The Valley Chronicle - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - August 17, 2017ng

Another city manager bites the dust

Dear Editor, At this point, there must be no doubt in the minds of thinking Hemet residents that our city government is in shambles, very much like the Trump White House. How many more city managers must we the taxpayers hire at an astronomical dollar amount between the hiring and the firing before we say enough already? How many more city managers do we have to train in the matters of Hemet at great expense only to find them leaving to use the knowledge and experience gained here to their benefit, in other municipalities? The obvious question from citizens who find this anomalous situation highly concerning is “what’s going on?” The logical answer, without having to hire outside help for this, after losing at least eight or nine city managers in the last 10 years is that our dysfunctional City Council is responsible. San Jacinto has had two city managers in the same time period. How can anybody with an ounce of common sense possibly assign blame to anything else but this ludicrous City Council? Every council member at the dais is responsible for making Hemet the laughing stock of the county and indeed the entire state. Anyone of them with the slightest bit of self-respect and shame would not want to be identified by the good people of Hemet as a member of this clan of worthless “public servants” and would run while the running is good just like Hill, Raver, Hurst, Meyerhoff, and so many others have done. Either that or get on the ball and fix the internal problems created by the likes of Linda Krupa, Bonnie Wright, et. al. Wally Hill got fired with an exorbitant severance package because he insisted that the city was broke and could not continue to spend nonexistent funds that the City Council was hell bent on squandering away. Well it cost the taxpayers in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. No wonder the city coffers are empty – we’re giving the money away as severance to city managers that disagree with the leaderless City Council looking out only for their self-interest. The honest taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill even for expenses not related in any way shape or form with Hemet such as the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to the city attorney and his Los Angeles firm for legal fees in the Deputy Police Chief Rob Webb shakedown. Talk about third world politics. Ultimately the solution is in the hands of the voting public. The politicians in office have proven that they are undeserving of our confidence and that urgent change is imperative. We the citizens of Hemet need to be more like a board of stockholders in a private company that long ago would have fired these incompetent politicians that have bankrupted the city but keep asking for more tax money to waste away. Sincerely, Gray Wilkins, Hemet

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HPD Chief Dave Brown says we “don’t need him,” so let him retire NOW

Dear Editor, In an interview with Craig Schultz, Hemet Police Chief Dave Brown said, “They really don’t need me anymore,” when referring to his decision to retire from the force before the year ends. Since he admits he is no longer needed, let him retire Sept. 1 and save the city $100,000 in salary before the end of the year, not to mention another small fortune on not paying the unfunded pension on $100,000. If we get rid of the $200,000 salary we shouldn’t be paying Deputy Chief Webb, who cost the city $641,000 for his incompetence, the city will be saving a half million dollars a year just by not replacing two overpaid people. The chief is not needed, the deputy chief is not needed, therefore paying a half million dollars a year for two cops is not needed. The city needs to balance the budget and frankly, a half a million dollars will go a long way to do that. Dave Brown says any one of five people, who currently make $200,000 a year plus, could be chief. Fine, forget the deputy chief, give one of the four lieutenants the title of chief and let him keep his $200,000 a year salary. We don’t need to pay an extra $100,000 a year to give someone the title of “Police Chief.” Sincerely, Bracha Sarah Meyerowitcz, Hemet