Dear SedonaEye.com Editor,

I haven’t attended regular board meetings for almost six months because my blood pressure just couldn’t take it.

I see a far more adversarial attitude towards staff from one particular board member. I see a lack of respect and trust from the majority of the board towards the most professional and efficient Fire Chief that we have ever had in our district. Instead of letting him do the job he was hired for, you are questioning his actions, as well as the actions of his staff. Like it or not, that’s micromanaging.

Morale in our district is the lowest that it has ever been and we are loosing some very valuable employees with lots of expertise in whom we have invested a great of deal of training. Unfortunately, the surrounding districts are benefiting from this situation. We are extremely fortunate to have top notch people who are going out of their way to do the best job they can for the people they serve.

You should not forget that YOU serve the very same people. I strongly urge you to use reason and common sense in making decisions on the board that could permanently damage the SFD. There are ways to question information provided by staff or other places that don’t necessarily coincide with each other. Board meetings is not the arena where they should be discussed. Board members have full access to staff, who is in the best position to reconcile the differences that may exist. After all, that’s why they are working for YOU.

I know it and you know it, that the only way that the district can function at an optimum capacity is to have harmony between board members themselves and staff. It is totally unproductive to look at each other as members of an opposition.

We should all work together in unison to make the SFD the best district in Arizona.

Abe Koniarsky   akon1979@esedona.net

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