A story in another newspaper about the police lieutenant that was fired from his job over the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong is upsetting to me as a taxpayer.  It seems to me that everyone is blaming the Lieutenant, when in fact, the one to blame is Mr. Brempong.  Mr. Brempong was ordered to put down the steel table leg and failed to do so.  He could have complied and I’m sure no force would have been used.  I know that it’s big business educating foreign students, but they must comply with our laws and obey our officials. Charges should have been pursued against Mr. Brempong.  To not hold him accountable is to open the door for a lawsuit that the taxpayers will have to pay.

The police chief said in justifying her firing of Lt. Stacy Ettel that his was not the squad that should have handled the disturbance.  Was the Lieutenant and his squad dispatched there?  When a person has to make decisions in a crisis all the information is not always available until later.  The State Attorney’s office did not pursue charges against any of the other officers, finding they were legally justified in their use of force.

What a joy it must be to work for Police Chief Stump.  Whatever happened to supporting your officers?  If I were an officer under her, I would be looking for somewhere to go, before I had to make a controversial decision.  Shame on you, Chief!

The union says the Lieutenant was used as a sacrificial lamb.  I believe this is true, and I call on all citizens to stand up for our officers, and support them.  Lieutenant Ettel should appeal this and fight it to the bitter end.

Bobby A. Simmons

High Springs, Fla.

I would like to thank Mayor Coerper for his response to my recent letter published in the Alachua County Today.  I believe it is important to discuss these issues as a community, and having a commissioner who is willing to participate is essential to understanding the philosophy and judgment of those we elect.

I agree that Alachua has been a forward looking city. The City’s investment in infrastructure and business friendly atmosphere have helped us grow and prosper. In fact, it is not accurate to say that I ever have been against the City investing in infrastructure. I have been on the Downtown Redevelopment Board whose function is exactly that. I have also supported the new waste water treatment plant; I have defended the new city complex; and I didn’t say I was against the new Santa Fe campus here. 

So, what is the difference then? The difference is overspending. When the State comes in and looks over our shoulder, that’s a sign.  When we take money from reserved funds to pay our bills, that’s a sign.  When we spend a million dollars more than budgeted on a new city hall, that’s a sign. I’ll let pass, for this discussion, that a new city hall really isn’t an investment, but really an expense.  Many times politicians use the word investment, when it’s really just an expense, because it sounds better. When you get in the shape we’re in now, it’s hard to explain it as investment. Responsible people don’t “invest” their way into financial trouble.

Let me repeat what I have said before. I believe this new commission and administration is on the right track. I just want us to learn from past mistakes. I want a recognition that the trouble is not under taxing but overspending. I want us to recognize we got carried away, and I want an acknowledgment from our elected officials that the money they spend is not theirs. It belongs to the taxpayers, and that makes it essential that elected officials spend it wisely.

As far as my complaints being only about the last few years “during the worst economy since the Great Depression.” I need to remind you that this spending took place while revenues were increasing.  And just to be clear it was the “same devastating news” but we were one of only eight Florida cities to fall into this category.  With over 400 cities in Florida, we are one of the two percent to be looked at by the state.

To the point that I was able to make a good living and build my “dream house high on the hill because ‘The Good Life Community’ succeeded,” I invested my own money; I took all the risk myself, and I lived very frugally and still do. In fact, I think I could argue the opposite happened. “The Good Life Community” became that because I and others rebuilt it.  I started a successful business, rebuilt dilapidated buildings for new business, cleaned up neighborhoods, and built new homes. All of this added to the tax base that then goes into making the City successful. I and other taxpayers make this “The Good Life Community.” It is my money, the taxpayers’ money, that the City uses to “invest” and I would like for it to be done responsibly.

Duane Helle

Alachua, Fla.

National Night Out was celebrated in the City of Alachua on Tuesday, August 3, at Criswell Park, at the same time as many other neighborhoods and cities celebrated across the nation.  It takes a community to unite in order for an event like this happen, and that is exactly what happened Tuesday night in Alachua, when we gave crime a “Going Away Party.” 

Shortly after 5 p.m., police officers, city officials, residents and children gathered under the shade at the park to share food, laughter and each others' company.  Balloons and silly bands were a popular item for the children, and the adults enjoyed hearing the sounds of the children playing, which is exactly what should be going on in a city park.

Sometimes, unfortunately, the sounds of children at play are replaced by criminal activity.  We set out last night to let those involved in the criminal activity know that we don’t want them in our neighborhoods, in our parks or on our streets. 

I would like to thank Horace and Shelisia Jenkins for working with the Alachua Police Department in planning this event.  I would like to thank The Christ Central Ministries for their support and dedication to making the Community better.  A special thanks to Alachua Police Department and Bob’s Citgo for the donation of the food, and Michael “Catfish” Washington and his staff at the Recreation Department for helping with the set-up and clean-up of the event. 

Thank you for all who attended:  residents; Mayor Gib Coerper; Vice Mayor Gary Hardacre; commissioners Orien Hill, Ben Boukari, Jr. and Robert Wilford; former City of Alachua mayor Jean Calderwood; City Manager Traci Cain; City of Alachua officials and staff; Chief Joel DeCoursey; Lieutenant Patrick Barcia; the Police Explorers and the children of the community.  

We must work together to keep Alachua safe for our children and the generations to follow. 

Detective Carrie B Lund

Crime Prevention Officer

Alachua Police Department

In response to the Alachua County Today article on Amendment 4 that ran last week, I’d like to explain why I support the measure. Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 will give taxpayers the right to vote on changes to already existing comprehensive land use plans. These are plans that have been determined years ago to guide the growth of our communities in a planned and thoughtful way to protect us from land speculators that make a profit on quick developments and increased sprawl.

The opposition will continue to use scare tactics to convince voters that they will be confused and burdened with hundreds of technicalities on their next ballot. That’s just not the case. The opposition is a campaign of politicians and big real estate executives that benefit from the easy passage of new projects- yet we’re the ones left to pay the price.

I’m voting yes on Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot because I want a seat at the table – a chance to vote on how my home and my town are affected by growth. As a taxpayer, I deserve it.

For more information, you can visit www.floridahometowndemocracy.com.

Kathy Marsh

Gainesville, Fla.

The City of Alachua, for the 36 years I’ve lived here, has invested in its future.

In the mid-1970s, a new wastewater and water system was put in.  The cry from some was “you’re overspending.” While Alachua was moving forward, other cities balked at that decision and it shows we made the right decision.

In the mid-1980s, Alachua made the decision to change the look of Main Street from an unattractive boarded up near dead center of town and activity to the vibrant beautiful downtown we’re all proud of today. But the cry from some was “you’re overspending.”

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the start of a job center that has created a thousand-plus jobs, a change in ownership and direction of the Progress Park, today is known as the Sid Martin Center, and is receiving world-class recognition.

Santa Fe College is a jewel to our community affording our citizens an opportunity for higher education.

We have a nationally recognized recreation center with volunteers second to none.

All of this would probably not have happened if the city leaders had decided not to invest in Alachua’s future; it’s been proven time and time again that businesses are more attracted to a city that showed a willingness to invest in its infrastructure.

Mr. Helle’s letter to the editor last week in the Alachua County Today deals only with the last two or three years, and fails to mention that not only Alachua, but the every state and community in America has faced the same devastating news, “we’re in the worst economy since the Great Depression.” Alachua survived the 1930’s and it will survive this, only to become better.

I did not see a letter from Mr. Helle lamenting the lower taxes. Mr. Helle has been a successful businessman here since about 1987, right after Alachua decided to invest in itself and change Main Street.  The nature of his business depended on the success of “The Good Life Community,” it allowed him to make a good living and profits and also build his dream house high on the hill.

Without Alachua investing in itself, I doubt if those dreams would have come true.

As a longtime resident, and someone that has been involved in a positive way for many years, and now as mayor, I will continue to encourage investment in our “Good Life Community.”

Time to Focus on the Future,

Gib Coerper, Mayor, City of Alachua

In response to the article, “Alachua and High Springs eye joint fire services,” in the July 22 edition the Alachua County Today, I would like to give my reasons for proposing that the City of Alachua look into starting our own fire department.

As stated in the article, the City of Alachua has been paying Alachua County over $669,000 for our fire service contract and I do not think that will change if we continue with the County.  I think the $475,000 amount was just to get us to buy into the County fire assessment plan.  It probably costs more than that. 

The City of Alachua owns the property and fire station that the County uses to supply us our contracted fire service.  As anyone can see, we wouldn’t have to start from scratch if we started our own fire department.   As Fire Chief Riggall of High Springs has said he estimates that it would cost around $250,000 for a fire engine and approximately $450,000 a year for nine full-time firefighters.  We could also consider using volunteers to help fight fires to lower the cost.  As can also be seen, the cost would be about the same as we are now paying the County for our fire service.  We might even be able to get a grant to help us pay for the fire engine.  We use the City of High Springs fire department for backup and could work with them to help each other fight fires.  We need to continue to look for ways to save the citizens money in these bad economic times.

I do not feel it is in the best interest of the City of Alachua to have to depend on the County to supply this fire service.  The County Commission, in most cases, is elected by the citizens of Gainesville.  A perfect example is that Alachua has its own police department.  If you have a problem or concern about our police department you can always go to your City Commissioners who were elected by the citizens of Alachua.  This is true home rule. 

It is my opinion that having our own fire department in the City of Alachua would better serve our citizens.

Gary Hardacre

Vice-Mayor, City of Alachua

I appreciate Commissioner Boukari’s explanation of our current financial plight in last week’s paper. He explained without blame and put the best light on it. I, however, have a different take on this.

He says we spent an additional $935,000 to build out the municipal complex which saved us money in the long run. I would say that instead of staying within the budget, that was the amount of the loan, we over spent by a million dollars. Staying within the budget would be the responsible use of the taxpayers’ money, over spending by a million dollars is not.

A million dollar gift is a lot of money for a town our size. Is the college a good thing to have here? Yes. Has it supplied any jobs here, yet? No. Would it have located here, the most logical place for it, with a little less largess from the city? I can’t believe that the college would have wanted the city to get in this much financial trouble.

The other issue is that these are just the big ticket items. There was also a flurry of new jobs created, salaries raised, trucks, cars, equipment bought. In other words, we went on a spending spree.

I think there is a very clear lesson here. The problem is I am not sure it has sunk in with the commission. As quoted in The Observer, Mayor Coerper thinks that the problem was we lowered taxes too quickly. I like the mayor. I voted for him. But this is not the problem, and not the lesson to be learned. Let’s be clear. At the time we cleared out the city’s savings account and moved money from restricted accounts to pay our utility bill, revenue to the city had increased 250 percent.  That should be a perfect time to lower taxes.

If, instead of freely spending, we had stayed within budget on the city complex, we would not be in this trouble. If we had not been quite so generous with Santa Fe College. If we had been more responsible by half on these two things it would have made up the million dollars.

Here is the lesson that should be learned, when times are good put money back because harder times are going to come. Isn’t there even a child’s fairy tale about this? This is simple stuff, yet what we hear is "We lowered taxes too fast.”

Now that’s a scary fairy tale.

Duane Hell

Alachua, Fla.

Guest Column by Ben Boukri, Jr, Alachua City Commissioner

 In recent weeks the City of Alachua’s financial situation has been covered widely in the media.  I think it is important for our residents to know, from one of their own, exactly where we stand.

On June 14, 2010, the audit for fiscal year 2008-2009 was presented at a regularly scheduled commission meeting.  The audit revealed that the City of Alachua’s financial situation had declined and the City met one condition out of a possible five of Florida State Statute 218.503(1).

Immediately, a workshop followed by a special commission meeting was called by the City Commission to address the city’s financial issues.  On June 23 those meetings were held and the Alachua City Commission implemented a 12 month hiring freeze effective immediately as well as directing staff to bring a detailed financial report to the City Commission on a monthly basis. 

On June 30, I sat down with City Manager Traci Cain to find out how the City of Alachua reached its current financial situation.

The City of Alachua has been a proactive community for many years and over the past several years has made a number of investments to improve the quality of life of its residents.  In 2006, the City donated $1 million to help bring a Santa Fe College campus specializing in emerging technologies to Alachua, increasing educational and employment opportunities locally. 

The City also expended $195,000 on renovations to the Cleather Hathcock, Sr. Community Center, bringing a much needed facility for our seniors. 

Another $935,000 was spent to complete the build-out of the City’s municipal complex.  This expense was not covered in the loan for the complex, but implementing the build-out concurrent with construction of the complex was estimated to bring substantial savings over the long term. 

The City has also experienced a number of lawsuits which increased legal expenses beyond budgeted levels.

These are some of the major costs that impacted the city’s operating account, leaving a shortfall to cover a $1.2 million utility bill as well as other expenses which were paid by transferring funds out of Alachua’s SBA (State Board of Administration) account.  Further, the City could not have foreseen the downgrading of its bond insurance policy company, which occurred late 2008, requiring the City to maintain additional money in unrestricted funds in the SBA.  This fund is essentially the City’s savings account.  By using these funds from this account to assist in covering operating and other expenses, the City is now in a position where we must replenish this account.  

So where is the City of Alachua today? 

Through a combination of decreased spending and revenue generation, the City is well on its way to an improved financial future. The City is paying its bills on time and is in better financial condition now than represented by the 2008-2009 audit.  Staff is developing an aggressive but achievable plan to replenish the SBA account.  City Manager Cain has reduced $1.2 million in budgeted expenses for fiscal year 2009-2010.  The City of Alachua currently has two properties for sale that are anticipated to net the City $1 million.  This revenue will aid in replenishing the City’s accounts as well.  The City may be able to transfer funds at the end of this current fiscal year to the SBA account.  Additionally for the record, the City of Alachua is current on all debt payments and obligations.   

I ran a campaign on fiscal responsibility and I am confident in saying Alachua is headed in the right direction.  It is now time, and has been for quite a while, for government at all levels to look for ways to reduce spending.  I will be doing my part in Alachua.