Mayor Garret Nancolas, Caldwell’s mayor for the last 13 years, said he was on city business at a meeting at the Capitol when the time on his parking meter expired. The city paid the city of Boise the $17 fine in February, according to the city’s check register.
“When I’m on city business, they (the city) pay for my expenses. That’s just how it is,” Nancolas said. “Like we pay for a hotel room, or meals if on city business. It’s just that simple.”
Nancolas said on the day he got his ticket that he was stuck in a meeting regarding double taxation and couldn’t leave to recharge the meter. He said the ticket was unavoidable.
“You just can’t get up and walk out of a meeting,” he said.
Nancolas said taxpayers would pay the parking ticket any city employee gets while on city business, or possibly for damage from accidents — a couple of years ago, Nancolas submitted a claim to the city for damage his car took when hit in Boise, where the mayor was on city business.
“Just because I’m the mayor does not mean I’m not allowed to have those same (benefits) as other employees,” Nancolas said.
Unlike other employees, Nancolas receives a $10,000 annual car allowance. He said he drives about 18,000 miles per year on city business.
On his blog, caldwellguardian.blogspot.com (where the ticket payment was first reported), Paul Alldredge commented: ”We would like to think he could suck it up and pay for his parking transgressions out of the $10K he gets from taxpayers.”
The mayor said that had he been driving a city vehicle, the meter monitor probably would not have given him a ticket, but that if he had the city would have paid it without question.
“I was on city business and I just happened to be in my own vehicle,” he said. “That’s the same as paying for meals, or gasoline or any other expense, and that’s the way it’s viewed.”
Nancolas said he was not “fiddling around” when he got the ticket and that the two hours he bought usually was enough.
“In this particular instance it just didn’t work.”
The above post first appeared on the IDAHO REPORTER written by Jay Patrick on 12-22-2010 we are posting it here in case you missed it on the IR blog.
What I am reading here is the Mayor of Caldwell is saying if someone gets a speeding ticket, DUI or other traffic violation the citizens of Caldwell will get stuck with the bill?
ReplyDeleteNancolas drives !8,000 miles a year on city business. The Mayor lives less than 2 miles from city hall. He must be the "HAPPY WANDERER"
to rack up that kind of mileage on Caldwell city business. Do I see his nose growing here???
"TIME EXPIRED" how appropriate is that as Nancolas heads into his 14th year of singing and grining his way through his terms of office.
ReplyDeleteGA says....
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is the newspapers and TV people haven't put the mayor on the front page of the paper nor have they done a TV piece on his comments.
It also tells me just how degenerate the thinking is at administrative levels at city hall in Caldwell. If Nancolas can rationalize city taxpayers paying his parking tickets what is going on we don't know about?
I was talking to a good friend last night about the current state of affairs discussed in this blog, about the city of Caldwell and it's woes. He said that if he were elected Mayor of Caldwell, about five minutes after being sworn in, the pink slips would start to fly! The tires on the unused police cars would be stored in the basement of city hall, the unused cars with no tires would be put on blocks, until needed and the stored tires would be used up as needed. The remaining city employees would have to pay parking tickets themselves if they were dumb enough to get one, and put on probation if they got one! The needless "make work" projects by the city would cease. No more endless street sweeping and mowing. Sell off the high priced, unused construction equipment that the taxpayer bought. Cut the city budget to the bone! Stop all useless spending. Sell off as much city property as possible, for unsubsidized private development. Cut the burden on the property tax payer in half or more. Never would the new mayor race over to Boise to shmooze with the other politicians, he has no dreams of higher office. Make Caldwell the low tax, investment friendly, city that it should be. Maybe he will run. The taxpayers would love him!
ReplyDeleteGA..says..
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of police cars... the city recently bought a bunch of new Ford Crown Vic's at nearly $30K a copy when outfitted with all the cop goodies. Does anyone really want local city cops doing high speed pursuits in cars designed to go over 150 mph on our city streets. The liability of high speed pursuits is something that could bankrupts our city should someone get hurt. It is fantasy to think the risks are worth the potential costs to taxpayers.
Not only that I just read a piece on the web a former Shell Oil exec. is predicting $5/gallon gasoline by 2012 based on world demand.
Buying these obsolete behemouths even Ford is going to stop making shows a lack of clear thinking about the future and where the money will come from to feed these monsters along with their maintenence and upkeep. Good sense is in short supply with our Police and city administration.
Speaking further of police cars. The next time you drive by the Nampa police station count the police car in the parking lot.There will be at least 12 to 15 any time of the day and I have counted more . Most tax payers understand that city services have to be paid for but the waste that we see in city goverment does not set well.
ReplyDeleteHave they been doing 150 mph pursuits in Caldwell city? I haven't seen any of that going on, have you? It's not the cars that make pursuits dangerous.
ReplyDeleteYou could be in a Volkswagen and it's still dangerous. 99% of all pursuits don't even happen anymore because most agencies have banned their officers from engaging in them except in the most extreme of circumstances.
I also heard the police cars were running on ethanol now and were more fuel efficient, or is the newspaper lying to us about that?
The police fleet is actually very economical and the types of cars selected are the correct choice for the job they do.
Now I could see alternatives to buying more cars such as bicycle and foot patrols in some areas or even doubling up officers in one car instead of sending two separate officers in separate cars to calls. But replacing a Ford Crown Victoria with a Toyota or other mid size car wont work.
It's not about the engine size, it's about the ability of the car to have enough room to carry all the gear, and still accommodate a prisoner cage in the backseat. The only way you can sell the idea of mid size cars is to bring back the paddy wagon to go around and pick up prisoners when they are arrested which means another big vehicle and more employees to man it.
How can room be an issue? I remember back in the early 1980's ISP was using Ford Mustang II's with supercharged small block V-8's. I am over 6' tall and I can tell you that was a small car and I owned one only it had an anemic 4 cylinder engine. Gas was around $1.60/gallon or about $4/gallon in todays dollars.
ReplyDeleteTime and fuel costs will take care of this problem. We need cops to be safe and have a degree of comfort given the amount of time they spend in a patrol car. Ford has announced the end of the product life for the Crown Vic. I hope they give some thougths to gas mileage next generation of cars
By the way... you don't get better mileage with Ethanol. Chemicall is does not have the carbon density (stocheometric properties) compared to straight gasoline. Look it up on the EPA mileage estimates where they list fuel economy using E-85 v. Gasoline.
Anonymous 1 has it right Anonymous 2. You obviously have not been in a police car have you? Try stuffing your 6' frame into the backseat with your hands cuffed behind your back. Add the cage and you will understand. I could care less if they put a 4 or a 6 cylinder on the crown vic frame, but it sure would be difficult switching to a smaller car with less interior room. I wouldn't expect you to know that though seeing as how you probably don't work in this business. ISP is not the city either. Different needs, different vehicles. State Police agencies sometimes do buy smaller faster sports cars for the express purposes of traffic and speed enforcement. When they make arrests though they have to call a transport unit. I'm curious, what vehicle would you select? Yugo's? Maybe Hyundai's? Ethanol for E85 is produced locally and is being purchased locally by government which ironically helps local business. Isn't that what we want? Local government has realized a savings of on average about a $1.00 per gallon by switching to E85. Is that not more efficient? Or would you like government to go back to paying a $1.00 more per gallon on gas? You should read the Op-Ed in the press tribune about Mark Tolman the fleet manager at the canyon county car shop and see what he has done. You would be surprised and would be less critical I think.
ReplyDeleteBarkley ...says
ReplyDeleteThe topic of this post is Mayor Nancolas's parking ticket and him charging taxpayers for the ticket. Frankly, I am appalled at how the mayor can transfer all responsibility for his parking ticket to taxpayers.
It tells me there is no limit to his hypocracy when it comes to gleaning every penny he can from taxpayers on top of a very generous salary, $10k/year car allowance, travel allowance and other perks of his office. Shame on him for this act of greed.
Responding to the original post, what seems to happen to lads like Nancolas, is they sit in the office, get called sir, get invited to free lunches and dinners, have people ask their opinions, etc. Then mystically (because they have never managed anything successfully) believe they are worth what their being paid, plus any benefits they can grab. Obviously they are entitled.
ReplyDeleteWe noted the local paper the IPT picked up on the story about the Mayor's ticket. Nancolas' response is just how serious his break with reality is. He sees no problem with handing off a parking ticket to taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteAlso questionable is just how the mayor of a small city like Caldwell can rack up 18-22,000 miles a year on city business.
Nancolas is on over 30 different boards and commissions, most have very little to do with the business of the city. He is paid $2,500.00 four times a year with taxpayer dollars for all his traveling and he is paid meals and lodging on top of all the mileage expenses.
He can't seem to figure out what the big deal is with the people paying his parking ticket.
Hasn't King Nancolas ever heard of Boise's multiple downtown parking garages?
ReplyDeleteIn a twist of irony, almost all of the parking garages are owned and operated by the Capitol City Development Agency (CCDC)- Boise's own Urban Renewal Agency.
And most businesses and government agencies will validate the parking stub.
Nancolas needs to get a clue.
I tried to buy a big Ford Crown Victoria with a cop motor, cop transmission, cop brakes, cop alternator, cop seat, and cop radiator. Since the Caldwell Ford dealer went belly up, and the Boise and Nampa dealers are hard to do business with, I called the Pocatello Ford dealer, because Pocatello killed an urban renewal district, recently. Really good guys over there! I was told that only the cops can get these cars! What a raw deal! I guess I'll have to call Jeg's, order the parts and build my own.
ReplyDelete