Stillwater / Mayor rethinks city car policy

what rock did this larry crawl out from under???? 86cents a gallon??? maybe twenty years ago. too funny.

$300 a month for gas doesn't go very far when you live in the same small town as you work? Are you kidding? At $4 an gallon, that buys 75 gallons of gas. At a modest 20 miles per gallon, that will get you 1500 miles per month. My heart bleeds for the poor, poor Stillwater city employees who have to scrape by with $300 a month for gas. You could drive around the perimeter of the entire city 150 times for that.

Also, when you gas up your city vehicle for free, who's to say how the gas is used? We're paying for not only their commuting (which no other employer does), but trips to the mall, grocery store, school, you name it. Nice work if you can get it. Stillwater taxpayers are getting chumped once again by the good old boys who run the town.

sure wrote:

what rock did this larry crawl out from under???? 86cents a gallon??? maybe twenty years ago. too funny.

Gasoline hit a national average of 88.5 cents in February 1999. That's a bit over nine years ago. You should get your memory tested.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mg_rco...

Why is there even a gas or car allowance to commute for these city jobs? Mileage expense should be paid for driving your own car on city business, otherwise that's what your regular paycheck is for. Drive your own car to work and then pick up your city vehicle if you need one for your job. Stillwater Mayor is using common sense, unlike the previous Town Drunk they had over there.

Bjorn has it right, but the decision should be the city council's. Actually, the local units of government should decide and fund all programs and projects, not a larger governmental unit. In a perfect world, the local voters would decide these issues at the polls since they'd be funding them with THEIR tax dollars. A prime example for Stillwater would have been the flood wall the State's taxpayers will fund. The question should be, "whom does this benefit?", not "where do we get the money"?".

I don't think that Stillwater should pay for city council members or supervisors to have their own car. Why should we? We worked hard to earn that money and we should keep it! Not give it away to people who don't know what's best for the city!

The decision should be with the city or county goverment. Having that said, how many times do metro police chief get recalled do to an emergency? If they do, they are one of the last to arrive and the scene is stable. They could easily pick up a car at the police station and go to the scene. All other cops who beat the chief their do this.

I also understand Chief's have to return after hours for meetings with community, etc. This is a better justification.

If your making a take home car a perk of a position. Just say so. Don't claim it is for emergency call back.

Woodbury Fire allows Commanders to take fire cars home. All live in the city. Unfortunately I see one transporting their child to a ball game to another suburb. If an emergency call comes in and the child is in the vehicle, there could be some civil liability issues.

Sophia wrote:

I don't think that Stillwater should pay for city council members or supervisors to have their own car. Why should we? We worked hard to earn that money and we should keep it! Not give it away to people who don't know what's best for the city!

Obviously, Sophia doesn't know what it is like to work for a city - I am not agreeing or disagreeing with the car deal however, if Sophia knows best for a City she should put herself in the place of the officer who responds to domestic or child abuse, the firefighter who without thought for his/her own life fight a fire and save those inside. Sophia should volunteer to pick up the dog crap in the parks from irresponsible dog owners in the City, empty the garbage in the parks, get up at 2 a.m. to help plow snow, or volunteer her time to help the City on commissions who are residents of a City rather than complain about how City employees or officials don't know what's best for a city. The employees just implement the decisions.
P.S. Those City employees work hard and put up with alot of crap from residents who assume (you know what happens when you assume) and who don't bother to become informed or involved!

here in stillwhiter we pay alot in property taxes(unlike some of our workers who live in cheap WI), it is up to us to vote for someone who represents us and brings up questions like these, i see the mayor as protecting us residents and our best interest. in my opinion, i feel that it is necessary for the police chief and fire chief to have their vehicles at home with them for emergency purposes only, if they live in the city in which they serve and protect. all other office holders have unnecessary reasons to take home city vehicles. they can submit mileage reimbursements for any "meeting" travels they need to engage in. and the ANNUAL gas rate average has not been 88 cents a gallon since the late eighties, check your statistics analysis skills!

Logic wrote:

here in stillwhiter we pay alot in property taxes(unlike some of our workers who live in cheap WI), it is up to us to vote for someone who represents us and brings up questions like these, i see the mayor as protecting us residents and our best interest. in my opinion, i feel that it is necessary for the police chief and fire chief to have their vehicles at home with them for emergency purposes only, if they live in the city in which they serve and protect. all other office holders have unnecessary reasons to take home city vehicles. they can submit mileage reimbursements for any "meeting" travels they need to engage in. and the ANNUAL gas rate average has not been 88 cents a gallon since the late eighties, check your statistics analysis skills!

Does anyone know if the car allowance or city vehicle to take home for non-emergency uses is still in the budget for 2010?