March Madness, piers and politics
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
As of this writing, I am dead last in a local March Madness basketball brackets pool. Dead last. Maybe Ol’ Catfish better stick with baseball.
Of course, as I told one co-worker who bragged about being in third place: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
***
Speaking of Ricky Bobby, I just returned from Daytona Beach, only to find out that the Daytona 500 was last month. OK, I knew that. But I did not know that a popular local landmark was closed.
It’s been two or three years since we’ve visited the popular spring break destination, so we had no idea that the Daytona Beach Pier (not to be confused with the famous Sunglow Pier), along with its restaurant, bar (and former casino) were covered in plastic and off limits to the public.
The pier opened in 1924 and has been a gathering spot ever since. In addition to the pier-top restaurant, there were gift shops, vendors, fishing spots, and an amusement park, with a sky ride that looped out over the Atlantic Ocean, then back to the west end of the pier. Apparently, there was a lot of asbestos, too.
The Orlando Sentinel reported the structure closed in November 2009, two months after the city of Daytona Beach purchased the pier from a private corporation. The city has approved $4.6 million in repairs to bring the pier back to its Glory Days. That’s encouraging.
Because not only was the pier a fun place to sit back and enjoy a cold drink, it was also a great landmark for family reunions. Not the traditional family reunion, mind you. I’m talking about the vacation reunion, where moms, dads and children go off in three or four different directions, promising to “meet back at the pier” at a certain hour.
One of our more pleasant experiences this year was breakfast at the Ormond Beach IHOP with Bob and Dorothy Hodson, who were The Highland County Press’ first out-of-state paid subscribers. (Bob also paid for breakfast. Thanks, Bob!)
Bob, Dorothy, Pam and I enjoyed a good breakfast and even better conversation. Except that Bob had to bring up one of my recent columns in which I’d mentioned Lisa Wharton’s birthday.
So I shared the little trick I played on Lisa, who had edited my column before we went to press that week. Lisa proofread the page, all right; but afterward, I slipped in a birthday greeting. She said her husband, Dann, brought it to her attention the next day. And, as it turns out, Bob and Dann used to work together in the local banking industry going back to the late 1970s.
Highland County is fortunate to have many great people. And I feel fortunate to know a few of them. Bob and Dorothy Hodson and Dann and Lisa Wharton are among them.
Oh, yes, one last comment on our all-too-brief Florida respite: We did not see a cloud in four days, but we did see a Super Moon on the vernal equinox rising up from the Atlantic at Flagler Beach on Saturday night. (Some happy reveler lost a bet that he could walk across the A1A Highway and get 1,000 heads to look at a different moon. But it was worth a shot.)
***
Shortly after returning from the Sunshine State, I made the mistake of checking my email from the past five days. Big mistake.
Did you know the city of Hillsboro has given notice to a few local townships that they will be discontinuing EMS services on June 30? Me neither.
Apparently, Highland County Press managing editor Brandy Chandler created yet another firestorm by reporting that Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships will not have EMS services from Hillsboro as of June 30.
Highland Country Prosecutor Jim Grandey, who is legal counsel to the townships, told The Highland County Press that he had been in negotiations with Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt and Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery on the 2012 contracts, and that he had no indication they were planning on discontinuing services.
“I had met with Mr. Beery and Mr. Holt and had requested some information so we can go back and do some projections and so forth,” Mr. Grandey said. “To this day, I have not received that information. I asked for it twice and Mr. Beery has supposedly asked the city to do that. With this action, maybe it’s not forthcoming.”
In November 2010, just five months ago, Hillsboro City Council voted to accept a proposal from area townships for an 18-percent increase for fire services, with the condition EMS services be provided at no additional charge through 2011.
June 30 hardly qualifies as the end of the 2011 calendar year, does it?
This latest notice to the affected townships is all-too-familiar to a notice last July in which the city informed the county that it would no longer provide a backup emergency 911 system. As memory serves, the city gave the county 12 hours’ notice they were terminating an agreement in which the city’s systems administrator handled the computer network maintenance for the sheriff’s office.
The commissioners responded to the city with a letter that stated: “Your action left the county with no support for these critical systems. This not only placed a hardship on the county, but its citizens as well, for such an act could have placed them in danger had there been a technical issue with the 911 system.”
Granted, the 2011 contract between the city and townships did include an “escape clause,” through which it was “mutually understood and agreed that either party may cancel...the contract agreement before the (Dec. 31, 2011) expiration by giving 90 days’ notice to the opposite party.”
Obviously, the contract certainly carries more weight that the stated intention of council last November.
The more timely question today is: Where does council stand on the administration’s March 17, 2011 letter informing townships that EMS coverage will be discontinued as of June 30?
If such actions are, indeed, the will of city council and not just those of the administration, a few thoughts come to mind:
• Why wasn’t this discussed openly beforehand?
• Why did negotiations with the township for a long-term solution break down, only to now have a new offer for talks?
• Why weren’t trustees and council consulted prior to the March 17 letter?
• Is the city simply forced into this action, pending the outcome of ongoing union negotiations? (And, if so, its actions do become more understandable.)
The city insists that “budgetary restraints will not allow us to provide this service and provide the services that the citizens of Hillsboro are entitled to.”
However, in February of this year, city council approved the 2011 budget. Prior to its passage, it was stated that Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis, Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt and administrative assistant Kirby Ellison had cut more than $400,000 from the 2011 budget in order for it to balance. We were told – and reported – there would be a carryover of a projected $70,000 into the 2012 budget.
That February vote included the November 2010 extension of EMS services for the townships through Dec. 31, 2011.
Now, less than six weeks later, the city is discontinuing the service. That’s certainly its contractual prerogative. But one would think that a more detailed explanation would have been in order for the townships prior to the March 17 letter.
On a more positive note, Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt said this week the city is still open to negotiations with the townships – in spite of the notice to cancel services. While that is an apparent contradiction, it’s also a reflection on the difficult economic climate that affects all of us.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Of course, as I told one co-worker who bragged about being in third place: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
***
Speaking of Ricky Bobby, I just returned from Daytona Beach, only to find out that the Daytona 500 was last month. OK, I knew that. But I did not know that a popular local landmark was closed.
It’s been two or three years since we’ve visited the popular spring break destination, so we had no idea that the Daytona Beach Pier (not to be confused with the famous Sunglow Pier), along with its restaurant, bar (and former casino) were covered in plastic and off limits to the public.
The pier opened in 1924 and has been a gathering spot ever since. In addition to the pier-top restaurant, there were gift shops, vendors, fishing spots, and an amusement park, with a sky ride that looped out over the Atlantic Ocean, then back to the west end of the pier. Apparently, there was a lot of asbestos, too.
The Orlando Sentinel reported the structure closed in November 2009, two months after the city of Daytona Beach purchased the pier from a private corporation. The city has approved $4.6 million in repairs to bring the pier back to its Glory Days. That’s encouraging.
Because not only was the pier a fun place to sit back and enjoy a cold drink, it was also a great landmark for family reunions. Not the traditional family reunion, mind you. I’m talking about the vacation reunion, where moms, dads and children go off in three or four different directions, promising to “meet back at the pier” at a certain hour.
One of our more pleasant experiences this year was breakfast at the Ormond Beach IHOP with Bob and Dorothy Hodson, who were The Highland County Press’ first out-of-state paid subscribers. (Bob also paid for breakfast. Thanks, Bob!)
Bob, Dorothy, Pam and I enjoyed a good breakfast and even better conversation. Except that Bob had to bring up one of my recent columns in which I’d mentioned Lisa Wharton’s birthday.
So I shared the little trick I played on Lisa, who had edited my column before we went to press that week. Lisa proofread the page, all right; but afterward, I slipped in a birthday greeting. She said her husband, Dann, brought it to her attention the next day. And, as it turns out, Bob and Dann used to work together in the local banking industry going back to the late 1970s.
Highland County is fortunate to have many great people. And I feel fortunate to know a few of them. Bob and Dorothy Hodson and Dann and Lisa Wharton are among them.
Oh, yes, one last comment on our all-too-brief Florida respite: We did not see a cloud in four days, but we did see a Super Moon on the vernal equinox rising up from the Atlantic at Flagler Beach on Saturday night. (Some happy reveler lost a bet that he could walk across the A1A Highway and get 1,000 heads to look at a different moon. But it was worth a shot.)
***
Shortly after returning from the Sunshine State, I made the mistake of checking my email from the past five days. Big mistake.
Did you know the city of Hillsboro has given notice to a few local townships that they will be discontinuing EMS services on June 30? Me neither.
Apparently, Highland County Press managing editor Brandy Chandler created yet another firestorm by reporting that Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships will not have EMS services from Hillsboro as of June 30.
Highland Country Prosecutor Jim Grandey, who is legal counsel to the townships, told The Highland County Press that he had been in negotiations with Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt and Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery on the 2012 contracts, and that he had no indication they were planning on discontinuing services.
“I had met with Mr. Beery and Mr. Holt and had requested some information so we can go back and do some projections and so forth,” Mr. Grandey said. “To this day, I have not received that information. I asked for it twice and Mr. Beery has supposedly asked the city to do that. With this action, maybe it’s not forthcoming.”
In November 2010, just five months ago, Hillsboro City Council voted to accept a proposal from area townships for an 18-percent increase for fire services, with the condition EMS services be provided at no additional charge through 2011.
June 30 hardly qualifies as the end of the 2011 calendar year, does it?
This latest notice to the affected townships is all-too-familiar to a notice last July in which the city informed the county that it would no longer provide a backup emergency 911 system. As memory serves, the city gave the county 12 hours’ notice they were terminating an agreement in which the city’s systems administrator handled the computer network maintenance for the sheriff’s office.
The commissioners responded to the city with a letter that stated: “Your action left the county with no support for these critical systems. This not only placed a hardship on the county, but its citizens as well, for such an act could have placed them in danger had there been a technical issue with the 911 system.”
Granted, the 2011 contract between the city and townships did include an “escape clause,” through which it was “mutually understood and agreed that either party may cancel...the contract agreement before the (Dec. 31, 2011) expiration by giving 90 days’ notice to the opposite party.”
Obviously, the contract certainly carries more weight that the stated intention of council last November.
The more timely question today is: Where does council stand on the administration’s March 17, 2011 letter informing townships that EMS coverage will be discontinued as of June 30?
If such actions are, indeed, the will of city council and not just those of the administration, a few thoughts come to mind:
• Why wasn’t this discussed openly beforehand?
• Why did negotiations with the township for a long-term solution break down, only to now have a new offer for talks?
• Why weren’t trustees and council consulted prior to the March 17 letter?
• Is the city simply forced into this action, pending the outcome of ongoing union negotiations? (And, if so, its actions do become more understandable.)
The city insists that “budgetary restraints will not allow us to provide this service and provide the services that the citizens of Hillsboro are entitled to.”
However, in February of this year, city council approved the 2011 budget. Prior to its passage, it was stated that Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis, Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt and administrative assistant Kirby Ellison had cut more than $400,000 from the 2011 budget in order for it to balance. We were told – and reported – there would be a carryover of a projected $70,000 into the 2012 budget.
That February vote included the November 2010 extension of EMS services for the townships through Dec. 31, 2011.
Now, less than six weeks later, the city is discontinuing the service. That’s certainly its contractual prerogative. But one would think that a more detailed explanation would have been in order for the townships prior to the March 17 letter.
On a more positive note, Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt said this week the city is still open to negotiations with the townships – in spite of the notice to cancel services. While that is an apparent contradiction, it’s also a reflection on the difficult economic climate that affects all of us.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]