Feeding the dragon? That sucking sound coming from Ketchum and ITD is from dollars flying to feed tourism-notably the Sun Valley Enterprise in all its forms. Let's get back to human values and respect and have commercial interests pay in proportion to benefits received from highway widening, fire authority consolidation, increased capacity airline impact, and the like. Further, consider the concept of a "taking". How do we compensate or offset loss of quiet enjoyment for residents brought about by more noise, (traffic) , view degradation (higher buildings) , parking deficients (lost of freedom of movement), loss of trees and vegetation ( vehicle exhaust and road salt), as well as extension of individual transit time due to increased vehicle traffic ?
The Blaine County Comprehensive Plan (outdated!) should address this .
A holistic approach is needed. Everything we do has consequences for the Wood River Valley. Since Blaine County and cities cannot seem to effectively coordinate on our behalf , lets establish a Wood River PAC , an Alliance , to give voice to common ground issues such as transportation , water, density, parking spaces per dwelling unit ....Do this as an independent forum and communication platform; one free of local editorial bias. Perry Boyle's initiatives are a good start. Our voices can be a powerful force for good. Silence will get you "what you got" : creeping socialism and a continued inequitable burden on all of us which benefits primarily commercial interests.
Thanks for all of your work in disclosing what is really happening to Ketchum.
As for the recall, consider the damage to be done if the Council is allowed to continue their ways. The more permits approved, even for construction after the election, the more irreversible damage to Ketchum. If a recall for the Troika, not just the Mayor, is launched and a majority of residents support it, then the Council should be put on notice that their actions are not supported by the electorate. Legal action could be initiated to delay execution of their actions until a new Council is put in place. Just a thought.
Bravo. You get what you elect. Presentation by Council members and some staff suggest that dignity and respect for the elected office is absent . These folks , through their deliberations , shape allocation of more than money-they shape our future. It's all about attitude and professionalism . Look at the recent Council meeting members and we see a baseball cap worn backwards, another baseball cap tightly ensconced, casual posture (slouching and bored eyes downcast until asked to comment) and bare -feet in sandals on a staff member. May I suggest elected officials and staff should not come to meetings dressed appropriately for digging weeds in one's yard . Trivial-Heck No! How elected officials present themselves is a measure of attitude towards the electorate and the seriousness of deliberations. Council meetings should not be reflective of a rural Grange meeting in Appalachia ( do they still have those?) We stopped being "quaint" many years ago. It's time to grow up.
I agree with your comments regarding how some of our folks dress and present themselves. I was actually going to comment on this several times during meetings.
The part of the article about fire consolidation is horribly misinformed. There is no discussion of the state of the ambulance district. The ambulance district is having difficulty meeting its budget. The ambulance district commissioners, I believe, would like to have one ambulance provider. Right now they budget approximately $4 million mostly split between two major providers (Ketchum Fire and Wood River Fire and Rescue). What happens to Ketchum Fire's budget if the ambulance district commissioners decide to hire an outside third party ambulance provider. What if they grant the ambulance contract to St. Lukes? Then Ketchum Fire loses about $1.7 million annual contribution to their budget. That reduces the ability of Ketchum Fire to provide full-time staffed station. If they lose that ambulance contract then they will have to raise taxes if Ketchum residents want full-time (24/7) fire fighters. How much would the rate be per $100,000 if that happens? Maybe a lot more than the 20 bucks being asked for in this consolidation.
Consolidation has been a complex process, and it has been fraught with infighting. This article just adds fuel to the fire. To say in bold letters that your taxes will increase with ZERO benefit is just plain wrong. There will be benefits. Those benefits willl take time to materialize. I believe that Hailey will joint a consolidated system, they just move at a slower pace. Maybe Sun Valley will as well (especially if the ambulance district eliminates the contribution the district makes to their Greenhorn station ambulance which is about $500,000 I think.
Perry, you should spend more time on the ambulance district piece before you go around saying there is zero benefit in your subtitle. You have to look at the potential costs of NOT consolidating.
You may well be correct. But that has not been in the Ketchum City Council materials, in the Council meetings, or what has been written about in the IME. How would an average citizen find out what you have shared here?
If you have better information, I would love to get it out to the public. Another guest column?
The budget numbers are in an IME article. Either the Ketchum Fire Chief or the Wood River Chief, or any of the county commissioners could explain the ambulance contract issues. Many cities in Idaho and around the nation use third-party ambulance providers or hospital-based ambulances. There are pros and cons. But in our valley, "Fire-based" ambulance is the best model. The ambulance contract provides funding to the fire departments so they can afford full-time staff who are trained in fire AND EMS. We get the most bang for the buck to have these professionals cross-trained. But in the end, the ambulance district commissioners have to deal with the cost of providing ambulance. If they can get ambulance coverage for say $3 million a year from a third-party provider, then they might do that and the fire departments will have to figure out their own budgets which might include reducing fire service from full-time staff to paid-on-call staff. I don't think that would be a good thing.
Feeding the dragon? That sucking sound coming from Ketchum and ITD is from dollars flying to feed tourism-notably the Sun Valley Enterprise in all its forms. Let's get back to human values and respect and have commercial interests pay in proportion to benefits received from highway widening, fire authority consolidation, increased capacity airline impact, and the like. Further, consider the concept of a "taking". How do we compensate or offset loss of quiet enjoyment for residents brought about by more noise, (traffic) , view degradation (higher buildings) , parking deficients (lost of freedom of movement), loss of trees and vegetation ( vehicle exhaust and road salt), as well as extension of individual transit time due to increased vehicle traffic ?
The Blaine County Comprehensive Plan (outdated!) should address this .
A holistic approach is needed. Everything we do has consequences for the Wood River Valley. Since Blaine County and cities cannot seem to effectively coordinate on our behalf , lets establish a Wood River PAC , an Alliance , to give voice to common ground issues such as transportation , water, density, parking spaces per dwelling unit ....Do this as an independent forum and communication platform; one free of local editorial bias. Perry Boyle's initiatives are a good start. Our voices can be a powerful force for good. Silence will get you "what you got" : creeping socialism and a continued inequitable burden on all of us which benefits primarily commercial interests.
Your choice.
Basically, we control those elected through the voting process. So we brought all of this down on ourselves.
Thanks for all of your work in disclosing what is really happening to Ketchum.
As for the recall, consider the damage to be done if the Council is allowed to continue their ways. The more permits approved, even for construction after the election, the more irreversible damage to Ketchum. If a recall for the Troika, not just the Mayor, is launched and a majority of residents support it, then the Council should be put on notice that their actions are not supported by the electorate. Legal action could be initiated to delay execution of their actions until a new Council is put in place. Just a thought.
Bravo. You get what you elect. Presentation by Council members and some staff suggest that dignity and respect for the elected office is absent . These folks , through their deliberations , shape allocation of more than money-they shape our future. It's all about attitude and professionalism . Look at the recent Council meeting members and we see a baseball cap worn backwards, another baseball cap tightly ensconced, casual posture (slouching and bored eyes downcast until asked to comment) and bare -feet in sandals on a staff member. May I suggest elected officials and staff should not come to meetings dressed appropriately for digging weeds in one's yard . Trivial-Heck No! How elected officials present themselves is a measure of attitude towards the electorate and the seriousness of deliberations. Council meetings should not be reflective of a rural Grange meeting in Appalachia ( do they still have those?) We stopped being "quaint" many years ago. It's time to grow up.
I agree with your comments regarding how some of our folks dress and present themselves. I was actually going to comment on this several times during meetings.
The part of the article about fire consolidation is horribly misinformed. There is no discussion of the state of the ambulance district. The ambulance district is having difficulty meeting its budget. The ambulance district commissioners, I believe, would like to have one ambulance provider. Right now they budget approximately $4 million mostly split between two major providers (Ketchum Fire and Wood River Fire and Rescue). What happens to Ketchum Fire's budget if the ambulance district commissioners decide to hire an outside third party ambulance provider. What if they grant the ambulance contract to St. Lukes? Then Ketchum Fire loses about $1.7 million annual contribution to their budget. That reduces the ability of Ketchum Fire to provide full-time staffed station. If they lose that ambulance contract then they will have to raise taxes if Ketchum residents want full-time (24/7) fire fighters. How much would the rate be per $100,000 if that happens? Maybe a lot more than the 20 bucks being asked for in this consolidation.
Consolidation has been a complex process, and it has been fraught with infighting. This article just adds fuel to the fire. To say in bold letters that your taxes will increase with ZERO benefit is just plain wrong. There will be benefits. Those benefits willl take time to materialize. I believe that Hailey will joint a consolidated system, they just move at a slower pace. Maybe Sun Valley will as well (especially if the ambulance district eliminates the contribution the district makes to their Greenhorn station ambulance which is about $500,000 I think.
Perry, you should spend more time on the ambulance district piece before you go around saying there is zero benefit in your subtitle. You have to look at the potential costs of NOT consolidating.
You may well be correct. But that has not been in the Ketchum City Council materials, in the Council meetings, or what has been written about in the IME. How would an average citizen find out what you have shared here?
If you have better information, I would love to get it out to the public. Another guest column?
The budget numbers are in an IME article. Either the Ketchum Fire Chief or the Wood River Chief, or any of the county commissioners could explain the ambulance contract issues. Many cities in Idaho and around the nation use third-party ambulance providers or hospital-based ambulances. There are pros and cons. But in our valley, "Fire-based" ambulance is the best model. The ambulance contract provides funding to the fire departments so they can afford full-time staff who are trained in fire AND EMS. We get the most bang for the buck to have these professionals cross-trained. But in the end, the ambulance district commissioners have to deal with the cost of providing ambulance. If they can get ambulance coverage for say $3 million a year from a third-party provider, then they might do that and the fire departments will have to figure out their own budgets which might include reducing fire service from full-time staff to paid-on-call staff. I don't think that would be a good thing.
Or, if residents want full-time fire fighters they have to cough up the additional cost that the ambulance contract previously provided.
Maybe a joint guest post from the two fire chiefs would be the best.
Excellent suggestion.
Gift is a noun, given is the verb. Just because the Times does it, doesn’t make it right.