Even Tony Piasecki has admitted directly that Parks & Rec is on the chopping block (see http://www.waterlandblog.com/2009/10/08/city-manager-responds-to-budget-cuts-facing-des-moines/), saying “Cutting the Parks and Recreation Department is one of many options included on a list of potential ways to balance the 2010 budget,” Piasecki said. “But I can only make suggestions. Ultimately the City Council will decide what programs and services to cut to balance the budget.”

Please note John that it’s a PROPOSED CUT, not a definite one until the council votes on it.

Again, I stand 100% behind our reporting on this. What we published is the TRUTH about a PROPOSED CUT of Parks & Rec.

cheers,
scott

So tell me exactly WHERE the

John

And I think your observations are right on the money.

To claim that this breaking news story was false in anyway is, ironically, false.

Or if indeed some of our facts are wrong, I’d love to hear which ones, so we can compare it to our info which came directly from the city itself.

To reiterate, this story contains NO RUMORS, just facts. We are all journalists who pride ourselves on confirming sources and stories before posting.

And I personally stand by this story as being 100% accurate until proven otherwise.

thanks,
scott schaefer

Rest assured, people, the LAST thing I want is to loose any parks, services, or ANYTHING from our city, which, in my opinion, is rapidly deteriorating, but lets go about this in a more adult matter, PLEASE. Starting rumors like this reminds me of passing secrets around in grade school. Let’s all keep an eye on this city council and MAKE SURE they don’t cut ANYTHING. They just need to spend the MILLIONS of dollars they get from all of us more wisely. KEEP GOING TO THE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS! KEEP THE HEAT ON THEM. And if they don’t do what you want, ELECT NEW PEOPLE TO REPRESENT YOU!!!

P. S. What is this B.S. about less revenue due to our property values (therefore taxes) going down? Am I the only one whose TAXES WENT UP?????

There are not a lot of affordable childcare options for working (taypaying) DM parents….it is time this city start to think outside the box and work on increasing revenue, not cutting essentials like our Park & Rec. department..hundreds of families would be lost without their services!

We need new blood in our city government!

A little off topic, but since we have your attention, what was the reason for you running for a different city council position? To us who are not insiders in the Des Moines political scene it does come across as a tad shady.

I think a little insight would go a long way to help voters decide who to vote for.

In fact, because these assumptions have been repeated again, despite my clarification yesterday to set the record straight regarding my contract, these allegations (which question the city and City Council, and not my role as a contractor) now constitute false claims.

Posted here last evening, in response to my earlier challenge to one erroneous claim about what I have been paid (a challenge in which I summarized the facts), was this comment:

“I may have goofed up figures with ‘then year dollars’ or how much was paid to you from one year or another, but the gist of my argument is the same: how could our city council, knowing that revenues were dropping, decide to provide a budget of $50,000 to a “Public Information Officer”?

Once again, the City Council, did not, at any time, “provide a budget of $50,000 to a ‘Public Information Officer” – not in 2008, not in 2009, and not a total for public information services for the years 2008 and 2009 combined.

As “community organizers” and agitators too often are inclined to do, it appears that they have taken a number here and a number there and produced conclusions, based on hearsay and assumptions, which have no basis in fact.

Therefore, let’s take it from the top:

The city extended to me a contract in May 2009 for certain specific services (a far cry from “government welfare,” a specious allegation at best). That contract was for $10,000. It was extended in November – after the $10,000 had been used up (at an average rate of just over $1,500 a month) – only for the purpose of accommodating the completion of certain information projects, already in progress, before year’s end.

I don’t, at this time, recall the exact amount I was paid under the contract extension. While a quick review of my Form 1099 will provide confirmation, as I recall it was only a few hundred dollars more. Without confirmation on my part, however, I will error on the side of caution and allow that it would not have been more than about $2,000 for six to seven weeks.

Even with an additional $2,000, however, my total income for providing Des Moines with public information services in 2008 would have been $12,000 at most.

Then, during the 2009 budget-setting process during the fall of 2008 – literally a line-by-line review of the budget, done more than once in some categories; the most detailed budget process I have ever seen any city council go through, at least in public – the council agreed to retain again my services as a public information officer. I was offered a new contract for the full current year, signed in early January, for $25,000.

When it became apparent during the first quarter this year that the city’s general fund revenue would be less than anticipated and was unlikely to improve, the City Council re-visited the budget. During that process in early March, my contract was reduced from $25,000 to $20,000. Before month’s end, my contract had been slashed by 50 percent – to $12,500 for the year. My work as a PIO for the city ends when contract funds run out next month; I will not return in this or any capacity with the city in 2010.

Furthermore, never was I retained specifically, under this or any other contract (of which there were none), to promote the 50th Anniversary celebration. While one of my several tasks specified in the contract under “Scope of Services” was to provide some public information support for the anniversary, once again those hours represent a small fraction of my total time working for the city. And never was I paid $50,000 or any amount to promote that celebration beyond the hours just noted.

In fact, as is readily apparent, the most I will have been paid by the City of Des Moines for providing public information services in 2008 and 2009 combined (and, as noted above, it is probably less by over $1,000), is about $24,500. This is just under half of what the erroneous claims suggest I have been paid.

To make, and then after being corrected to continue making, false claims such as this besmirches not me but City Council members. You (collectively) may disagree with their reasons for retaining public information services, but you must not misrepresent the dollars-and-cents facts of what they did.

Therefore, if you can provide documentation that provides otherwise – which you can’t – produce it now. Otherwise, on this matter, cease and desist, and take elsewhere your politically motivated allegations that have no basis in fact.