TOF’s Budget is historically approved October 1, each year. This Budget Workshop Meeting was the last one that remained before the MUST DO 2017-2018 budget formalization of October 2, 2017. How can we NOT HAVE concrete numbers? How can numbers be just floating out there? How can we not know what town employees actual job duties are? And how efficiently these duties are being performed? RIF’S have been used extensively in the public sector to efficiently scale back costs in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.
Please listen via You-Tube at link below:
These actions are , as of this moment, being taken at a state level. They have imposed budget cuts and RIFs in about thirteen agencies or more.
The committees meet and discussion is ongoing , concerning budgets and cuts they have to make in different departments throughout the State. Anyone can watch, listen and learn, on PBS, live. So to suggest some budget cuts in Fromberg is small potatoes compared to the State cuts.
As costs will inevitably rise, due to natural disasters in the US recently, budget cuts will be a big issue. We may have to do it sooner than we thought.
I know the town employees are fighting against any idea of cuts in any way and have joined together to defeat me in anyway from becoming Mayor.
One employee was told, by a town employee, “Don’t vote for her she will fire you”…. this is not only a violation of the ethics code, but untrue. There has been so many untruths going around. If the employees WERE truthful, they would tell you, if I have a question or a problem about anything, I go straight to them and talk to the THEM.. So.. there have been talks with the public works guys, with the law enforcement officer and with the town clerk.
Any information or questions should be answered truthfully and straight forward. The stock answer of “you have to ask the Mayor” is getting pretty old. All the employees should know and be proficient in their jobs and should be able to answer questions from the council, if they don’t, maybe they should try to find a job they are better suited for. The blame does not fall directly on the employees, it belongs to the council, the Mayor and the community. We should all be held responsible for the ineptness of the city business’ administration or lack thereof. The Mayor takes direction from the council.. and for the most part, the council (at least two) have been compliant of everything the Mayor is agreeable to. There have been many , many objections and questions and none being looked at seriously. We are a small community and there is no reason for town government not to be open about anything. Last week I went to the office to get copies of some documents, They were not in the town office, where they should have been filed, but at the residence of the Mayor. Again, a blatant violation of ethics. ALL documents having to do with towns business are to be kept in the town office. The only records that are not public information, are the employees personal files and some of the ongoing law enforcement documents
concerning open investigations. These things need to change for the better.