Dear Editor,
I am a small business owner and understand that to stay in business, one has to either control expense or increase prices.
HOW MANY RETIREMENTS DO YOU NEED?
In reading John Staley’s article, he is a retired fire fighter from Quincy, IL; retired A/Fire Chief, Billings, MT; retired Fire Chief, Thornton, CO and retired Fire Chief from Lockwood Fire Department. That is a lot of retiring. It would be interesting to know if Staley receives multiple pensions. Most people are lucky to retire with Social Security and some personal savings.
Staley believes there needs to be more collaboration between the City of Billings (COB) and Yellowstone County (YC). On the surface, that sounds good. Then we get into the details when he says he would like to see “shared services” for public works, code enforcement, parks and recreation ($140 million rec center anyone?) and transportation. Staley believes county residents living outside city limits should subsidize Billings City services. Gee, what could go wrong with that? In terms of public transportation, Met buses with two people on them? Let’s extend that money losing service to the entire county…Don’t get me started on the city buying electric buses.
Where the COB and YC governments can work together, they seem to be doing so. They have recently announced a partnership to build, fund and maintain a short-term detention center to provide immediate consequences for criminals plaguing both city and county residents. This interim step should have visible benefits while a jail expansion is researched and funded.
Billings and YC currently collaborate with shared Dispatch services and the Billings Urban Fire Service Area (BUFSA). In Montana, a County is the only governmental entity authorized to operate a jail. YC is currently in the procurement process for a jail needs assessment which will help guide a data driven future jail expansion. Everyone wants criminals held accountable; the issue is going to be paying for it.
Staley believes YC has done a poor job in terms of planning to expand the criminal justice system. Maybe he does not realize the Judiciary and Court services are State of MT functions and the legislature has their hand in the pie, too.
While Chief of Lockwood Fire, Staley had little interest in helping solve Emergency Medical Service (EMS) county-wide. Staley stated Lockwood resources could not leave the Lockwood service area.
Staley wants to increase the size of County government by expanding the number of commissioners from a 3 to a 5-member board. Why? We have 56 counties in Montana and only two of them have more than three commissioners. There must be a reason. The MT Constitution allows for voters to review how their local governments are structured via ballot initiative every 10 years.
Having re-read Staley’s article several times, it is rife with progressive jargon for bigger government. When has bigger government ever been better for the taxpayer? Join me in voting for Mike Waters for Yellowstone County Commissioner in the June primary.
Gene Staudinger
Billings, MT
