Last night, the Fire District's Terrible Twosome provided us with yet another demonstration of why no one should ever vote for them and why they should never have been elected in the first place. And that it should arise in the context of the Pledge of Allegiance only adds to the bizarreness of their actions.
What happened was this. Commissioner Wilmot brought to the meeting a U.S. Flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol and suggested that the District begin its meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance: a practice, he said, that was followed in many fire districts in the U.S. The Terrible Two were simply flummoxed by such a suggestion, with Meursing pointing out that he was opposed to the idea because it wasn't required and This District did what it wanted, and Riffle vamping for time with a bold declaration that "[he] appreciates [Mr. Wilmot's] approval of America, but..." (But he, himself, doesn't share this approval? ) Then, Wilmot's suggestion was tabled while, at least in Riffle's view, someone would investigate what other fire districts do. Who would do this investigating was not established, because 'tabling' is what the twosome do when they want things to go away and stay away.
Then, Wilmot simply stood up and began to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, while the half-dozen meeting attendees joined in, and Riffle and Meursing remained speechless (or voiceless, anyway). What an opening act!
And then the meeting turned to serious business. Now that the Commissioners have given the Fire Chief full access to the Fire District's more than ample budget, the spending has begun. Last month's invoices for office furniture, carpet cleaning, printing, more equipment upgrades, more equipment and then some more equipment, added up to almost $53,000 in shopping. The Chief, of course, has hired 11 new firefighters and they must be dressed right and all that. Soon, we will have a firefighting department on a par with Blaine (four times the population, twice the geographical area). I recall the days not long ago when the Libertarians of P.R. were admiring Commissioner Meursing's commitment to saving the taxpayers' moneys. Where are they now? Not attending these meetings, I'm afraid.
To add to the overall ambience on general incompetence, Mr. Riffle attended only by telephone (he wasn't at the local kids' holiday performance, I assure you). The telephone connection didn't work because Riffle could never hear very well and then the connection was interrupted by the amplified sound of dialing repeatedly from the phone (who was dialing and where was not investigated). While all this went on, the Assistant Fire Chief (new shirt with his name and title embroidered on it--more new equipment?) was moving the phone around the room constantly in hopes of giving Riffle a chance of knowing what he was or was not voting for and against. I would think that if there is a possibility that there will be other meetings in the future with telephonic attendance (and there will be because the twosome cannot allow a meeting in which they are not able to outvote Mr. Wilmot), there will be a serious need for some serious new equipment.
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3 comments:
Does Riffle get paid for a telephone meeting, I wonder.
The bizarreness seems to be bringing a flag and wanting to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't they have any work to do?
It's one of those things that county boards and the like often do. i'm not a particular fan of it, but getting a public official in effect to vote against it AND to refuse to participate in saying it is pretty startling. how do you think that would read in your paper if Governor-elect Inslee had done it?
as to don't they have any work to do: it is not apparent to me that they do any work. you should try coming to a meeting if you are local. it's a real eye opener.
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