Thanks for your kind words. Credit really should go to Streetscape Task Force Member Dan Bergeson, who pursued those repair stands with great vigor. His long-time working relationship with the always excellent T. J. Heinricy (built on banners) certainly contributed to the efficient implementation. Finally, based on my observations, City Administrator Tim Madigan (along with the Council, of course) is developing a new culture down at City Hall, one that gets greater leverage from the ideas and efforts of citizens and which, in my opinion, helped move this project forward more quickly.

I don’t think it is possible to ascertain what his vote against the reorganization plan meant; he would have to explain that position.

I, of course, could be wrong and/or just not remembering… but, given the level of controversy, I think this vote by the firefighters would have occasioned a discussion by the council, of the ramifications of that vote, had it been presented to them.
After all, this is a vote of “no confidence” for a Dept. Head.

The question then remains, would this not have been a serious matter for full Council discussion?

That rating cannot be diminished by a specious, and what I would characterize as a rather defensively ‘positioned’, explanation.

**** Insurance ratings are built on facts and actuarial tables.
Insurance companies can be fierce in their reliance on their actuarial analysis; our department has to be high in performance to have the rating it has earned.

What are the FFs’ issues that have not been heard? They all had a chance to talk individually to Soldo and long before that, several spoke against the reorganization plan to the Council. They’ve been listened to, just not agreed with. They don’t like the change in structure.

My family analogy is not about providing an outlet for listening. It’s about undermining. Sure, rebellious teens and unhappy employees can benefit from having other adults to talk to for airing their grievances.

But structure is hugely important, in families, in the military, and in organizations. If a group of unhappy soldiers want to take their grievances straight to the General, bypassing the Captain, or the Major (forgive my lack of knowledge of rank), it would be hugely undermining with significant negative repercussions.

So it seems to me that it’s wise for Mayor Rossing and the Council to decline the FFs’ request to meet with them. It would be a significant undermining of Taylor’s and Madigan’s authority.

Our fire deparment does not deserve the these attacks that appeart to be motivated by an administration that is empire-building to go along with a Taj-Mahal safety center.

Jane, I’ve heard from several people that they think the motivation to reorganize the Fire Department (going back to recommendations by City Administrators Al Roder and Joel Walinski) is linked to the desire on their part (and now Tim Madigan) and that of the City Council (then and now) to build a new combined Safety Center.

I’ve been on record here on LoGro for quite a while that I don’t support the current plan for a new combined Safety Center. I’d rather see us spend money on a new fire hall, new fire trucks/equipment, and convert the current Safety Center to a Police Station.

But former City Councilor Kris Vohs, a long-time vocal proponent of the combined Safety Center, voted NO on the reorganization plan. If there was some secret council/city agenda or rationale to use the FD reorganization to help sell the combined Safety Center, surely Kris would have voted yes with the others.

I just don’t see a hidden conspiracy on this issue. I think primary motivation to fix the significant FD issues are separate from the motivation to build combined Safety Center.

I could be wrong, of course.

The number of OSHA violations found in other city departments are irrelevant to this discussion, IMHO. The fire department’s issues are being focused on because of structural/organizational/cultural/leadership reasons and that’s no piece of cake to resolve.

Taylor updated his FD road map for his overall budget presentation on Nov. 28. 2011. See p. 28 of the packet.

On October 3, 2011, the firefighters took a vote on Taylor’s road map. The wording on the ballot:

The public safety director Mark Taylor, has presented his “road map” for the fire department. Do you, as a Northfield Volunteer Firefighter, support his “road map” as it is presented?

Here’s a photo copy of the results, handwritten on a ballot. It reads:

10/3/2011

A Departmental voite taken at 21:20 HRS

After much discussion was

26 NO -- 1 ABSTAIN -- 4 ABSENT

Read between the lines of Item #3. It’s telling, methinks:

Any violation of these directives, and any retaliatory conduct directed at any Fire Department employees will result in disciplinary action, up to and including, discharge.

Taylor discussed this memo with KYMN’s Jeff Johnson back on Dec. 7, 2011 when he appeared on Jeff’s show with Mayor Mary Rossing and City Administrator Tim Madigan.

I’ll have more to say on this tomorrow so in the meantime, “Don’t get your panties in a bunch” as my father used to say.

But you know, it doesn’t seem to matter how many times you cite the number of OSHA offenses at the Police dept, or at City Hall, some people just keep ranting on about the problems, or non-existent problems with the Fire dept…

I would just like this question answered: How did we get, and maintain the good rating we enjoy on our fire insurance ???

Thank you, Northfield Firefighters!

If some women want to join the fire department in Northfield, we must be afraid that our fire department MIGHT respond like North Wildwood’s neanderthal (volunteer neanderthal’s) fire department?

If some women want to join Northfield’s fire department, Dave Hvistendahl MIGHT not want to defend the chief against the overreaching power grab by the city administration?

Well, damn, we could have fire emergency on a Sunday night--say for the Super Bowl and the VOLUNTEER firemen might be partying and might not respond appropriately and then maybe somebody will sue somebody.

OOPS. I guess we did have a fire emergency during the Super Bowl and our volunteer fire deparment responded and saved the buiding and all 38 mostly-vulnerable adults were evacuated and saved!

Our fire deparment does not deserve the these attacks that appeart to be motivated by an administration that is empire-building to go along with a Taj-Mahal safety center.

The police department had more OSHA safety violations than the fire deparment--why don’t we consider changing the way that is run?

P.S. I am well known as a proponent of women’s rights, and I find it insulting that there is this speculative assumption that since it currently all male it is somehow a sexist organization. I have known these people for years and they are doing an outstanding job--they do not deserve being pilloried for potentiality.

For the past 15 plus years I have worked successfully with Dave Hvistendahl on a number of issues and projects, so I was dismayed to hear his negative personal comments about me and Mark Taylor on the radio show. I realize the introduction to the show states that the radio program is for entertainment purposes; still, it was an inappropriate way to create a public discussion on a sensitive Northfield issue.

Dave has the right to express himself however he wishes, but I question if this is really the style of civic engagement that the Northfield community expects from community leaders.

I’ve only listened to part of that show but I’m guessing he’s referring to Hvisty’s snide remarks when he disses Taylor because he’s got no fire dept experience on his resume and when he refers to Northfield city administrators as “itinerant professionals” and “wanderers” and “generic professionals, picked off the shelf…”

I don’t blame Madigan. I thought Hvistendahl was way out of line.

Nfld Patch: http://northfield.patch.com/articles/all-residents-accounted-for-following-fire-at-valleyview

Nfld News: http://northfieldnews.com/content/fire-senior-living-facility-residents-evacuated

Strib: http://www.startribune.com/local/south/138755969.html

First, going off of Kiffi’s recent remark (22.1.1), it seems like the FFs have legitimate issues that ought to have been heard.

Second, meeting with them (once) and hearing their concerns does not imply agreement or support. It implies willingness to hear them out and treat their concerns with the respect they haven’t (apparently) received to date.

Third: If, as you say, the workplace environment is frat-like then I’m one of the first to agree that swift change is needed. The mayor and council could certainly say this at the meeting.

Fourth: Your analogy makes me wince a little. In employment disputes, comparing one side to a teenager and the other to a righteous parent seems to prejudge the issue of who has legitimacy.
And, having actually lived out the scenario of having a rebellious teen acting out toward me, the parent, it actually helped a great deal that he had other adults to go to who would hear him out. Not agree with him, not egg him on to act badly, but to hear him out and express their support for him as a person. It didn’t, in fact, make his behavior worse, and it perhaps prevented him from taking some sort of reckless action that would have caused permanent harm.

I do worry that, given the apparently extreme part-time nature of the job, that the FFs could all decide to just walk away--altogether at once. And if that were to happen, we are up a creek as a community. It’s not like there’d be hundreds of out-of-towners coming forward to take a job that pays three grand a year.

Just my 2 cents. Not trying to judge whether the FFs are right or wrong here.