Layoffs approved by Ukiah City Council

The city wants to use the interest on its capital fund to pay an outside firm to do some of the work that is being done by employees that they're going to lay off. Really? How can they say "You're going to see a lot of expertise walking out the door" yet replace those people with some outside firm?

What has happened to the extra tax that the city got to pay for public safety?? By my count there should be less public safety officers when these layoffs are implemented. So...everyone pays more taxes to pay for less public safety?!?! Just another example of how the Ukiah City Council is mismanaging and running our town into the ground.

We can thank Candace Horsley for most of this mess. When that tax increase was approved she went on a spending spree hiring people and equipment that had nothing to do with public safety. Some of our public safety folks that had been there for years suddenly had notations on their checks that they were being paid by Measure S funds. Why? So when confronted the City could show records of Measure S funds going to public safety. When confronted with this fact Horsely pointed out that this is not what the public voted for because it was a general tax increase, even though promised the focus was going to be on public safety. Now Jane Chambers and others have to live with reality. The lies of previous administration have come home to roost.

Gee... seems like a little more retail around here would have helped close that 15% decline in sales tax revenue. Now we're going to see increased taxes, increased water fees, and and an increase in our sewer fees... at a MINIMUM.

Good job MC.

Gotta pay for that shopping center land somehow... Maybe Costco will come after all?

There needs to be an audit on the Measure S revenue. I bet the funds that were supposed to be spent on public safety are being spent to hire employees not involved in public safety.

If you lay-off police and fire personnel, it will be everyman for himself. Go get your CCW now....you're going to need it!

Lay Chambers off, and recall the City Council members who voted for the public safety layoffs. Where did the Measure S money go? I think that the State of California needs to do an audit of the Measure S tax expenditures.

Answer to their problem:
1. Get revenue sharing agreement completed with the County
2. Annex the Masonite Property and lovers lane area
3. Begin talks with DDR who owns the land and has LOI with several major retailers who prefer this site rather than being stuck in the back lot of the airport.
4. Approve the project and get it going ASAP... with the water that is on site. Maybe By Annexing the property, the city may get the water rights.
5. The city gets the RDA money from Mendocino Crossings and can use it to do some great things in the city, including working with downtown to make this a cool little destination spot, get the skate park completed and fix up some blight in town.
6. Costco, Target, TJ MAx, and PetCo all go to the North of town, and Best Buy who wants to come here too can go to the South end of town. Everyone is happy.
The city gets the additional revenue they need
The County shares in the revenue which helps them out
Takes the pressure off the county on deciding on what to do with this site
Takes away the competitive nature between the city and the county
Gets the local shopping that so many people want
Everyone knows that heavy industry is not coming, and it's too close to town. Nobody wants that railroad going through town any longer.
City takes control of the valley, which is what it should have done long ago.
This is a no brainer and is a win/win for everyone.

oh, there may be some people who are not happy...

Dave Smith who hates all retail workers and stores larger than his own.
Janie Sheppard who thinks Monster Malls are the devil
Guinness McFadden who is just delusional anyways
Richard Johnson who will sue everyone anyways - never actually getting a case to court.

who cares what these four people think... the city needs to act responsibly for the future and the well being of it's citizens at large.

Oh, and all those who want the tech industry to come here... it can under this plan. There will be plenty of land left over at the old Masonite site, and the RDA money generated from the retail sales can be used to provide incentives and low interest loans to get tech industry here, with higher paying jobs.

And the cool part... the city gets DDR to pay for all the traffic issues. The city gets to be the hero in this deal and save the day.

If people just think things through and get past their petty little differences, things can all get worked out for everyone.

Start calling your city council member now to get this going.

The Answer wrote:

Answer to their problem:
1. Get revenue sharing agreement completed with the County
2. Annex the Masonite Property and lovers lane area
3. Begin talks with DDR who owns the land and has LOI with several major retailers who prefer this site rather than being stuck in the back lot of the airport.
4. Approve the project and get it going ASAP... with the water that is on site. Maybe By Annexing the property, the city may get the water rights.
5. The city gets the RDA money from Mendocino Crossings and can use it to do some great things in the city, including working with downtown to make this a cool little destination spot, get the skate park completed and fix up some blight in town.
6. Costco, Target, TJ MAx, and PetCo all go to the North of town, and Best Buy who wants to come here too can go to the South end of town. Everyone is happy.
The city gets the additional revenue they need
The County shares in the revenue which helps them out
Takes the pressure off the county on deciding on what to do with this site
Takes away the competitive nature between the city and the county
Gets the local shopping that so many people want
Everyone knows that heavy industry is not coming, and it's too close to town. Nobody wants that railroad going through town any longer.
City takes control of the valley, which is what it should have done long ago.
This is a no brainer and is a win/win for everyone.

Boy! Aren't you the fart smeller, oops I mean the smart fella.

The Answer wrote:

Answer to their problem:
1. Get revenue sharing agreement completed with the County
2. Annex the Masonite Property and lovers lane area
3. Begin talks with DDR who owns the land and has LOI with several major retailers who prefer this site rather than being stuck in the back lot of the airport.
4. Approve the project and get it going ASAP... with the water that is on site. Maybe By Annexing the property, the city may get the water rights.
5. The city gets the RDA money from Mendocino Crossings and can use it to do some great things in the city, including working with downtown to make this a cool little destination spot, get the skate park completed and fix up some blight in town.
6. Costco, Target, TJ MAx, and PetCo all go to the North of town, and Best Buy who wants to come here too can go to the South end of town. Everyone is happy.
The city gets the additional revenue they need
The County shares in the revenue which helps them out
Takes the pressure off the county on deciding on what to do with this site
Takes away the competitive nature between the city and the county
Gets the local shopping that so many people want
Everyone knows that heavy industry is not coming, and it's too close to town. Nobody wants that railroad going through town any longer.
City takes control of the valley, which is what it should have done long ago.
This is a no brainer and is a win/win for everyone.

Whoever you are you should run for Mayor. A perfect solution for everyones problems. Meanwhile our City Council voted to lay-off employees and give Planning Commissioners a stipend for "Travel and Training" Brilliant.

I am a retired out of state cop. After moving here to be close to the grand kids I quickly became amazed at the crime rate here in Ukiah. And they plan to lay off 7 public safety people! I'm shocked.

The Answer wrote:

Answer to their problem:
1. Get revenue sharing agreement completed with the County
2. Annex the Masonite Property and lovers lane area
3. Begin talks with DDR who owns the land and has LOI with several major retailers who prefer this site rather than being stuck in the back lot of the airport.
4. Approve the project and get it going ASAP... with the water that is on site. Maybe By Annexing the property, the city may get the water rights.
5. The city gets the RDA money from Mendocino Crossings and can use it to do some great things in the city, including working with downtown to make this a cool little destination spot, get the skate park completed and fix up some blight in town.
6. Costco, Target, TJ MAx, and PetCo all go to the North of town, and Best Buy who wants to come here too can go to the South end of town. Everyone is happy.
The city gets the additional revenue they need
The County shares in the revenue which helps them out
Takes the pressure off the county on deciding on what to do with this site
Takes away the competitive nature between the city and the county
Gets the local shopping that so many people want
Everyone knows that heavy industry is not coming, and it's too close to town. Nobody wants that railroad going through town any longer.
City takes control of the valley, which is what it should have done long ago.
This is a no brainer and is a win/win for everyone.

This County has a long standing history of being anti-bigbox. Knowing that why would BestBuy, Target, Costco or any other large retial business want to copme to Ukiah?

"I think that if the council is going to vote for the reduction of those 17 employees, that they should state that they are going to take a reduction in their stipend," Ukiah resident Susan Knopf said."

Actually I believe this quote came from Planning Commissioner Linda Sanders. That would be the same woman that stood up later in the meeting and told the Council how important it was the the Planning Commissioners got a stipend. But of course the employees that she was defending earlier in the evening had already gone home to their families.

flat top wrote:

<quoted text>
Boy! Aren't you the fart smeller, oops I mean the smart fella.

Its people like you FLAT TOP that need run ukiah. LETS HAVE MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN CHARGE. LETS TAX THE --- OUT OF THE PEOPLE AND FIRE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE...WHILE WE ARE IT LET'S KEEP DREAMING.

Future Mayor wrote:

<quoted text>
...Meanwhile our City Council voted to lay-off employees and give Planning Commissioners a stipend for "Travel and Training" Brilliant.

The same City Council also passed a resolution condemning measure A. The hits just keep on coming.

KEEP SHOPPING IN SONOMA wrote:

<quoted text>
Its people like you FLAT TOP that need run ukiah. LETS HAVE MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN CHARGE. LETS TAX THE --- OUT OF THE PEOPLE AND FIRE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE...WHILE WE ARE IT LET'S KEEP DREAMING.

My point Bozo is that everybody seems to have an answer to this problem, when in fact it's piss poor planning and preparation that caused this poor performance and now there is no easy fix. Now ain't I a fart smeller?

retired out of state cop wrote:

I am a retired out of state cop. After moving here to be close to the grand kids I quickly became amazed at the crime rate here in Ukiah. And they plan to lay off 7 public safety people! I'm shocked.

Welcome to our Community. Now here's the group mindthink- Police are a necessary evil. If we have too many of them they might get proactive, and we can't have that; I mean, who wants our police to fight crime in our neighborhood when we're all criminals growing pot?

Welcome anyway, the air quality is the best and the scenery is top notch and our coastline makes me weep... ignore the politics and this is the best spot in the world to live.

Future Mayor wrote:

<quoted text>
Whoever you are you should run for Mayor. A perfect solution for everyones problems. Meanwhile our City Council voted to lay-off employees and give Planning Commissioners a stipend for "Travel and Training" Brilliant.

if you plan on being a future mayor, dont hide behind the garbage