Hope all you hep cats out there in West Volusia are having a great weekend!***
There must be a new college of veterinary medicine in West Volusia. We seem to have a glut of people wandering around asking "vetting" questions.
Old cats don't like being poked and prodded by vets. I'm glad I'm not running for office!
Here's the latest:
Lake Helen Police Chief Keith Chester sent out a long list of vetting questions, in the same spirit as the Tea Party Patriot's massive missive.
Chester sent the questions from his personal e-mail, not his city e-mail. There's a little fine line in there somewhere – where does the heft (no pun intended) of the police chief leave off and the private citizen begin?
It's a free country. So anybody can ask anybody questions.
Chester sent his list of question to a select clientele:
County Council candidates Eddie Colosimo, Margie Patchett, Joyce Cusack, Mary Martin, Andy Kelly, Dwight Lewis, Alison Curtiss, Joie Alexander and Ellen Darden.
I dunno why some candidates in the same race got the questionnaire and others didn't. Maybe Chester has already examined them.
Coming from someone who's a police chief, I find a handful of these are quite interesting questions (the spelling is his, not mine). Is he worried about being absorbed into the Sheriff's Office and losing the Lake Helen Police Department?
Do you feel the Sheriff’s Department is to costly? If so what changes would you make?
Do you feel the Department of Fire Services is to costly? If so what changes would you make?
What are your feelings about EVAC and our current emergency medical care and transport system?
Would you work towards County wide consolidation of emergency fire and medical services?
(Reason for or against?)
Would you support and work toward County wide consolidation of police services?
(Reason for or against?)
Here's the full text of Chester's e-mail:
I am currently up in the air on who I wish to support and vote for this year. There are many issues that I am concerned about that I would like to seek your views on. Please help me by providing clear and concise answers. Your answers will be shared with friends, family, and others. Sorry if this appears to be rude, but please do not give the normal “I will have to wait until I am elected to look into that” answer. I feel if you are running for an office that you should already know the ins and outs of the position that you are running for and you should already know what is going on. My friends, Family, and I are looking for real answers and real leadership. These are very scary times and to simply elected someone from sound bites or because they are likable would not be prudent.
What are your feelings on beach driving?
What County policies would you change pertaining to the operations of the beaches by the County?
What are your feelings about purchasing additional land along the beach for beach parking?
What are your feelings about the Beach Department?
What changes would you make in the Beach Department, if any?
What are your views pertaining to the Ocean Center and how it is being funded?
What would you do different to make the Ocean Center more profitable?
What are your feelings about the Air Port? What would you do different pertaining to the Air Port?
What would you do to help clean up Daytona’s beach side and to help bring tourism back?
Would you support bringing Spring Break back as it once was years ago? If yes, why? If not, why?
Would you strongly support Bike Week? If yes, why? If not, why?
Do you feel the Sheriff’s Department is to costly? If so what changes would you make?
Do you feel the Department of Fire Services is to costly? If so what changes would you make?
What are your feelings about EVAC and our current emergency medical care and transport system?
Would you work towards County wide consolidation of emergency fire and medical services?
(Reason for or against?)
Would you support and work toward County wide consolidation of police services?
(Reason for or against?)
Do you feel there are positions in County Government that are overpaid? If so what positions and what will you do to fix the problem?
Do you feel there are positions in County Government that are under paid? If so what positions and what will you do to fix the problem?
Do you wish to contract some County services out? If so what services? If so will you lay current employees off?
What if any positions would you cut within County Government?
Would you continue to allow for County employees to utilize County owned vehicles while not on duty and would you continue to allow them to take their vehicles home?
Are you aware of how much the County is paying for County employees issued cellular phones? Would you change the policies pertaining to cellular phones in any way?
What are your feelings on the current County employee retirement system?
Do you feel that the policies utilized to hire and promote County employees have been implemented fairly? If not, why not?
What if any cuts and changes would you make in the County’s library system?
Are you for or against the Lite Rail project?
What are your feelings pertaining to the ECHO program, should it be ended?
If you do not feel the ECHO program should be ended please answer the following questions.
Do you support ECHO funding being given to private groups? (If so, what groups?)
Do you support ECHO funding being given to other governmental groups? (If so, for what?)
What past ECHO projects would you have not allowed to have been funded?
If elected, what future types of ECHO projects will you vote against (If Any)?
Do you feel the citizens of Volusia County are well represented by the current ECHO board?
Do you feel the County should be spending County funds on trails projects at this time?
Do you feel the current County ecotourism plan is a good one?
What are your feelings pertaining to the Forever program, should it be ended?
Do you feel the County should have a Department of Community Assistance? If not, why not? If so what portions of the department should stay and what portions should go? Please be detailed.
The County’s Department of Children and Families, under the Department of Community Assistance, uses local tax dollars to fund many community programs.
Do you feel tax dollars should be given to private groups? If not, why not? If so, what types of groups and programs?
Do you feel partnerships should be created between the County’s Department of Children and Families and municipal governments? If not, why not? If so, what types of programs?
Volusia County has given millions of dollars through various County programs to Arts Organizations, Museums, and other similar organizations and groups. What groups and organizations, if any, do you feel should and should not have gotten County funds?
How do you feel about Votran?
What are your feelings about the Health Department?
What are your feelings about the Department of Emergency Management?
What if any cuts and changes would you make, if elected, in the County’s library system?
If elected, what will you do to insure our County’s roads are well maintained?
Do you feel the County has enough parks?
Would you add more parks and if so how would you fund them?
How do you feel the County Council and the School Board can work together to provide better services and cost savings for the citizens of Volusia County?
If elected, what would you do to help stimulate our local economy?
If elected, what would you do to help create jobs?
Do you feel the County is doing enough for children and families in this County? What would you do different?
What are your feelings about the County’s current mental health services? What would you do different? How do you feel they should be funded?
What are your feelings about the County’s Department of Corrections? Is there anything that you would do different?
Do you feel we have issues with illegal drug use in Volusia County? What would you do different, if anything, to help solve the problem if you feel that we have a problem?
The current County Government is touting that they have made major budget cuts. Do you feel the cuts have been deep enough? What would you do different?
Do you feel the County’s Government is to large? If so, where would you cut? If not, why not and what would you add?
Why do you feel you would be best for the job?
What are you going to do different if elected?
Do you feel that you have what it takes to make the changes that are needed? If so, why?
How do you plan on saving the Tax Payers of Volusia County? Do you plan on cutting taxes and if so how?
On another political note, the meow out is that candidates are getting a lot of pressure to attend certain forums – that it will be bad for them if they don't attend.
I see no reason why candidates should have to attend every forum a little group of highly partisan people decide to host. Threats, bullying and insinuations shouldn't be the American way.
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