Part I
It has been quite a while since I have posted, well here goes, one issue I would like to put out there is our CAM, Donald Foster.
This village got one hell of a bargain with him. The first year he volunteered to take it over and because a license is needed, the village paid for his school... not much... about $300 or somewhere close to that... Once licensed he took the job and is being paid LESS than half of his predecessors salary, a lot less. He was paid more than $70k. Donald makes somewhere around $30K.
You can argue about him having less experience until you are blue in the face, you WILL NEVER, EVER find anyone to do what he does for this village for less than $90k a year.
I have personally seen him go out after a storm and unclog drains with a rake.
He rides around on his golf cart and personally makes sure work is being done, if not getting his hands dirty and doing some of it either side by side with his crew or contractors or by himself.
I asked about getting him a very deserved raise at the last Delegate Assembly and was met with comments about 'when he reaches his first year on the job'... but he already has been on the job over a year. He took the position officially after getting licensed, but he has been doing the job much longer.
I made comment that his raise should be in the annual budget, and that was met with a comment that his raise would come out of the Atlantic Broadband doorway fees. Did I hear that right? That is not where an employee's pay should be coming from. His pay should be in the budget. If it not, and I don't believe I am going to say this, but the budget should not go forward until The CAMs salary is included.
He should be paid a competitive salary, or we take the chance of losing him to some other place willing to pay much more. We have the Home Field advantage. He lives here and cares about CVWPB.
Think about it.
Part II
People Walking on the streets. We paid a lot of money to have sidewalks, and while there may be more needed in areas, there is NO EXCUSE for people to be walking on the perimeter roads. Will it take the death of someone to get something done?
If you walk on the roads, you take your life into your own hands. We DO have people on the roads here in the village that should not be driving. Need proof? Just look at the pictures on the CV blog or the paper that show people driving off the roads and hitting trees or other cars. The hardest thing for some people to do is to admit to themselves that they really need to stop driving.
Part III
Stop feeding the animals. Including the alligators! I went out on our patio with family to have a nice outdoor meal. Everything was pretty nice until we realized we are being watched very carefully. Little Wally Gator seemed to be waiting for a handout, that tells me, someone, someone very ignorant has been feeding this gator. After the tragedy in Walt Disney World of a child killed by an alligator, would feed one is a complete mystery. I could only conclude that the person is just ignorant. You have been told before and now again not to feed the wildlife in and around the village, now anyone that continues is no longer ignorant and graduate to the ranks of Stupidity.
Thanks for reading...Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI had tuned you (your blog) out for a while—no posts or comments for weeks on end. I guess a blog needs posts and comments in order to get posts and comments. It's kind of a Catch-22. But now you opine on three matters, so I am commenting!
I agree with you on all your points. The CAM is doing a terrific job. I've thought so for some time and said I thought he should be compensated accordingly for all the reasons you cite. If there are reasons for "going slow" with him, I have not heard them.
I think you are right, too, about feeding the wildlife. You are certainly right about feeding the alligators. Some day . . . . Some day we may be awfully sorry a few unthinking residents actually fed them. Some day there will be the tragedy of "little three–year-old Johnny," which this Village will never forget. As for the ducks, it's a fun thing to do to feed them, and kids thereby learn about animals. At the zoo, visitors are encouraged to feed them, but there they can buy the right kind of food to feed them with. Here we don't have that. If the duck population stayed small, it might be all right—we could probably live with a few poops. But poops are proof of a good food source, and a good food source begets more ducks—which produces more poops—another Catch 22. What I don't know is if the food fed our ducks also attracts alligators. More ducks must attract more alligators, though!
I am glad on your point 2 you acknowledge that some of our streets have no sidewalks. I agree that pedestrians should not be walking on the perimeter road, where there is a sidewalk on at least one side. Are there more residents walking on the perimeter road than there were? If so, I wonder why.
Thanks Lanny, It would not hurt the village or the beauty of it to put in some badly needed sidewalks. Concrete would be far too expensive initially, but using macadam (same as the roads) would be cheaper and could be put in more quickly. Maybe during the summer when the snowbird aren't here and it's not as busy...one can only hope.
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