THE GUARDIAN met with Commissioner Steve Rule Friday. We discussed how the county engineered the Job Service property bid award from the Idaho State Land Board. Commissioner Rule stated his email response to the IPT was taken out of context. I maintained that no matter how legal the process was, the COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION is what matters most. Public perception on this deal is Vallivue School District was a victim in the bidding war both sides waged with our property tax dollars.
The "COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION" is how the County Commissioners and the Sheriff will be judged. Everything they have done and every decision they have made will be judged this election. The ballot box is all we have to hold these folks accountable.
In the COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION there is a lot of stuff to consider when it comes to our Commissioners and the Sheriff.
THE GUARDIAN, is very concerned with all the tax dollars spent on legal (and illegal) land purchases, million dollar plus building projects with added cost overruns and the REALLY BIG ONE costing us $12 Million for the "temporary jail".
We are now at or near $20 Million tax dollars spent without any voter approvals. They did not SAVE this money, they over-taxed us.
Next is their lack of a "MASTER PLAN" to manage and finance brick and mortar courthouse (current and future) needs. There is also the knee jerk placement of county offices and services away from the courthouse area. (Despite very generous offers from the City of Caldwell, the Caldwell School District and the Caldwell Urban Renewal Agency to grow in place).
"We are the DECIDERS" posture is also a problem when these elected officials are questioned by the public or media. The use of a "spin doctor/communications officer" to deal with the media and public is a problem. We did not hire (elect) these guys to get our stuff from anyone but them. A Communications Officer is not who we elected to face us, look us in the eye and talk to us when we have questions and want answers.
The Sheriff will have to answer for closing the old jail due to wet toilet paper on the ventilation duct work. He shut the old jail down and rented jail beds for inmates in Ada County for nearly $300,000. No calls were ever made for a professional opinion/review/or report on the old jail ventilation issues. He then reopened the old jail when the TP problem got "discovered" months and months later. Then there are the 100 or so empty jail beds in the work release tent that remain unused. The statement that Caldwell City requirements would preclude any growth of jail needs near the courthouse has no documentation to back this statement. His refusal of the Van Buren School property for use as a jail site and the $11 Million in Urban renewal monies to help with the project remain troubling and unexplained. (All the school district wanted out of the deal was enough money for a new school site, per statements made by the attorney for the school district.) Commissioner Beebe tossed out a $9 Million price tag without a challenge from anyone on the source of this figure to purchase the Van Buren property.
The May primary will be a referendum on the Commissioners and the Sheriff. THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION will officially be open for business and the verdict delivered that same day.
The Idaho Press Tribune has changed their candidate question format this election. They are now screwing down candidate positions on hot button issues. They all get the same question and 450 words to respond in the Sunday OPED pages. Not a lot of wiggle room for candidates that are empty suits full of hot air. Hats off the IPT for this valuable public service.
Read the IPT candidate positions draw your own conclusions on the issues.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
4 comments:
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Paul your article tells it all. Great job on exposing the real issues. The Big question still in everyones mind is how did the commissioners get all of this money they are throwing around with out having bond elections ? They have to be over taxing us there is no other explanation for it. There is no place else for all this surplus money to come from.
ReplyDeleteI need to know how many times Steve Rule is going to spend the Jerome property sales proceeds? How do you spend something that you haven’t gotten? Is the Jerome property for the Department of Labor property or the new jail or temporary jail/warehouse? Is Mr. Rule going to watch our tax dollars go down the drain? He over spent his customers money and ask for more and when they didn’t give it to him he filed bankruptcy and did not complete the job. Paul, help the public understand, how this is going to work? Does Mr. Rule know what he is doing? Many many questions are there any answers?
ReplyDeleteSo who decides where the future jail should be built?
ReplyDeleteThe Community or Paul Alldredge?
The Community or George Nourse?
The Community or (Take your pick of someone with a special interest).
I guess a citizens panel was a waste of time, everyone else should have deferred to one of you self proclaimed experts. Do any of you "Experts" have a;
Law Degree
Law Enforcement Degree
Architectectural Degree
etc.
Thought not. I know I have one.
Ignoring the problem and putting it off will cost you more in the long run. Deal with the problem now and do the responsible thing.
Try talking to the source before you publish bad press about them.
Might be too late now since you have demonstrated you are not interested in the facts.
Idaho Press tribune prints both sides of an issue. I am not seeing that on this site. I see a lot of one sidedness.
I find it amusing that there is so much controversy over the commisioner. Do the people of Canyon County not know the man they elected? I have worked with Steve Rule, as I'm sure many others in the county have, and I view this event as nothing more than typical behavior for the man. In all of my business dealings with him, he has pushed the line as far as he can with stepping over. Rule consistently pursues underhanded, coniving, and decidedly unethical behaviors without technically breaking the law. It's his forte! He is an artist.Surely the people of Canyon County acknowledged this before electing him? I do not place the blame on the commissioner, it's not his fault that he has no moral conscience and we shouldn't judge him for that. It is our fault for a electing such a man.
ReplyDelete