimize education in this locality. I am even more convinced that we need change; change that we have the opportunity to accomplish now but which will pass when contracts are signed and available money is committed. The facts still indicate that we have better options. I took the tour and listened to the presentation given in favor of purchasing the Wallace building for our bus maintenance facility. After doing so, I learned that other options that are less expensive but just as viable in filling the need was disregarded due to what looks to be opinions that have no basis in fact. One property was apparently removed from consideration with the reasoning that the "communications would not work" at that location. While the property was not as large as the Wallace facility and the building was not as large, I have no doubt that it has telephone service, fiber-optic lines can be ran to the location as they will also have to be installed at the Wallace facility for data, and our radio communications will also work there as well since they work all over the county. Someone didn't bother to check the facts before choosing an option. One other thing that concerns me on the Wallace facility is that it is of wood frame construction, basically built out of two-by-fours with a metal roof and siding. I'm wondering about its life expectancy compared to a metal framed building {new ones are guaranteed for fifty years) and, as one of the bays of the Wallace facility is being discussed to be used as a wash bay for buses, the effect of the water and/or chemicals on the wood. Frankly, people need to consider a lot more than is being considered before rejecting or accepting options and start digging for all of the facts instead of only those presented when they are making decisions of great weight affecting this community and the spending of tax dollars. I have also been corresponding with state officials concerning possible infractions of the law concerning the petition and remonstrance process as it occurred and the Clay County Prosecutor's Office as to why certain activities that occurred have not been investigated. I have requested that an investigation into the operation of the Prosecutor's Office be accomplished by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission and was told that enforcement of the law is left to the discretion of the person who holds the office of Prosecutor. To me, that means that we are not a "nation of laws;" we are ruled by the "discretion" of those who are supposed to uphold the laws passed by our government and subject to their whim on the subject of what law they decide to enforce of not enforce. I attended the last cracker-barrel, held in Harmony. Three items interested me greater than the rest of the items that were discussed. One was the use of coal ash in construction and as construction materials. From my take on what was said, this coal ash is heated and formed into slabs to be used as walls, which are used to construct buildings with a high insulating factor. They have been used in several projects, especially college dormitories. The only drawback mentioned is that they apparently not only insulate but soundproof too well; to the point that fire alarms must be mounted in the rooms as they cannot be heard if they are mounted in the halls. When, if ever, we decide to build a new school building, I think we should look seriously into this option in its construction. The second item was possible development of the Chinook Mining property to bring industry and jobs to the area. The County Commissioners and our state legislators are working on this. Another local issue that is being worked on is the condition of our roads. An idea that was brought up, not for serious discussion or with a decision being made or even considered, was the possibility of a wheel tax to support our roads. A wheel tax, by law, can only be used for road work and is, unlike other taxes, under local control with the funds staying local. The funds would be shared among the county for maintenance and construction of county roads and the cities and towns for street maintenance. While no one cares for more taxation, if we cannot afford to provide what is needed with the funding that we have, we must find ways of providing the funds to do what is needed. For roads, one option is the wheel tax, for other things that cannot be provided for due to the property tax cap and the "circuit-breaker" limitation there is the option of the referendum tax levy and funds in our political, taxing, subdivisions. The referendum tax is a five-year tax levy that, as its name implies, can only be imposed through a referendum. It can be requested for funding one-time or short-term things like infrastructure improvement; but it can also be used long-term as long as the taxpayers support it, much like defense spending on the National level requires that Congress provide funding on an annual basis. Now that I think about it, perhaps, I did have something to write about ...LOL! Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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On reading it as it is published to the blog, I do wish I had proffed it one more time.........LOL!
The title is how most of us feel about ALL of your blogs and letters to the editor...its old.
LOL, piper, then don't bother to read what I write. It's not like someone puts a gun to your head, you choose to read as I choose to write.
Is it old or is it a truth that people wish to ignore? Perhaps we should not "stand still" or move forward in our locale, maybe we should move backwards to "the good old days". Let's go back to dirt roads, horses instead of cars, backbreaking labor to grow enough to eat just to live, outhouses, and one-room schoolhouses.
As for me, I'd rather move forward than backward or standing still. That takes effort.
Good to hear from you, though. That shows that there are people out there, somewhere. Thank you!
I enjoy reading your blogs. I'm glad your back.
Leo,
I have read through your blog here and I still believe you do not get the entire picture. You're just like a kid sometimes I think. You do not think everything through completely before you post a blog.
There were probably many more things that stopped the CCSC from looking into your other option you think you may have found. The question that you did not probably ask is, how old is this building? (the one that you are in a tiff that the corporation did not look into), How much more money is going to have to be put into that building to set it up for what CCSC needs?, Because they will need an office space for the Transportation director, the routing coordinator, the secretary, and file storage. Or is your idea to put up a wall partition like the military does in one bay of a workshop and say OK there's your office.
Then you need to look into the cost of getting the building up to OSHA standards. There will have to be a separate storage room for the fluids, a separate room for the air compressor, a changing and clean up area for the mechanics.
So let's break this down here Leo. If you get a building that is already built (and I probably know the one you are thinking of) the building is already probably 10 to 15 years old, you will have the money into putting 2 extra rooms inside the building, building an addition on the side of the building for office spaces (which in turn cuts down on the amount of lot space for parking). So you are looking at sinking more money into an already older building.
I understand that you and others are just out there trying to figure out ways of saving money, but there is a point at which you are just going to far. CCSC had an engineer come in and say Ok it will cost 4.3 million to build a new garage, which is excessive, the cost then got cut a few times since then and now they are under 1 million dollars. To me that is a big savings, but there are still people like you that think well maybe we can cut that in half. Ok leo now let me ask you this, if you was looking for a house and you had to choose between two different houses one of them was $100,000 and the other $50,000 and the cheaper house is 15 years older then the other and needed $40,000 worth of work done on it, which one would you buy?
I am going to make a statement here and it is just my personal view of the situation, it is not meant to offend you or anyone else. What is see going on here is a bunch of people that do not KNOW what CCSC needs as far as a garage trying to tell the community that this is what needs to be done, and really who are the people that need to be asked what is needed in this situation? Let's see probably the people that work in that situation, the Transportation director, the Garage Supervisor, the Mechanics themselves. Those are the people that have to work in it daily and know what is NEEDED in the building.
Supporter, you make good points, and I certainly think those who will be working in a building should have input. But what they say are their "needs" should be scrutinized to see if they are really just "wants".
Good to have you back Leo. And while you most often concentrate on our School Corporation, which is a good thing, I would like to see more of your opinions on City, County and maybe even State and National Governments.
I think the main gist of this blog is that we all need to invest time into finding out how our money is being spent and do we think investments/decisions being made are good ones or do they need more sets of eyes on them that maybe the few who have made the decisions haven't thought of?
While I do not know the alternate building of which Leo speaks for bus garage, I personally feel that the Wallace facility is a reasonable one depending on just how much we might be paying for it compared to current value in today's market. There is a real need for a better facility and it's a matter of how much personal time one wants to invest in investigating this verses relying upon the elected board members to make the right decision.
On one hand they have been elected to do a job so all of us don't have to individually take time to do so, but on other hand they have not been as prudent as I would have liked in thoroughly seeking out information in other matters so it makes some of us raise some doubts as to their process in other matters.
A double edged sword. Be accused of being negative, questioning their ability by doubting every decision, thereby investing hours of time duplicating what they have done, or kicking yourself when you don't and it turns out you should have?
So long as all readers know that there are definite consequences of doing either.
"Supporter": It is "nice" that you support so many decisions our officials make but it may be blind faith that you should only have in a being greater than a human's. Questioning decisions if nothing else will make officials more careful in making them in the future as they are human as well and will make mistakes at times. Knowing that taxpayers are paying attention, no matter what their opinions are, can only encourage officials to be more careful with their decisions, whether one agrees with them or not.
Supporter, when it comes to believing what comes out of our school corporation' administration, you say that I'm like a child. Funny, I feel more like a parent who has been lied to by a child. I was sitting at the two school board meetings when members of the administration stated that the CPF was not for new construction. I was sitting at the school board meeting when administrators stated that only after a building was torn down was it realized that people had no place to work, that only after they set up a trailer did they realize that a permit was needed BEFORE they could legally put a trailer in the City of Brazil, and only after the electricity was hooked up that they needed permission and an inspection by the Fire Marshal BEFORE they did so. If you care to re-read the blog, you will find that the reason that the reason given for the property being removed from consideration was that "communications would not work" which is poppycock!
You are right, I don't have the entire picture. I have also figured out that I will never get the entire picture out of the school corporation. I'm not fully informed on OSHA regulations, but I know where to get the information. I am pretty familiar with mechanic's shops, having worked as a mechanic in the Marines, as mechanic for a government contractor, and in the trucking industry. I've also had some experience in the planning of some things such as the layout of military bivouacs, load plans for ships, and, battalion-sized operations; therefore, I know that you do not discard or choose options until you have all of the facts from trusted sources.
According to the newspaper article, the Wallace facility is 2200 sq. ft. and the current facility is 700 sq. ft. Laughingly, I live in a 28 by 50 foot home with a full basement that would fit in four bays of the Wallace facility, so I know those figures are not right. My usable space in my home is 2800 sq. ft. I would venture a guess that a zero was dropped and that the Wallace Facility is 22,000 sq. ft. Oddly, I have a half-acre lot which seems to be just about the same size as that building. The plans for the building project of August 2007 called for 11,500 sq. ft. to house both maintenance operations, the Transportation Department bus maintenance and the Buildings and Grounds Department including administrative space for both departments. So, while there was discussed some use by Buildings and Grounds, Buildings and Grounds is to be headquartered and actually located elsewhere. Aren't we overbuying space? Not that it won't get filled, nature abhors a vacuum just like an empty kitchen cabinet.
I happen to "like" the Wallace facility, however, I have not seen all of the options. Second, the corporation only developed seven options and there are a few more than that in the area.
We do need a building to fill a need. We need that need fully defined in public view. We can use the nine bays at the Wallace facility, but do we need nine bays? Do we need the property to be the size it is, as we only need for all of the buses to come to the facility once or twice a year for inspection and they can be rotated through as they have been.
Even at the price being considered, are we over-spending for something that we don't need?
I loved the part where you said "So let's break this down here Leo. If you get a building that is already built (and I probably know the one you are thinking of) the building is already probably 10 to 15 years old, you will have the money into putting 2 extra rooms inside the building, building an addition on the side of the building for office spaces (which in turn cuts down on the amount of lot space for parking). So you are looking at sinking more money into an already older building." Funny, that parallels my argument for building a new school instead of investing three-quarters of the cost of it in renovating two old buildings.
"If you have nothing worth saying, say nothing at all." Is this statement really worth saying?