The Dani Files

Phew LOL……

Ever seen Road House? This is basically what this town has been reduced to…. our City Administrator is the villain in all of this.

I must admit that things here in this small town of 3762 folks give or take - is shaking up. We have a City Council which half of them had decided to allow us citizens and its fellow police officers to be walking gravestones after they decided to do away with the police departments’ dispatcher. The City Administrator had conveyed it would save the city and us $72K a year.

However, I assure you this had resulted in a lot of pissed off citizens. What’s even more interesting, They never outfitted the Police Department with any direct means or methods for any hearing impaired person to use. That’s really upsetting for the hearing impaired community…. how do I know? Because I happen to be one.

I had attended last nights City Council meeting and had encourage the local residents to come via flyers, news article in the local paper and so on. It was a very nice turn out. Instead of moving the meeting to a bigger venue like to accommodate the masses, they chose to stay at their beloved location which was small and cramped.

With no dispatcher in place our fellow patrol men’s lives are at stake every time they put on a uniform and patrol the city. It angers me knowing that they do not value the life of these fellow upstanding police officers. Due to the recent fiasco, three police officers resigned from the police department and honestly – I DO NOT BLAME THEM! Why would any police officer want to work in unsafe conditions – no dispatcher to help them and stuff.

Currently if local residents call into the police department at this time, they are instructed to leave their name, address, phone number and nature of the call and an officer will be out with you in an hour or so.

The Citizens safety has been reduced to whether their calls get answered or not by leaving a message on an answering machine. The officers have a cell phone which 911 emergency services calls them ONCE to inform them of the emergency, etc.

I spoke LOUDLY at last nights’ city council meeting and was told by the City Administrator that the fact that the police department does not have any means or measures for a hearing impaired person to call them directly - “Is a concern and should be looked into” – That’s it…….

So this is what I call my “speech” – I worked hard on it and had to revise it after a few new pertinent information had came fourth. Just so readers know Dennis Luck was our former chief of police. He was an extraordinary man who pulled no punches to get what his fellow police officers needed. He died a few years ago. He is sorely missed. Our current Chief of Police Detmer… has turned into a “yes” man since the City Administrator - John Sweet is known for intimidating his employees, etc. Chief Detmer has no cajones…. none.

I am here as a concerned citizen to touch base on a few hot topics, first I want to encourage the city council to begin negotiations with Rice County for dispatch only to field emergency calls and LPD to have its own dispatch to field non-emergency calls effectively immediately.

To save the tax payers $72,000 a year but yet the surplus of City of Lyons funds from canceling the dispatch fees ($42K saved up from 2009), overspent the $42K by $18K on immediate demands which brings a total to a little over 60K then the administrator decided to put a hold on Capital improvement expenses until 2010? Where is the $72,000 that you supposedly said us citizens would save?

Let me ask you this: can an answering machine protect your fellow Police Officers if they needed additional help while making a routine traffic stop which could turn disastrous or worse…. deadly? Can a hearing impaired person who needs to have direct contact with anyone at the LPD utilizing their tty or tdd or other methods of preferred communication by the hearing impaired community to use? Why as Lyons never outfitted LPD with such measures for hearing impaired citizens to contact LPD directly? I have lived here from 1998 till 2001 and then relocated back Lyons in 2008 till now and to my knowledge and other police officers knowledge there has never been one provided!

WE pay from our tax dollars to ensure we live in a safe community. The ones who voted no on the renewal dispatch issue have taken away our security blanket and assumed that an answering machine would suffice if anything were to go wrong. Did those council members who voted no:

Ever stop to do some heavy research on what needs to be in place besides an answering machine and/or a cell phone before the dispatch services were terminated? Did you get feedback from how the citizens of Lyons would feel about this? Did you research how this would impact your fellow Lyons Police Department? Honestly at this point, I know Dennis Luck pretty pissed off so to speak if he knew this was going down. Dennis Luck would have done everything humanly possible to ensure we had NEVER arrived to this point. But yet here we are… at this point.

Before you say, there is not enough funding for what you are asking for……

I want to explain some simple math to you….

On the City of Lyons Bill you charge everyone who is a City of Lyons bill payer $2.00 to go towards the pool fee. I hate to say this but this does not make any logical sense because economically you would get far more money in pool passes, one time entry fees, seasonal passes, etc…..

Here’s a copy for each of you (hand them out):

There are tons of other ways to gain funding for the dispatch services, if you did some researching and talking among citizens, I am sure some of them would have given you some really good solutions to your funding problem for the dispatcher since you’ve already spent 42K of it.

Again I personally would like to see the dispatcher services reinstated because my heart breaks for anything disastrous which could occur if one’s life – whether it be citizens or your fellow police officer or fire fighter depends on an answering machine.

I don’t blame Luck, Tudor and Johnston for quitting, they had every right to as they felt their lives were at stake once the dispatch services was terminated and DENNIS LUCK would have NOT allowed this. Now you have to spend MORE money to replace those fine upstanding officers who quit. That’s really disappointing.

In conclusion, For those who voted Yes to keep the dispatch service, I applaud you, major kudos to you guys and thank you guys for at least voting yes – the rest of you I am disappointed in and would never cast my vote your way in upcoming elections. I strongly urge you council members revisit the dispatch issues and find a viable solution which would better suit the citizens of Lyons and its fellow LPD/LFD employees.

Now the real work begins, we have to be persistent and ensure that our community is safe once again.

I am just posting here to let you guys know I am still alive and breathin’.

I have come to the conclusion that I am just stressing myself out over stuff I cannot control. (IE: Child support, etc) So instead I engage my energies into stuff that I CAN control.

With that said, Hope everyone is having a fabulous Monday…….

Toodles!

xoxo - ME!