Is your car dirty and you do not have time to wash it? Do I have a solution for
you!
Mehlville High School's Pantherette Dance Team is having a car wash this
Saturday, August 9th, 9:00am - 2:00pm at the Office Depot on South Lindbergh.
Donations will be accepted.
Profits from the Car Wash will be used to purchase much needed costumes for the
dance team.
Thank you for your support.
MHS Pantherettes
Also, the MFPD will hold a carwash from 10-4 on Saturday at Telegraph's Advance Auto Parts near JB. The proceeds will go towards the construction of the new fire house.
I think I'll support the kids.
27 comments:
What now they are having a car wash to help pay to build a smaller fire house than they alreadyb have that is too small GREAT!!
I was told that this is not a Fire Department activity they are just going to be there, however the individual that is doing the car wash is going to donate the money to the Fire Department.
There gonna need it if the TD passes. I see bake sales, Barn dances, anything to raise money. Just like the old days!
As long as they can say there the champions of the tax payer they don't care!
There gonna need it if the TD passes. I see bake sales, Barn dances, anything to raise money. Just like the old days!
As long as they can say there the champions of the tax payer they don't care!
I do not care what they do as long as they take the damn tax burden off of me and my family.
Take a look at your tax bill from 2 years ago. Look at the part that says 'fire tax'.
Compare it to your most recent tax bill.
Not that big of a difference is it. Considering the current BOD has RUINED the was once THE best Fire Department in the county!
At one point in they bragged that they were going to save the taxpayer $400.00 a year in taxes. Most people don't even pay that much a year in FIRE tax!
I wonder what kind of community we would have with no "tax burden." I don't think I would want to live there. I would like to keep all of my money as much as the next guy, but if it means improving my community and having good services available I am willing to pay my share. Go visit some other countries and see how bad you have it here.
I totally agree with blogger 8:50 pm. We can't afford to pay the taxes now, its time all political agencies cut back. By the way I came from Washington Missouri where our fire department was all volunteer and we were a insurance class 3 and now they are going to a class 2 and there is a lot less crying then here at Mehlville. What wrong with that picture.
i don't want to see the firemen get one more dime of my tax money. they are ungrateful and arrogant toward the people we elected.
It is you who are ungrateful.
And,when it comes to arrogance, the firefighters combined can't hold a candle to the ginormous ego of BOD chairman Aaron Hilmer. One day it will finally dawn on the voters what they have done to their community by electing this psycho and the two sycophants, Stegman and Ryan, he dominates. It will be too late.
8/12/08 5:07 am
Let’s indeed, for a moment, examine “what’s wrong with that picture”. You suggest all political agencies cut back. OK – on what? The cost of fuel, electricity, water and gas keep going up for the schools and state and local governmental agencies as well as the fire and police services just as it does for the rest of us. They don’t get a break just because they are public entities. In fact, unlike your residential usage, most public entities are charged commercial rates. So, where would you like to begin cutting?
You next mention you came from Washington where the fire service is all volunteer. Washington is a wonderful community that is growing at an amazing rate. They have an excellent fire service that they should (and are) very proud of. How do they make that system work? First of all, the service is not free. The budgets and statistics posted on the city’s website only list information for ten years ending in 2005. But in that period of time, the fire department (which is a combination urban and rural service) had an aggregate budget of about $3 million dollars. Their newest piece of fire apparatus is a ten year old rescue truck probably donated by another department. The newest fire truck is an eleven year old pumper probably donated by another department. I say these trucks are probably donated because you can’t buy a new one on the kind of money the department has expended over that period of time. How can they make this work? Over the same 10 year period, the department had a grand total of 19,422 responses (total calls) and a total of 6,968 alarms (fire calls). These are numbers that someplace like Mehlville would see in 18 months or less.
How do you make this system work? The community accomplishes this by getting volunteers for whom the fire department is a hobby. I’m not saying these people lack diligence or dedication. It’s that fire service is not their career. All of the individuals connected with the fire department in Washington, with the exception of the secretary, janitor and dispatchers, work somewhere else. They are all employed in some other undertaking. The fire department is an important part of their lives but not how they earn a living. They can do that because of the few calls they respond to. Communities typically switch to a paid service and hire employees full time when the number of calls (call load) becomes too taxing for the volunteers to bear. When you hire full-time employees you have certain responsibilities toward them. Some of those responsibilities are spelled out in state and federal statutes. Others are promises between the employer (the fire department and/or the city) and the employees. These promises require money no matter what they are.
Your final assertion is there is crying going on at Mehlville in comparison to Washington. I would tell you that the firefighters in Washington aren’t exposed to the kinds of threats that are aimed at the personnel of Mehlville. I imagine the public would hear from the rank and file if they were routinely called “bullies and thugs” by the city council. I suppose few would care to continue responding to emergencies if they lost pay because of their fire service commitment. I would propose most would think twice about going to the scene of an emergency if the city suddenly decided it didn’t need to fund a decent disability or liability insurance package. And yet, when the folks at Mehlville take steps to try to preserve the pensions they have worked their entire careers for or to maintain a disability policy that would protect them and their families should an on-job injury prevent them from continuing to work in that career (a disability policy, I might point out, that is guaranteed by statute for firefighters in city fire departments but not guaranteed by statute in fire protection districts), they are called ungrateful, arrogant and cry-babies. They haven’t said anything about the additional monies they pay for less health insurance. They haven’t talked about damage done by this board when they played with the disability and pension monies, losing interest and incurring penalties by moving those funds without cause. Whether it can be proved that the board directed these monies to friends and business associates is yet to be seen. It is, however, absolutely mind boggling that anyone would but up with the kind of abuse these firefighters, paramedics, fire/medics, fire inspectors, secretaries and dispatchers put up with. It is wholly a tribute to their dedication to their community and their craft that they remain at all and I think they should be saluted for their perseverance.
AMEN 9:37!
To 5:07- Well Said!
Unfortunatley the BOD still doesn't care about the firefighters. They only care about the $$$$.
Keep your heads up. There are citizens out here that do care and come election time we will be seen!
Maybe a few citizens. Probably more that do not care.
9:37 Well put. According to mehlvillefire.com run log statistics the MFPD from 1/08-5/08 has ran a total of 2694 calls in a 5 months. Thats nearly 6500 predicted for 2008. The MFPD definitely is the busiest district in South STL county and probably run more than the majority of the rest of the county districts. These men and women aren't thugs. How would you react if the pension that you undoubtedly earned throughout your career,the same pension that has been in place since the birth of the professional district pre-1960s, had been completely dismantled by a three person anti tax posse of elected officials who know NOTHING about the service in which they govern. While the majority of the MFPD fleet of trucks and ambulances are from the 1990s; they say the typical life of an fire apparatus is approx 10 years and even less for an ambulance due to a higher mileage from transporting of patients. So not only are they cutting your benefits and dismantling your pension, you get to use nice outdated equipment that rack up even more mileage needing to go to and from the shop so often. Prior the the reign of The triumvirate we know as the BOD, Mehlville was the best department of all St. Louis County where you attracted the best of the best that the county and even the city of St. Louis fireman/paramedics had to offer. And now mehlville has undoubtedly been turned into an extension to the fire academy, where you go to mehlville to learn and then leave for somewhere better. I am not saying anything bad about new people in the field but somethings you do not discount shop for such as heart surgery (the guy right out of medical school for 2/3 the price), fire, and police. I hope that at the polls we, the citizens of the district do what is responsible for us all and elect a BOD who is there who spends money on the department, not phony investigations and lobbyists, but relevant things such as better equipment, facilities, who will fulfill their responsibilities to the employees as well as the citizens. The Current BOD really does not talk anything much about fire protection about 5% of the time while the other 95% is solely on taxes, you would think there would be more of a balance.
Citizen...
I wonder if these people would complain too if there pension would be cut by 50% ?
I wonder what they may think if a prop like TD would pass that would cap the funding to there pension thereby makin no room for improvement?
Would your tune change?
Are you getting a hint of what the fireman are upset about?
Look at the result of any fire district in the Metro area who wanted to raise the pension tax in an election.
Every one was rejected by the voters. I'm sure Hilmer would be more than happy to put such a proposal to the voters.
If the firemen want more in their pensions, maybe they should start paying some of their own money into it and stop expecting the taxpayers to pay the entire bill.
If they don't like the way the district is being run, they should work somewhere else. And don't let the door hit 'em on the way out.
AMEN AMEN AMEN:
um 5:30 they are leaving, rapidly, that's why we have what we have (inexperienced newbys and down many many manpower). The Firemen don't want more in their pensions they want to keep it the way it was. Hilmer decided to move ALL of the funds, without the men knowing, to his buddy with worst interest. When a person was hired 20 to 25 years ago they were guaranteed X amount when they retire. So on that assumption they did not invest for the future. Which they know now that they should have. The Firemen are saying it's ok to take the pension away as long as it's a gradual decline. Don't just one day decide that it's a burden on the public and totally cut the pension. When the ones close to retiremnet are getting their pension cut 40% to 50% I would be upset too. When they tried to work with Hilmer back 2+ years ago to resolve this issue, Hilmer just turned cheek. Now all of a sudden Hilmer wants to work with the guys?? Should of taken that idea 2years ago. Instead he was more worried about his image and making sure everyone knows he's in charge, according to the papers.
It is a different world now a days where you, the individual, need to worry about your own future. These individuals don't have that opportunity.
1:13 I know the Firemen put their own money into part of their pension it's called a 457. Which technically is the tax payers money too sooooo....
And to have Hilmer move the employee portion of the pension is totally childish.
You are wrong it is the right thing to do.
12:34, what do you mean? The employees can't tell you where it's at. Is this another "dangle a carrot in front of the employees" again?
You better grab the carrot before someone else eats it and there is none for you.
Mr. Heins,
You seem to be an advocate of guilt by association. I presume we can apply this principle to your close association with Dennis Skelton?
12:09 I don't understand your analogy. Please be more specific. Thanks
You sure did not support the kids when you were on the school board.
8:39 I'm very proud of my work on behalf of the community over the last 15 or so years. As a board member, you rarely get everyone to agree with your decisions.
If you've got something specific, you'd like me to address, ask away.
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