"Public Safety a Commission Priority?"

It doesn't appear that way to me.

Let's look at the facts. The Commission allowed the City Manager to appoint Fire Chief Jeff Davis as the new "Public Safety Director" which also includes being the new Chief of Police, despite the fact that he has absolutely no prior law enforcement training. (You can find my prediction of this appointment in this blogs August archive.) Just think, even the rookies are more experienced in law enforcement than their new boss! At least one Commissioner, (Graham,) has publicly said that he supports the Davis appointment in that Davis has a proven track record of low employee turn-over in the Fire Department, and he predicts it to be a morale booster to the Police Department. A Morale Booster? Less turnover? I would think that a new rookie who has gone through the rigors of training, or a long term officer who has many years of experience on the force would have some resentment about a totally untrained person becoming head of the department. Think of the rookie's situation. They can plainly see that if they try to invest their future by sticking with it here in Fort Scott that is no guarantee that they might get a crack at a better position or climb the career ladder when experience and training just don't seem to count. Remember all the reatoric about officers getting their training then up and leaving Fort Scott for better jobs? Why wouldn't this appointment cause them to have second thoughts about where they might be in a few years if they do stick it out here? Other officers they work with have more than a decade of experience but apparently weren't qualified enough or as right for the job as the untrained Fire Chief. And tell me, what does boosting the internal morale of the PD have to do with the PUBLIC safety or sense of security? Also at Tuesday's Commission meeting the City Manager stated that he has to wait until the weekends to discuss anything with Chief Davis. (Due to him being out in Western Kansas at the KLETC training.) So be real careful during the week y'all!!!

At the same meeting when SEK Regional Planning representative Susan Galemore attended the meeting to discuss details of the Eastside fire station grant the Commission post-poned having the state alocate their portion of funding. When the reaction from the commission should have been "Thank you very much for the $400,000 grant that we asked for" instead it was more like "Wow, we really don't know what to do here! Does this mean we might actually have to follow through with something we considered hype to appease the community!?" The Commission was assured that they could change their mind at anytime and would not be obligated to receive the funding, the state would also be gracious about acknowledging "in kind" labor contributions on the city's part. Nonetheless, the city declined acceptance at least until Commissioner Keating could be present. Well, in my opinion Commissioner Keating has been present most of the 15 years he's been in office, and all of the same years the railroad tracks have been running through the middle of town, I think if he intended to do something about it he's had lots of time to propose it or get behind it and help push. Ms. Galemore stated that since they were not approving the acceptance of the grant agreement at the time that there was no reason for her to discuss anymore details and she politely excused herself from the meeting. It was a no-brainer decision. It always amuses me how the commission can deliberate on non-significant issues such as what colors a building will be painted, or paper brightness factor in a bid, but not deliberate the important issues.

Commissioner Wood was either worried about public safety or Historic Preservation when she mentioned that she'd gotten a call from former commissioner Joy O'neill and that she herself had been downtown sitting in her car and noticed open windows in the downtown buildings and that concerns her. Well, guess what Commissioner? I've been downtown too and guess what I noticed? A big eye sore with NO WALLS and NO ROOF! -And it belongs to the City! Funny when the city THOUGHT they were getting $400,000 for the downtown clean-up they jumped all over it and spent $70,000 to shore up the Miller Block, plus who knows what else in City TIME and MANPOWER. All to end-up maintaining a public nuisance as well as safety hazard.

Here the new owners of the Historic Smoker Building are trying to move ahead with preservation and safety concerns but the city commission says "WHOA! STOP! Not without our approval you don't!" All of these double standards leave me scratching my head.

The good news on the Public Safety front is that the State will be paying for a study to see what the best options are for getting to the Eastside in the event of an emergency. Whether it be an overpass, a bigger underpass, or moving the tracks around town completely. They will be considering input with a public meeting, and this is one study that the city won't directly have to fund.

Wonder if the public meeting by the state will take place at an evening meeting somewhere, or on a day when the Public Safety director/Police Chief is back from learning how to be a Law Enforcement Officer? W'ell have to just wait and see...