Posted: October 29, 2010

This is in response to Don Leard talking about me.

I was teasing Don about burning Chris sign. I was laughing when I said that and in fact we BOTH were laughing about it. I was joking with him. I know he would never do such a thing. As Don said, it was probably Kids.

I hope everyone can come to the Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday, November 6th at American Café from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm to benefit the Lafayette Citizen Fund. Prices $7:00, $5.50 and FREE to children 3 years of age and under.

Thanks,

Linda Lyon
 

Posted: October 22, 2010

The door look represents the back door dealings of Chris Heisler.

Linda Lyon had a long discussion with me a little while ago about my signs. I told her that the back door stands for the back door dealings he had with Justin Boone, giving him paid time off when he did not have it coming. not only once but twice. Chris required or made Trena cut him a check for pto. She knew that he did not have it coming to him and Chris demanded that she write him out a check anyway. Trena knew it was wrong but was required to do it. That is only some of his back door dealings.

The whole thing about the park was another prime example. I have no idea if that money that the tax payers paid Boone was ever reimbursed to the city. Another thing that I do not agree with, that the whole council was involved with, was to pay Boones moving expenses. I believe it was $5000.00. He rented a moving van and moved himself. Was the difference in cost for that move ever paid back to the city? I bet not. Our tax dollars at work!

Then Linda mentioned about Chris's sign being burnt. She asked me if I set it on fire. In other words insinuating that I did it. Talk about "mudding someones name".

Heisler is still campaigning that I live in Newberg, and I am not even running for mayor for the City of Lafayette. I fought the battle of residency in court once. I am a lafayette resident. I have a drivers license, tax papers and a Yamhill County judge declaring my residency. And that happens to be Lafayette.

You can post this on your web site if you like. thank you and have a great evening.

Don Leard
 

Posted: October 19, 2010

In June, Chris Heisler claimed the city was overcharging residents $600,000 on the water bills. The city has approximately 1,300 water customers, which means an average overcharge of more than $400 per year per customer, or an average of more than $33 per customer per month. Yet, here it is in late October, and Hiesler and his City Council still have not found that $600K and brought "sanity" back to our water rates as promised in the recall effort. Have your water rates changed by more than $30 a month? Mine certainly has not. Why not? Chris Heisler controls the Council. He has no excuse for not finding the money he said in his pro-recall flier was there! He's probably hoping you forgot about his made-up claim. Lafayette voters should remember what they were told in June by Mr. Heisler and what has transpired since then -- nothing. It was the old bait-and-switch sales tactic, and it worked.

So it is no wonder that the Heisler dominated Council has no problem with a city administrator who fudged his resume to include a degree from a diploma mill. I wonder why it is a criminal offense for the Mayor of West Linn to do exactly the same thing from the same diploma mill, but OK for public employees to do it and get away with a warning letter?! Monster.com says the No. 1 reason for being fired from a job is, get this, lying on your resume! Not in Lafayette, I guess, under this Council. Voters have a choice on Nov. 2: Re-establish integrity and honesty at city hall, or continue down a road where elected officials trot out misinformation as fact, fail to follow through on their promises and support those who do not tell the truth. It's your choice, Lafayette. As for me, I am voting for Lucas, Mead, Bennett, Smith and Long, and writing-in Nick Harris for the second two-year term.

Posted with Dean's permission, comment was also posted on Newsregister.com

Posted: October 16, 2010

If the folks in Lafayette don't vote, then they'll get what they deserve! And then some!!

As things stand now, few of us have a say in things. The current mayor (Chris Heisler) has things pretty much his way. That ain't necessarily the RIGHT WAY!!! Hizzonor appointed two cronies to fill the council seats he managed to get vacated by a pretty obvious recall earlier this year. He now has enough of his sycophant's on the ballot in a couple of weeks to put hizzonor in political Utopia. He calls the shots and his minions fire away!

When Heisler was campaigning a couple of years ago, he made much of "Transparency" he wanted to bring to City Hall. Well, he got what he asked for! And then some!! Now Mayor Chris Heisler is as transparent as as cellophane. He engineered a recall successfully. He installed a temporary city manager with false credentials and doesn't seem to possess the cajones to rid himself of his mistake; has forced two pretty good heads to resign from council. He has put in place a "Water Board " made of more cronies. And now he has put himself up for another two year term!! Along with still more cronies running for council!
If all goes a according to hizzonor's plans, you and I, citizens of Lafayette, will be on the sidelines watching a rigged game that would put the famed Chicago Black Sox to shame!!

SOLUTION?? Vote ALL THE RASCALS out of city hall! Elect a new team! Get rid of Chris Heisler and Company!!
 

YOUR BUDGET COMMITTEE

The city council of Lafayette appoints citizens to its budget committee. The committee is charged with reviewing a proposed budget submitted by the City Manager, analyzing it and making recommendations as necessary. After doing so, the committee submits the budget for the upcoming fiscal year to the city council, which is charged with reviewing it and either approving the budget or sending it back to the city for revision.

Now, with all the news coverage of the federal TARP, Economic Development and other legislation, you may have heard of the Congressional Budget Office. This office analyzes these legislative propositions and allocates existing funds or proposes methods to fund the programs. These methods include increased taxes, special taxes, bonds, etc. Whether or not we agree with the changes made by Congress, that is the way new legislation is funded.

In Lafayette, the budget committee meets in 4-5 sessions in the spring for the upcoming year. The city council must stay within the restrictions of the budget for the complete year. This is good business practice, but I believe the practice would be still better if comparisons between the budget and spending were reviewed more often (I am thinking quarterly). It would also be better if we had a “to do list” generated by council based on review of citizen interest. That would make it possible to review the budget periodically to see if the allocations can be refined.

Nevertheless, I thought you might like to know how city revenues are budgeted, and who is making recommendations on your behalf. I am hoping that the budget committee might be involved more closely throughout the year in making the budget responsive to the needs of the city staff and the wishes of the citizens.
Please let one of us know your ideas. We love to hear from you!

Jean Mead
City of Lafayette Budget Committee Member

Food for indigestion

Of late, I've been more aware and curious about the goings on in this little burg I have chosen to make my home in. I think I've read just about everything available on trhe web about politics here in Lafayette, but by no means all! And I admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, BUT....

I am curious about the bio section pertaining to our shrinking city council. Seems the present mayor, whom I will hereafter, and properly(?) refer to as Hizzonor, and the man elected (???) as council prez saw fit to pass on the opportunity to let us citizens know a bit about them. Now I know this slight to the citizenry is old hat to most folks, but I'm still trying to catch up, and Hizzonor and the Prez aren't making it easy for me!

I know their names. Homework has taught me where they live. But, other than the statement from Hizzonor when he tossed his hat in the ring (all about transparency and better communication, as I recall), all I've heard about him is how awful he seems to be. In fact, that's pretty well the consensus around the old cracker barrel.

In fact, when he called me a few months ago, after a critical letter (from me to the News Register) came to his attention, I thought, "Well, this guy really meant what he said!" He ran on for quite a spell about the water "crisis", how he thought it should be handled, and so on. Being a bit dense on how a town in Oregon could have a water "crisis", I still have no idea what Hizzonor was talking about. I just wonder if he did!? I did mention to him that, based on what I'd been hearing one the street, He had a pretty serious "image problem".

Ah, but I digress! I've pretty well covered Hizzonor's web page, and the rambling opinions, and some pretty stupid contributions sent in (I suppose!) by subscribers to the site, and one thing remains perfectly clear to me. I am as in the dark about Hizzonor as I was the first time I laid eyes on him. That was nearly four years ago. HOW DID HE BECOME OUR MAYOR? WHO IS HE? WHAT DOES HE DO FOR A LIVING? Not tough questions in my mind. Why did he and Prez elect to avoid offering their bios. I gotta tell ya, friend, After being a car salesman for almost forty years, which I was, Hizzonor smells like a car salesman to me! If he runs for re-election, I sure aim to find out!

Fred Owen