Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Letters to the Editor - Greenwood Twp. - Feb. 15, 2018

Posted

Bassing has the best interests of the
township at hear

Well, it seems as though the Greenwood slander machine has kicked into high gear as they appear to be afraid of the possibility of having an adult elected to the board that would put some oversight back into board actions. As their fear rises, the number of lies and slander increase in kind. In their slander of Dr. Bassing, they find it convenient to omit that Carmen DeLuca never wanted Fazio to be Fire Chief. DeLuca was the sole NO vote in the hiring process at that meeting. DeLuca declared that he could not vote for Fazio as he had reviewed the Fire Department run reports and they showed Fazio had only responded to eleven fire department pages in the past thirteen years. That vote is a matter of township record. 
Does DeLuca truly support the fire department or is he just in need of their votes? 
Fictitious scare tactics seem to have become the calling card of the group that calls names and does not know how to spell the word FACT. And as for Borchardt, F.D. Training and Safety Officer, representing the workings of the board or its members, he may be a little out of the loop as he is in Florida for six months a year. Does Borchardt not remember when Deluca, in a 4-0 board action, voted not to pay him while he was in Florida? Borchardt put his name on an editorial but it is doubtful he wrote it unless he wishes to claim the lack of factual statements. Bassing voted yes on the move to PERA for the firefighters and also voted yes to setting the annual threshold to earn a year’s pension credit at two fire department responses each year, a number requested by the F.D. Officers.
The reason the board put into place the Personnel Policy, revised the Paid On Call Policy and the Standard Operating Guidelines was at the advice of legal counsel so that at some point in time the township would be able to once again have full insurance coverage from the MAT, MN Association of Townships Insurance Trust, saving  the township thousands of dollars. Borchardt fails to bring up that a committee, which he was a member of, presented Standard Operating Guidelines and a Paid on Call policy to the attorney. The Township attorney recommended to start over. Then, Dr. Bassing took the initiative to rewrite policies the attorney found acceptable.
To argue Dr. Bassing does not have the best interests of the township always in mind is a lie.
Barbara Lofquist
Greenwood Twp

Bassing has used intimidation tactics

Great letter from Ed Borchardt last week explaining why john bassing is not a friend of the Greenwood fire department.  Now we can watch for disingenuous attempts at damage control. That legend in his own mind, John Bassing, uses the term political hack to describe those who do not have recordings of him stating opposition to the fire department.  Who do you know that carries a device to record daily conversations?  Ever since his loss in March 2018, Bassing and his supporters have attempted to  bully and intimidate the fire department at the monthly township meetings. I urge those of you who have not atteded those meetings to review the public comments and correspondence sections of the monthly minutes to see for yourselves.  The conclusion is obvious!!
Steve Rodgers
Greenwood Twp

Substantiated facts, not just opinion

As the Greenwood Township election approaches, it appears as though angst is bringing about false and deliberately misleading statements.  I wish to rebut both Ed Borchardt’s and Steve Rodgers’ editorials in last week’s Timberjay.
Ed stated the draft versions of the Paid on Call (POC) and the Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG) were presented at the November 2015 board meeting.  The only reference to the SOGs was made by Chairperson Reichel when she stated, “There were no SOGs yet, but they were working with the attorney (Tim Strom) on the bylaws (which later became SOGs).”  Source: Board meeting audio tape of November 2015.
I did not start working on the documents until 2016 when I brought up POC irregularities.  At that time, Chairman/Firefighter Rick Worringer made the statement, “I’ve been on the fire department for two years.  They stopped following bylaws and guidelines and were kind of winging it.  I agree that wasn’t good.”  Source: Timberjay report on Greenwood Board meeting May 2016.
At the October 2016 board meeting, the board motioned to send the township attorney the bylaws which were developed by a committee tasked to do so (of which Ed Borchardt was a member) to review. Source: Board meeting minutes of October 2016.
On Nov. 9, 2016, Township Attorney, Mike Couri, sent an email to all supervisors and the clerk which read, “I have reviewed the Township Fire Department SOGs and POC guidelines.  I do not believe either one of those is ready for adoption and believe both require substantial revision.”  Source: email 11/9/2016.
I took it upon myself, with attorney advice, to rewrite both the POCs and the SOGs and presented them to the board at its meeting in May 2017.  At that meeting, Chief Fazio asked, “If we would be asking for their input on that, so we would have a say in this or is that not really true?”  I replied to Fazio and Ed Borchardt, “You wrote them, and I had to change them because they were not adequate according to the township attorney.  He couldn’t read them, so he told me what needed to be changed and I changed them.” Source: Audio tape of May 2017 meeting.
Mr. Borchardt is entitled to his opinion, but to have an opinion become “fact,” it must be substantiated by evidence of which he has none. In reality, his opinion is disproved by the substantiated facts above.
As to Steve Rodgers’ editorial, his assertion that I wanted to eliminate the Greenwood Fire Department is simply a lie.  Secondly, the Maus settlement deliberations were in a closed board meeting so I cannot speak to those deliberations but will say the board did vote unanimously in open session to accept the settlement (Carmen DeLuca included).  Source: Timberjay Feb. 16, 2017.  Thirdly, I did not nominate Jeff Maus for the assistant chief position. He applied for the job as allowed for in the Greenwood Township Fire Dept. SOGs.  According to the SOGs, there is never a nomination just an application.  Source: Greenwood Fire Dept. SOGs.
I support free speech and editorials, but I also support integrity.  When statements contrary to researchable facts are made, slander becomes the action void of integrity.
John Bassing
Greenwood Twp