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By Chris Appleton (pseudonym)
Life in Oakwood can be a pretty strenuous, serious venture. Why with all the taxes, focus on performance, personal income, kids sports, fixing up the house, keeping up with the Joneses, there’s little time to sit back and reflect on the finer things in life… like poking fun at yourself and those around you. Many think we take ourselves a little too seriously for our own good and, as such, I’d like to test that and mix things up a bit with a new column focused squarely at an easy target: ourselves. The aim is that with a little light-hearted introspection and honest dialog, this communication can be edgy, entertaining and enlightening, if not an occasional call to action.
Now I have no illusions of grandeur that everyone who reads this will agree with either the intent or content (as a matter of fact, I’m counting on it not being the case), however, I seek topics from the readership and those around me. So if you have something to say, say it. If it’s controversial and thought provoking, I may write about it even if I don’t agree with the position. I’ll do my very best to provide an apolitical view, however, if a political alignment is required in order to form an opinion, I’ll make sure that I either support or offend both sides of political fences equally. Now it’s also important to note that I am not omniscient. I may not have all the facts, but what you read is what people are saying, so if my position is flawed and you have more data, share it and we’ll print it. Hey, who knows, I may change my opinion… but don’t count on it.
This is neither Fox news, nor NPR… it’s Oakwood. It’s us, and it’s time to lighten up. With that in mind, let’s open our first can of worms.
So there was this big hullabaloo a few weeks ago about an issue that is near and dear to all of us: emergency response.
One of the many reasons we choose to live in Oakwood and rationalize a portion of our astronomical tax burden is the superior, if not sometimes over-zealous response by our public service personnel. Now the motion in front of the city council is to drive cost-savings by migrating the 911 dispatch service from a locally supported and funded operations center to one supported and serviced by a larger, remote 911 dispatch service that delivers the same capabilities at a lower carrying cost to the city. This is a very common activity among private companies, public institutions and municipalities to drive cost savings by outsourcing ‘non-core’ services to companies and organizations that can leverage the economies of scale to drive down costs.
So the usual Oakwood response ensued: Oh my God! We’re never going to get an ambulance to our house when I fall off the ladder hanging my Christmas lights! Not to mention the loss of the jobs of those poor folks who currently field the calls from irritated residents lamenting the condition of their neighbor’s lawn or reporting the activity of this week’s toilet paper hooligans.
How rewarding it must be to be an Oakwood 911 operator.
Upon closer scrutiny, one will find that there is virtually no change in the time that an emergency call would be routed to response personnel with either an ‘in house’ or outsourced 911 dispatch. Why else would you find municipalities consolidating these operations? While most are not in the habit of blindly following the government lead, I have to admit the city officials would not risk service level commitments and would not even propose this measure if it was not a viable alternative. It would be counterproductive for city officials to sacrifice the safety and welfare of their constituents, especially in Oakwood. Mayor Judy Cook knows it… one emergency response snafu and people will be outside her office with torches and pitchforks.
The truth is that weather conditions, time of day and traffic has a far greater impact in getting a resource to an emergency than the second or two in routing the call from a central dispatch center to the Oakwood police/fire resources. As a matter of fact, anyone who uses Voice over IP in their homes, like Time Warner’s Digital Phone, already have their 911 calls routed to a central dispatch center. Do you think Time Warner, Vonage, Skype and other VoIP providers would be in business long if their customers were going to risk death due to lack of 911 response? That would be an interesting disclaimer.
The same can be said for this 911 outsourcing proposal. There is no service level impact.
Let’s talk about the jobs again. I love talking about jobs. Nothing riles up a group of people more than a frank discussion about unemployment. Considering the
dispatch people’s acumen in answering telephones and ability to read and show up when their shift starts, I would venture to guess there are myriad employment opportunities for those individuals. In fact, if we’re all really that concerned about their jobs, why don’t we help them polish up their resume, get them lined up with a recruiter or sponsor them in some professional development courses at Sinclair. Don’t tell Oakwood tax payers that they are funding service because “we feel bad about letting the folks go” when we can get the same service level done elsewhere for less. You’ll receive a warmer reception from a militant Afghani being offered Christina Aguilera tickets on Ramadan.
Not to get too esoteric here, but the reallocation and development of new skills is inevitable as markets and economies mature. If you want to talk employment woes, let’s discuss the hundreds, if not thousands of local auto workers who have lost their jobs due to Big 3 and the UAW’s inability to compete globally, or the hundreds of folks who lost their jobs in Troy when the manufacture of CRTs was moved to China.
I haven’t met anyone in Oakwood, or anywhere else for that matter that isn’t interested in saving money where it make sense. We’re certainly glad to see that city officials are looking under every rock to drive cost reductions. This, however, begs another question: What exactly is Oakwood’s governance planning to do to with this small windfall if they do, in fact outsource the 911 dispatch? Is it gold leaf or slate shingles?
While no one likes writing the tax check in February and July, what I cannot reconcile is the continual up-tick in property tax burden even though property valuations have been flat if not declining in recent years. Now I know that Montgomery County, in general, has more say on that, however, it’s important to remember we’re funding city operations from our personal coffers. There is very little business tax revenue in our fair city. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I’d like to see the benefit of streamlining and cost containment directly in my pocketbook. I’m afraid, however, the reality is it will end up as a ‘borrow from Peter to pay Paul’ budget reallocation exercise by city officials.
There’s a lot of things we can do as citizens to help lower the cost of service and support for the city but how many of us have the incentive to do so if it doesn’t mean we get tax relief or cash back?
Sorry, I’m neither an altruist nor a charitable organization. I think we’re willing to do our part, but there had better be a payback to doing so.
Oakwood’s going to save on outsourcing 911. Good deal. Let’s demand a check in the mail.
Editor’s Note: The above screed is the opinion of the contributing author and not necessarily the opinion of the Oakwood Register newspaper.
Perhaps many of you have read in the Oakwood Register (page 19) and the Dayton Daily News that Mrs. Sheila Eifert, Oakwood resident, is a finalist to win a $300,000 Boundless Playground, where children with and without disabilities can play together. Now, Mrs. Eifert needs to find a community willing to donate an acre site, suitable for the construction of this playground. Serendipitously, Oakwood has recently purchased the 28 acre Old River Complex, which meets the requirements necessary for the Boundless Playground. Everything related to the construction of this playground is expected to cost the community nothing beyond the donation of the land on which to build it.
Now, however, we stand in jeopardy of losing this marvelous opportunity. Oakwood City Council believes, according to Norbert Klopsch, that many voices over many months need to be considered before a decision can be made regarding what will be done with the land at Old River. However, the contest needs to receive the “due diligence” paperwork indicating the site specifications before March 26. According to Klopsch, the council has the power to expedite site approval at Old River, should there be a tremendous groundswell of support from the community. We are inviting you to join with us in voicing support for the designation of a small portion of the Old River complex to accept the enormous gift of the Boundless Playground for the children of Oakwood and the surrounding communities.
Many of us have already voiced our unwavering support for Mrs. Eifert’s campaign to bring the Boundless Playground to our community. If you, like us, feel that donating a small portion of land at Old River in order to receive this great playground will benefit all of our children, please contact our Oakwood City Council members or e-mail amvasconez@yahoo.com to attach your name to a letter petitioning the city council to expedite their approval.
Thank you,
The Boundless Playground Support Committee
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