REPORT OF FIREFIGHTER LAYOFFS
Elyria – The Mayor’s personal cell phone number came down from the sign on Cedar Street Saturday afternoon after the owner of Heavy Duty Graphics discovered that 9 Firefighters could be laid off in 2009 – the Mayor’s number was replaced by Councilman Bullocks’ home phone number.Brian Allen said that he put Bullocks’ number up because he heads the city’s finance committee. “We’ll start with Councilman Bullocks and each week I’ll display another Councilpersons name and phone number. The only chance we have to save the safety forces is if the community puts pressure on Council and the Mayor – they must be told that we supported and passed Issue 15 and now we want the safety forces to be left alone.”
The report quickly made its way through the Fire Department and the community that 9 Firefighters might be let go and Officer’s in the department could be demoted. Sources also say that overtime might be gone or drastically cut in 2009 along with the possible closing of another station, leaving the city covered with 2 firehouses.
Allen originally posted the sign after Elyria Police Chief Michael Medders released his recommendations that 11 Police Officers, 5 Corrections Officers and 10 civilian employees be let go if the 6% cuts become a reality in 2009. In addition to the cuts 8 Officers would be demoted.
It is important to note that at this point any talk of cuts is just that – talk – they are recommendations from the Chiefs. Mayor Grace has said his administration is searching for other ways to save money. The Mayor and Auditor Pileski have said they will forgo their scheduled pay raises in 2009. Outgoing Assistant Safety Service Director Bill Olgle’s position will not be replaced anytime soon. Pools and special events in the city could also be cut to save money.
Editors Note: The number in this photo was not blurred because the number is listed.
posted by TMC NEWS at 11:41 PM
25 Comments:
"It is important to note that at this point any talk of cuts is just that – talk – they are recommendations from the Chiefs".
I would say these would be criminal recommendations to a city this size.
You people had your chance NOT TO re-elect this guy, and now it's too late.
Grabbing headlines for free advertising.
Congratulations, Mr Allen! Stick to your guns and hold ALL council members to the same standards. Let's keep the pressure on our elected officials until they start working for US. Keep up the good work! Thank you!!
I have been against the "recall" until recently. Now, I am on the fence with Grace. Unfortunately, we passed Issue 15 and yet he still wants to create new positions for friends and family and not keep the citizens' safety as a concern.
Here we go again lets lay off safety forces LCSO, Elyria, Lorain who's next. no department is going to have anyone availabe for their own calls let alone mutial aid or back up for the PD or SO. I understand money is tight but they should not of hired all these firemen and police officer if they did not have the money now these folks are unemployeed. Maybe the goverment should bail out the city and the county. at least the county and city would not spend it on a big party like the CEO. People came to lorain county for jobs now what do we have to offer?
Grace stated he would not take his raise, but instead would donate it to the Friends of Cascade Park. Why not donate it toward safety services?
BRAVO!!! love it. hope mr allen keeps this up...
I don’t really under stand why everyone blames the mayor. I’m not for nor against him. Lets all face it Elyria isn’t the city it was 40 years ago. Why don’t all of you that keep bitching about the mayor go down to wilks villa or south park apt and tell the people that live there to get a job an pay taxes. It’s the cities fault as a whole, not just one person. I also don’t see how putting council members names and home phone numbers on a sign is going to help. It’s going to be a annoying to the persons family and it’s not like they are going to magically find the money now that they have ignorant people calling at all hours. Brian Allen is just craving attention. GET A LIFE.
I would hope that council wakes up and demands cuts in the mayor's office BEFORE ANY safety forces are cut. 2assds and 2 secretaries along with the econ/jobs guy would start the new year off just right!
Yay I finally agree with Bot! =)
Blame the Mayor?
Nope BUT the RESPONSIBILITY rests with him AND Council.
They have spent the City into oblivion. Numerous ASSD's,friends hired like Mr. Brackenhoff,$270,000 on contract negotiations with an outside firm,$136,000.00 on his personal lawyer,sound dampning in East Rec, and so on and so on. If you took that hood off your head maybe you could see where the responsibility really lay.
Just layoff all of the fire dept. and let half the city burn, urban renewal they call it. If you picked up a chunk of East Cleveland and moved it 25 miles west you have Elyria, Oh, but thats right, even East Cleveland isnt's dumb enough to lower their safety forces.
Lorain County firefighter
Congratulations Mr. Allen. Put all the bobbleheads names and numbers up. Recall the mayor and get rid of the dead weight on council. Raise utilities to help fund his I>T> Dept. What a joke. Wake up Elyria! This inept mayor has to go. I love the Christmas lights, but paying overtime to put them up and take them down while laying off safety forces is another joke. To bad we have a newspaper( I use that word very loosely) that doesn't report the news and refuses to say anything negative about The mayor and the bobbleheads is beyond me. Cancel the Chronicle,recall the mayor and clean house of the bobbleheads and political cronies (especially Brackendoof-who is useless) and give Elyria a chance. Lets start 2009 right.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I am an Elyria Firefighter,I have only worked 13 hrs overtime this year.Is this abuse? Some guys like to work,there is no game here.Stop and see the new temp Chief Saddler he will tell you.There are 7-8 guys out on sick leave.I think 4 have turned in papers to get out.If the city has a layoff of 7 or 8 and 5 or 6 guys retire will you be happy then.Take Care All Responders.
Our council people get PAID $14,0000+ a year. Let's break it down for review. They attend 2 council meetings/ month. Have one month off during the summer. Attend committee meetings on opposite weeks. Meetings can last 10 minutes to as long as 4 hours. So let's give them 10 hours a month for meetings and they get paid WELL over $100/hour. I think they should be able to handle a few calls from the voters.
The only one using safety forces is the mayor.
Pitiful excuse for a human let alone a Mayor of a City.
We're like the Browns. We need to fire all of the management and start fresh. Then, we can at least say that we tried.
Well now as I read these post, I find one has a certain style of writing. The one that finishes with (Lorain County Firefighter----Your brothers are OVERTIME abusers plain and simple) what comes to mind when I read it, is Butcher paper signs.
Ken Behner aka dirtdigger
Hahahaha and this clown, Brian Allen cant get a phone number right? How about the guy who got all the calls? How nice was that for him?
That's unfortunate, but at least the guy took the calls. More than can be said for the councilman who stated, he wouldn't return the call he received. Keep his number up there Brian.
Dirtdigger,
Can you explain to me how they abuse OT??
What I see is a dept that doesnt have enough guys to maintain the minimum level of staffing SET BY THE MAYOR. So when enough guys arent there, one gets called in.
Please dont give me that same old BS about them calling off for buddies, because if it were even REMOTELY close to being half true the mayor would have already been all over it and you know it. The mayor HATES these guys and if he could find a way to expose them in this manor he would have years ago. There is absolutely nothing there.
Funny thing about your name, dirtdigger. One would think that you would actually dig the dirt up, but all you do is take rumors and lies from your buddies at city hall and run with it. No facts, no research, and no truth. Maybe you should reconsider your name.
The factman...AKA Bill.
Elyria should hire some paid on call personnel. There's probably 300 people in Elyria that would apply and all you would have to do is pay them something like ten bucks an hour. And most would probably already have the training needed.
Aka Bill
I was making reference to a certain post, as you can see the post is gone. I don’t believe the Fire department abuses the OT. When you are short on man power and then all of a sudden they need more man power because of a Fire then the ones that are called in would be on overtime. Bottom line it isn’t the Fire fighters fault, it’s the Mayors.
Ken Behner dirtdigger
Keep up the pressure Brian! Our city officials need to be held accountable for our safety!!!
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