Hedrington, Hull Square off on emergency services cuts
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By Rod Stetzer rod.stetzer@lee.net
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:42 AM CDT
Mayoral candidate Chuck Hull maintains Chippewa Falls is jeopardizing its future by not filling key management positions in both the police and fire departments.
“As we cut that (management structure) down, the immediate effect will not be your services lost, but your future is being definitely jeopardized. And I feel very strongly it is the future we are sacrificing by doing this for a temporary fix,” Hull said during Monday’s political forum sponsored by The Chippewa Herald and the Heyde Center for the Arts. The forum, which also featured candidates for Chippewa County judge, drew about 80 people.
But Mayor Dan Hedrington says Hull is just plain wrong about not filling a battalion chief job with the fire department and a captain’s position with the police department.
“We had no degradation of emergency services at all,” Hedrington said.
“Mr. Hull has made that claim. It’s completely inappropriate.
“It’s fear mongering. I don’t like it one bit.”
Hull has served 11 months as the city’s Fourth Ward alderman. Hedrington is seeking re-election to a second term in the April 3 election.
Hull said the city is not in a crisis at the moment because both the police and fire departments have had solid leadership in the past.
But he said the police and fire departments aren’t the same as a business.
“You can’t weed them out to the point where you’re going to suffer with your services. I would be very afraid of our future if we don’t restore them,” Hull said.
The city needs to work for today and get its house in order, he said. That includes restoring public services.
“Taxes seem to be a dirty word. You have to understand the amount of money for the services we are missing right now in our police and our fire . . . There’s over 8,000 registered voters in this city. We’re talking (charging) each one of them $2 a month to give you those services back. We’re not talking that it’s a big thing.”
Hedrington said Chippewa Falls has a wonderful quality of life, and part of that is due to keeping taxes level.
“If we start taxing our seniors out of their homes, it’s not going to be a good thing, and I don’t want to see it happen. I won’t see it happen,” Hedrington said.
Hedrington said the city council decided both modifications to the departments were appropriate.
He said part of the reason the captain’s position in the police department wasn’t filled was that Chief Wayne Nehring indicated he would stay on the job for three years.’
“At that point I had other concerns and other alderman had concerns that the city would be putting in an interim chief and have to do the same thing over in three years,” Hedrington said.
He added: “I have no fears for the future of the city of Chippewa Falls. We have outstanding emergency services and will continue to have that.”
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