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Support your Timberlake fire officials

by Susan Wachter
| September 11, 2010 9:00 PM

Per Maxwell Austin van Lack's column posted on Sept. 7; you already had your turn by signing the recall petition of false allegations printed in the Cd'A Press' Thursday, Sept. 2, article.

The petition stated that Rudebaugh and Fish "Violated open meeting laws." Over 400 people signed the petition believing this to be true. In the Sept. 2, article they found out they had signed a false petition as the Prosecuting Attorney found that Rudebaugh and Fish DID NOT violate any open meeting laws. The petition has been filed and people whom signed the petition under false pretences cannot remove their names as they have tried since they have learned they were lied to by fellow citizens and yes even one of the commissioners lied as well to gather signatures.

Was Maxwell Austin van Lack at the same meeting I attended? It was Kirk Quillin who made the statement at his last meeting as Timberlake Fire Department commissioner regarding his plan "not to be sabotaged," because he had been working alone on the idea of merging with Northern Lakes for some time as an answer to stay within the budget.

In which I will state again, he had and did say that he had been working on the idea for quite some time alone until the news of the former Fire Chief Krill removing most of the fire equipment from service. Commissioner Quillin's next meeting was at least 300 people strong with their concerns, stories, one right after the other of people scared, angry, and upset they are losing their businesses, laid off, fixed income and now a raise in taxes? Mr. Quillin knowing he was going to leave worked hard to find a way to stay within the budget for those in our district who are not as wealthy as those in the Bayview community who a lot of which live in float houses and only pay around $300 a year in taxes and only about $30 of that going to Timberlake Fire Department.

Jack Krill a former Bayview resident, Commissioner Rudebaugh and Commissioner Fish did not agree on how to spend the district's funds. The outcry for termination of Jack Krill came from many of us citizens who were upset by Jack's grandstanding tactics leaving no equipment available for fire fighting. In the meeting Aug. 25, Chief Marcus was asked what would have happened if he had done what Krill had done, his response was "I would have been fired." If you want to talk about the use of "Scare Tactics," removing the fire equipment was it! Chief Marcus also reported that several of the pieces of equipment had small issues and repairs had been made and put back into service.

I would like to address the statement that Rudebaugh and Fish were elected through "scare tactics" as stated by Maxwell Austin van Lack. Rudebaugh stated he only spoke with Larry Spencer to let him know he did not want nor did he appreciate his help and he did not agree with what he was doing.

The people that Rudebaugh and Fish opposed in the election were Phyllis Page, who is the wife of a firefighter who was fired from the department, and Monty Aarestad, who was also fired from the fire department the same time as Page a few years ago as reported in the Cd'A Press.

Those above mentioned two who ran against Rudebaugh and Fish support higher taxes for our community.

I am only speaking for myself, I voted for Rudebaugh in the election. I have worked on and off with him with various functions for the past six years in which Rudebaugh has donated his time, efforts and always willing to help in any community event and never expecting anything in return.

I am also the person who asked Chuck Hansen to consider filling Chris Weise's position after he quit his position as being a commissioner as he has attended most of the meetings as I have as well.

The only connection between Commissioner Rudebaugh and Chuck Hansen is that they both care about the community. The only time they ever had contact with one another was at Fire District meetings the same amount of contact Chuck Hansen had with all of the other commissioners.

I would also like to address the resignation of Chris Weise. He put in a written letter of resignation in which is against the law to rescind. He along with all the others in his area could have applied again in which he chose not to.

There are so many people who question the way the board is headed. If you look at the numbers, it tells the whole story - Fire Chief Salary $71,200. Fire Chief Payroll burden $9,910. Fire Chief Benefits $11,503. Administrative Assistant (Penny is now working for Northern Lakes Fire District) salary $37,700. Administrative Assistant Payroll burden $4,016. Administrative Assistant benefits $12,823. Part-time training officer $14,000. Part-time Tech Advisor $4,500. Conferences etc. $3,400. Total $169,052.

Now all the above mentioned expenses are provided by Northern Lakes and the Contract is $90,000 and the savings to Timberlake Fire District total $79,052 to be used to upgrade our equipment and keep our firefighters safe.

Please just do the math and let's move ahead to make this plan work without burdening our people in the community who have less with higher taxes. I would like to say to all the people who came to meetings begging the commissioners to do their job - please come to the meetings and support the people you elected! Or it all could change.

Susan Wachter is an Athol resident.