The first hour of a 3-hour-long Brentwood Board of Aldermen meeting Monday was spent on the question of dispatchers — should the city keep its own or join the East Central Dispatch Center (ECDC).
Mayor Pat Kelly said cost shouldn’t be the determining factor, but went on to say that approximately $600,000 was spent last year on the city’s dispatchers, and the cost to the city to belong to the ECDC would be $235,000 per year. He also said over the weekend he received a letter from 24 Brentwood police staff stating their opposition to the city using ECDC. He said he appreciates the officers’ support for their friends, but the city needs to think about the long-term effects of the decision.
Kelly asked general manager of the ECDC, Mark Dougherty, to speak to the room.
Dougherty said the ECDC was formed by cities with their own dispatch centers with a limited number of employees. He said a call can go to an officer on the street who ends up dispatching, who may not be fully qualified. The ECDC is owned by the municipalities involved, so its policies work with the cities’ policies.
He said all the ECDC dispatchers are EMD (emergency medical dispatch) certified. When an EMS call comes in, a dispatcher can provide instructions for the person on the line before EMS arrives.
Fire Chief Ted Jury said in the event of a serious fire or active shooter, dispatchers can be overwhelmed, and they still have to continue to answer 911 calls and dispatch police and fire on top of the existing call. He recommended going with the ECDC proposal.
Following Jury, Kelly was asked from the room, “What about the police? Where’s the chief?” Kelly said Chief of Police Steve Disbennett had told him on Friday that he is retiring.
Two Brentwood dispatchers and three police officers spoke against joining ECDC in the public comments. Several asked if it wouldn’t be possible for Brentwood dispatchers to be trained to provide emergency medical dispatch.
Kelly said at the next board of aldermen meeting the aldermen will have an ordinance to vote on to decide the issue.
“It’s a little frustrating, from an elected official’s standpoint,” Kelly said, “when other cities made this change, I’ll be very blunt, it hasn’t been this controversial.” He said if there were problems, we’d be hearing about it.
Also in the meeting, when the resolution for the code of conduct for elected officials came up on the agenda, the board voted to put it on hold, and send it to the ways and means committee for further work.
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Is this the same Joshua that claims to live in Webster and work in Clayton? The same Joshua who has posted comments under other Brentwood related news articles? I’m guessing it is and again it must be said, it’s very impressive how much you know about Brentwood politics and the individual Aldermen that make up our city and you don’t even live here. Wow, nice job pat….I mean Joshua–sorry.
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that only residents of Brentwood were allowed to comment on this “news” site. Well this way those who use this site can hate both people in Brentwood and outside of Brentwood. You are a very unhappy group of people, no wonder your BOA is so disfunctioal. Leaders should lead, this entire BOA….including the mayor is a disgrace. The nonstop infighting has brought your city to a complete halt. Why, so one side or the other can say I was right, gotcha! So now what do we do?
Johsua, Anthony Harper voted to file on Seemayer’s bond for recovery of misused city funds, the other 4 old guard aldermen voted no. Any reasons why the no vote when state statute requires these bonds, the purpose being to protect the citizens from misuse of city funds?
Thats not what Thomas said. He clearly stated that “these folks (the BOA) broke the law, ignorance of the law is not a defense”. Harper was part of that very board. So Harper gets a pass from “breaking the law” because he and Manistar have become Saunders lapdogs? So he voted for the bond on Seemayer, where was he when Seemayer was committing his crimes. Saunders pointed out time and time again that the BOA was asleep at the wheel and were not do their jobs. Again, Harper was part of that very same board. But I guess that is all forgiven as long as he continues to follow her marching orders. Did “these folks” break the law or not? You can’t have it both ways.
Seemayer is the key to what the mayor and BOA knew, file on his bond and then we will learn who knew what and who got what, it would stop all of the guessing. The mayor’s main job it enforce city code, that seems to be the problem per the audit. City attorney to advise on state law, that was a problem per the audit. If the board took its responsibility to the citizens seriously, there would be a big change.
So let me get right, even though Harper was the same BOA that Saunders claimed were not doing their jobs, and now that he falls in line with her marching orders he is no longer part of the “old guard”? And all of the “old guard” has to be wrong on everything because Saunders is right on everything and always knows what is best for the city. And the Seemayer bond is going to solve all of the city’s problems because it might or might not allow Saunders to say “gotcha, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so”. When and where does it all end? How much lower does Brentwood have to sink before this BOA finally says enough is enough, lets see if we can’t move forward on something, anything. I get it, everyone on this “news” site hates Pat Kelly. Well in the next election vote him out of office. What is the constant finger pointing accomplishing? It this anyway to run a city? This entire BOA is a disgrace.
I think you pretty much captured it all.
Steve – thanks for clarify your thoughts. What threw me off was you words be “happy and content” with the way things were led me to believe you liked having leaders who flat out broke the laws of the state and Brentwood. These are facts. Read the state laws for a class 4 city. Read the Brentwood ordinances.
I still find it hard to believe you trust those that got us into this mess. People truly don’t change and to think that they are turning over a new leaf will only lead us to more missteps.
Darn, I forgot something, it is not the press running down the city, it is the actions of our Mayor and Alderman. The press is simply reporting what they see. Don’t blame the messenger Steve.
Steve – let go forth in a full scale debate. I would be thrilled to discuss this for all of Brentwood to read. It would be my facts and truth against your spinning of what went on at city all for all of the years. You can spin all you want, I just will quote the audit and state to you the broken laws and ordinances to back me up.
That reason you cannot win the debate is simple, it is called the truth. This is why Saunders, Manistar and Harper make sense, they have the truth based on fact on their side, the others are tainted with their own dirt.
These folks broke the law, and ignorance of the law is not a defense. Defend them, bring it, this will be fun. an unarmed man, which is you, against a guided missile loaded with facts supported by our state auditor.
This will be fun, or should I say this will be fun for me.
Thomas,
Just a little bit of information for you, I’m sure you just forgot that Anthony Harper was on the Board of Aldermen during the time period cited in the State Auditor report (and many years prior). Since you claim “these folks broke the law, and ignorance of the law is not a defense”, where does Mr. Harper fit into your “guided missile loaded with facts” theory? Why is he not “tainted with their own dirt” as you say? You are right, this will be fun.
Steve – my intent was to offend you due to your stupid comments. What took place two year ago was in fact going on for years, yet no one bothered to pay attention to actions of our public officials. You for some reason think it is fixed. It is not fixed, we still have not even begun to be able to dig into the truth. File on the bond for Seemeyer, that will dig up the truth. Bring back the old fire chief and let him tell us if anyone else knew what was happening. To think nobody knew of all this wrong is an ostrich with their head in the ground. There is no way all this could happen and our Mayor be oblivious of the facts. He is either completely incompetent or a liar. Steve, which is it, because he was in charge when all of this happened.
At NO TIME did I say that our Mayor was an excellent Mayor. I did not say that he knew everything that was going on AND I don’t call people liars or corrupt unless it is proven or they have been convicted by my peers in a court of law.
What I have said and am trying to say is THIS: If ANYONE thinks that Brentwood’s fiscal situation is going to change quickly, without a reduction of services, I believe that they (like the people who have recently spoken up against the past and current Brentwood governments seem to want) are incorrect.
Ladies and gentleman let me present to you all that is wrong in Brentwood – its called a “Steve”. Yes, those absolutely absurd comments from someone who has no desire to realize much less accept the truth. A “Steve” is lost in his own little world, believing that without the government, society could not survive. A “Steve” making sure that the government takes care of him or her while others work to take care of themselves. A “Steve”, lacking the intelligence to see that he has been taken advantage of by those he trusts. A “Steve”, bringing up the lower end of intelligent life that still exist on this planet. I thought when we started eating meat we became smarter, Steve are you a vegan?
Steve, I truly feel sorry for you, your lack of ability to survive on your own, your inability to know when someone is lying to you, your lack of being able to discern the facts, good luck if you ever need to survive on your own.
There are a lot of history books Steve, perhaps you should study what happens when government becomes to omnipotent. (sorry to use a big word on you).
In Brentwood we realize to have a greater reserve we don’t need higher taxes or less services, we just need leaders that will stop spending our money in ways that violate state laws or city ordinances.
One can only wonder why a person like Steve would post. Then again George Carlin said it best, if you think about how stupid the average person is, then remember half the population is below average, we really are in trouble. Congrat on holding up the lower end of the curve Steve. I guess someone needs to graduate last in their class.
Dear Steve, sorry to find your comments to be steeped in ignorance, yet there really is no other opinion one can express after reading the stupid things you say. I agree with the other post in guessing you must have been able to profit off of all the interesting financial moves going on behind the citizens backs. Maybe you were one of the charities that benefited from out tax dollars or were able to work a couple of hours only, and get paid for a full day, or you earned a bonus for just showing up for work.
Your tea party comments say it all, you prefer to not work, let others work all day, have the government tax the hard worker so you can stay at home, watch tv, get your free phone, get your food stamps and not have a care in the world. Someone should slap your parents for raising a parasite. Our country is in a lot of trouble if you decide to reproduce.
Steve – please no offense, you are not too bright are you. Blaming Alderman Saunders for the problems in Brentwood when she had nothing to do with the idiocy that led to the audit that showed illegal benefits to the Mayor and Alderman, a charity golf tournament losing money yet still given out money to charities, vacation pay to employees against state law, over$18,000 dollars of unused mobile phones purchased, let’s not forget the gambling debt and who is to blame for the falsified time cards is a really stupid statement. For you to believe things would be better without the new Aldermen tells me you really are clueless. For you to say she does not like building a cushion really highlights the fact you do not know what is going on in Brentwood. This is the problem with voters like you, you are the great uninformed mass that votes with no information. I highly recommend you stop posting, you may be an idiot, the smart move on your part is to keep it to yourself.
Thanks for sticking up for the people who abused their positions as elected officials.
It is hard to believe people in Brentwood hold harmless individuals that did the city so much harm and created such a distrustful relationship between the local government and the citizens. One can only reason those that stick up for such misuse of power are the ones that reaped the rewards of all of those development dollars that flowed through Brentwood.
I didn’t get through your overly lengthly dialog. Most of what you wrote concerns events that happened 2 years ago, was discovered and has been dealt with.
What I said is that the “new guard” has come to CHANGE the the Brentwood government. If the new guard wants the government to become more solvent, they need to realize that the things that the government provides, SERVICES, may suffer.
We can’t have everything, all at once. If the new guard wants all of the current services, they will need to be tolerant now and think of POSITIVE ways to help the city for the future, starting today.
I only admire those people who make changes to the system by working within the system. If the new guard is right they will amass a following, and get their changes made DEMOCRATICALLY.
I’m pretty proud to be a 25 + year resident of Brentwood. I don’t like my city being run down in the press.
People who start a discussion by saying, “No offence”, usually offend people, like I was offended.
I find the whole thing interesting and ironic. Not two meetings ago our Mayor Kelly told Alderperson Saunders that yes if there was extra money he would be happy to pay our employees more money. They are the best city employees in the area and should be paid accordingly. Keeping them happy was a very important policy, a policy that other Alderman agreed was good to do. Now in less than two months he wants to eliminate seven jobs. This will create unhappiness throughout all employees not just the police and fire department. The whole thing seems a bit smelly. My opinion is that there is something we do not know about that is driving this policy and I don’t think that driving force is really about Brentwood saving money.
This situation is kind of like the current Tea Party. Alderperson Saunders came to the council that had most residents happy (like myself) or contented. When steps are being taken, to SAVE Brentwood by lowering costs and building a cushion of money for future events, she doesn’t like them. If she had not started on her crusade, there would be no thoughts of laying these people of, or expensive surveys that Brentwood citizens will pay for, or telephone canvassing, or irate people wasting my (our) money in city council meetings by holding up the meetings with their soliloquies. The Tea Party is long on vocal cords but cost the citizens of this country a lot of money. And so has the new Tea Party of Brentwood.
Hey, the people who have been raising their voices lately, want Brentwood to have a larger financial reserve. They don’t understand that to save money, they need to except the fact the services are going to be diminished OR taxes need to be raised. Grow up, people!
[Kelly]”He said he appreciates the officers’ support for their friends, but the city needs to think about the long-term effects of the decision.” Those words are nothing short of the kettle calling the pot black…
Kelly’s reputation has long be mired in conflict of interest decisions, ‘good ole boy’ backscratching.. His disgraceful comments are nothing short of condescending with an sense of personal superiority in himself. No, Pat; your lack of open and transparent operations and projects precedes your trite and dismissive comment. Your history is not new… your fabulous deal to strap B’wood with the City Administrator’s pension following a felony conviction on inhouse matter because HE WAS YOUR FRIEND… leaves you little room to demean the efforts of police as “loyalty.” You are some piece of work.
I didn’t know that anything illegal was going on. And as far as the firemen making money while not working a full day, they might have known that it wasn’t RIGHT but ….. there are large and small organizations where there are ‘accepted practices’ which are usually grandfathered into jobs. I didn’t know it was happening. Like most folks, I want something done, when I’m paying money. All I know is that when I called the dispatchers, I was very pleased with everything that transpired.
Two cool things about living in a democracy is that 1.we all get a vote and 2. the anticipation that we ALL experience after the vote, waiting for the outcome. Like it or not, it’s a heck of a country.