IT’S THE YOKE…….(from Google…Polaris ATV yoke repair)…
5. Locate fittings on rear prop shaft yoke and grease with grease gun.
6. Locate fittings on front prop shaft yoke and grease with grease gun.
(Routine Maintenance…by a little volunteer)…..
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Let’s start with the ATV…the LBTS -ATV paid for by the LBTS taxpayers…at $20 thousand a pop…
Commissioner Dodd heard one ATV was out of commission …(pun intended)…and was told it might have been caused by misuse…Well he was quite interested in finding out, because readers might recall the Comm. Dodd in the past during the Pointu/Scot Fowler debacle…with the VFD and the Vice Mayor…made it a point to call for “proper” direction and training on the ATVs along with beach patrol safety…At that time you may also recall the Vice Mayor “brushed” him off by saying there was nothing to it…it was like driving a golf cart…
So Comm. Dodd first contacted the Town Manager about the ATV…she said she did not know anything…but checked with VFD Chief Perkins….The message back from the Manager to Comm. Dodd. it was a routine maintenance problem…That made the Commissioner question even more…and he decided to ask the Chief at the VFD report on 1/27/09……Asking about a repair could hardly be looked upon as “blindsiding” the Chief as the Vice Mayor wants all to believe…( code for he..the VM hasn’t “prepped” the Chief’s response)….It’s a pretty simple thing to answer….Except this time when asked …he said it just died…it stopped…..in a less than professional manner….(cocky is what most observers said)….Flash forward to the next day the continuation meeting…1/28/09….after Comm. Dodd spoke his “problem with that”….comments…and it was the Vice Mayor’s turn to comment…on the ATV…(previous post…scoops & LBTS agenda/meetings category)…
VM- “I think it’s really blatantly an attack on the whole department to go after little things like that. I don’t understand those things. I mean the three trucks over there are the town property. The utilities, the ATVs are town property. Every time one of these trucks goes in for repair and the last one was probably 1500 -2000 dollars. The town doesn’t pay for those repairs . The volunteer fire department pays for those repairs. Their budget from the town money that was sent to them to keep that stuff up to snuff. An oil change is 500 dollars in a diesel. All the trucks need their oil changed every few months.When that SUV or ATV went into the shop it wasn’t the town that was gonna pay for it. It was out the pocket of money distributed from the volunteers to run their equipment that was part of our budget. So things break down.”
VM- “Why would you go after for a vehicle breaking down. There’s no hot rodding on the beaches. We got printouts of anybody going over 20 miles a hour. That vehicle was near the water . It went down into the dirt and it went down before the multiple wheel drive stopped working and it wouldn’t run through the gook. But to pick little items like that and attack the fire chief, I don’t know where you’re going with that. Just don’t understand it.”
So the Vice Mayor is on the record 1/28/09 saying….”There’s no hot rodding on the beaches. We got printouts of anybody going over 20 miles a hour.”…chastising Comm. Dodd for insinuating such a thing….
On 1/29/09…Commissioner Dodd did a “Jerry McIntee”……he “investigated”…called the repair shop…and found the following…presented tonight at the round table….(2/3/09)
An invoice from Broward Electric Car and Equipment…dated 1/20/09…for the ATV…with the order made by “Macaphee”…with the Vice Mayor’s cell phone number ..no other contact number on the invoice…not the station…not the Chief….and a call was made to McIntee …as follows…
‘ ESTIMATE REPAIR/REPLACEMENT FOR THE FOLLOWING; THE YOKE IS BROKEN IN HALF IT APPEARS AS IF THE EQUIPMENT WAS JAMMED INTO GEAR WHILE DRIVING AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED WITHOUT COMING TO A COMPLETE STOP. VERBALLY APPROVED REPAIR BY JERRY MACAPHEE WITH MICHELLE ON 1/22/09 @ 10:16 am’…
Total cost $420.06….
The Vice Mayor knew as he made that “hot rodding” statement…what the repair bill said…”while driving at a high rate of speed”….WOW!….
The Vice Mayor McIntee/New Deputy Chief McIntee…. once again was involved with money and the VFD….(previous posts. scoops & agenda/meeting categories…..Futures paper…quotes for VFD canopies)……
The Vice Mayor/Deputy Chief Candidate who wrote the Ethics Commission on 12/8/08….(previous post scoops/LBTS agenda/meeting categories full ethics letter/response-‘Hosed’)……
“The Deputy Chief has nothing to do with Corporate decisions or company policies, or spending funds of the department. It should be clear that the Deputy chief position is a line officer position only dealing with firefighting activities.”…..
Thus receiving the response from the Ehics Commission….
” and that the position on Deputy Chief is a “line officer position,” having nothing to do with budgetary or policy decisions of the corporation”
REALLY?….
Commissioner Dodd contacted the VFD to see the ATV manual…and spoke to the Fort Lauderdale ATV dealership to verify the vehicle…the problem…and get multiple sources of information to account for what could have produced such a repair….
The FACT…that the Chief and the Deputy Chief….were unquestionably untruthful about the ATV…on numerous occasions…leave no doubt that Commissioner Dodd is correct…
If they cannot be trusted to simply respond that there was a repair problem caused by improper use…that it was being repaired…and the incident would be addressed to see it did not happen again…what else are they not truthful about?….
The simple truth would have “nipped this in the bud”…it would have been dealt with quietly behind the scenes….. promoting confidence in the department with their honest response and their proper regard when answering to a Commissioner…representing the taxpayers….
What will the Ethics Commission have to say about this one?…..ARGHHHHH….
more to come….
Sadly…rack this one up…with all the rest…that makes many say…”The VFD…same old….same old…”….
more to come….
Tags: LBTS Agendas/Meetings, Local Politics, Scoops, VFD
