Response from Fred Barkes on Bob's Latest Article

Fred Barkes' responses are in blue:

Let's look at a few FACTS; facts that the current Trustee would like to forget.

1. His last three SBOA audits had issues. Some issues were using money from the wrong funds, inability to balance accounts, paying employees' spouses insurance premium refunds without taxing properly, etc....

·         The first two were plain simple mistakes. Every penny was/is accounted for. $230,000 was posted on line g versus line f.

·         The last was for a practice that was started about 1996 (under another trustee) and not brought to my attention until 2006, four audits later. The problem was corrected immediately.

2. Two years ago, he used $230,000 of assistance money to buy a maintenance building on Mapleton St. so he could have the fire trucks serviced and repaired. Something that can be done in the fire stations. He then went to the state asking for more assistance money.

·         This was a simple error and answered in #1.

3. He gave himself a 39.9% wage increase in the seven years he has been in office. During this same 7 years, city employees have receive a 16% wage increase.

·         See previous post on this blog.  Actual raise 22%, 2.8% per year.

4. He gave his wife/office manager a 51.4% wage increase in the same seven years. If she keeps up this pace, she will soon be making more than he does.

·         See previous post on this blog.  Actual raise 24%, 3.1% per year.

5. He had his wife/office manager go to a funeral for a homeless man, that they paid for, and she bragged to everyone there that she was 'only there to make sure the family received what the trustee paid for.' She then went around to the mourners asking why they weren't paying for it.

·         Not true, hearsay, she was there less than 5 minutes and only to pay her respects. She had a 1pm meeting to prepare for. Rather hard to do anything she was accused of. She should not have signed her address as Columbus Township.

 

6. He has a staff in the office that has a couple of caseworkers that interview clients in such a way that many of those clients refuse to enter the building ever again because of the treatment they received. They claim the clients can't be made happy and they are bitter because they were refused service.

·         Don’t forget that if they are able to work, they are told to try to get a job.

7. He has a fire chief that screams and yells at the volunteer staff on a daily basis. The volunteer staff live in fear of being fired or transferred to a different shift or building if they speak up. These are volunteers fearing being fired. This hothead has threatened to beat up candidates that expose these details. He had a tantrum at a budget meeting that I attended and was told to leave the room.

·         The volunteer staff  have several officers and the ECIFD Board they can go to in order to resolve problems. Plus, the volunteers have the right to request a new Chief every year. They picked the Chief and can have him removed as well.

·         Only the membership of ECIFD can remove a volunteer member of the department with a 2/3 vote of the voting membership.

·         Volunteers are not assigned a shift. They only respond when and if they can.

·         In regard to threats to candidates, show me the proof Bob.

·         The chief was told to sit down, not leave the room and after your personal attacks on he and his wife the Board and I feel he showed much restraint.

 

8. He is so involved in the fire department that he applied for a grant to open a third fire station at the fairgrounds. We need the two stations but we don't need a third. Thankfully, his grant application was soundly rejected.

·         ECIFD applied for the grant, not the Township. The stations are the property of ECIFD, not the Township.

·         Previously you stated that we didn’t need two stations, just one. Be sure to tell that fact to the northwest residents of the township.

·         Just for your information, ISO requires that there be a staffed fire station within 5 road miles of a structure.

This trustee seems to do what he wants without anyone questioning it. Now that I have questioned it, he and his buddies call me a liar and try to make me look bad. I have posted FACTS, with evidence and witnesses to back up each claim.

·         The FACTS you post are only half truths, not the whole truth. 

·         The evidence you provide is public knowledge; the rest of your evidence is missing.

·         Where are your witnesses? Are they all as missing as your evidence? All we have is your word and that isn’t very good.

The current trustee will not explain anything. He will only deny and call me a liar.

·         I have answered your questions on a site that will allow me to do so without editing or deletion. But you won’t allow that site to be published on yours.

It's time this guy was gone. We need a Trustee that will go in and do the job as it was intended. And that is to supply the township with the basic needs in emergency situatons.

·         My office does just that but only to those that deserve it as best we can confirm.

We need good fire protection; we don't need to be the biggest fire department in the state.

·         Once again, you show your ignorance. We are not even close to the biggest in the state. You should know the fire service before you throw stones. The same goes for township operations.

We need sufficient building to do our jobs and store equipment we need to store; we don't need a collection of buildings to impress other townships.

·         Once again, you do not know of what you speak. The Township owns two buildings, the office and the maintenance facility. The Township does not own the two fire stations.

Note from Dude:  Bob keeps saying "The current trustee will not explain anything.", which is a lie.  I challenge Bob to post Fred Barkes' response on columbuzz or post the web address to this blog.