As a former employee and resident of Baker City, I have stayed quiet long enough. I would like to respond to Mr. Jacoby’s inaccurate editorial from the other day and provide some logical and reasonable insight into the city’s budget situation.

I find it interesting that in 2017, former City Manager Fred Warner brought forward a budget message with the same exact issue Baker faces today, however with a $500,000 shortfall. His proposed solution? A public safety fee. That public safety fee would later sunset, and during those few years, the city’s budget was inflated due to the SAFER grant and other grants. However, someone from the outside comes in, Jon Cannon, and points the light at the same problem, proposes some ideas to the City Council, and he’s the bad guy? That doesn’t make much sense. The City Manager’s job is to provide suggestions, manage contracts and staff. City Council votes and establishes the direction and policies of the city.

The ambulance issue has been a big topic of discussion. It’s time to move on and move forward. To put the numbers simply, and for the city to successfully fulfill the County’s RFP, the city’s projected budget for the fire department would have been $3 million. Let’s give it the benefit of the doubt, and say only 50% of the call load is ambulance calls (we know this to be way too low, it is more like 85%). So for just ambulance, the projected cost to the city would be $1.5 million. Oh, and the city, on a really good year, that also had a lot of back billings, brought in revenue of $1 million. That is a $500,000 loss every year. I would like to ask Councilor Calder, Mr. Joseph, and Mr. Daugherty, all business owners, if your business was losing $500,000 per year, would you still be in business?

As a technology professional, it baffles me that individuals attack and complain about the city’s IT budget. The reason for the IT budget having an increase over the last few years was not just the outdated financial software that appeared to be built in the 80s. That financial software was not meeting the needs and demands of the city. This new financial software is going to help staff be more efficient, and quite possibly save money in the long run. Communication with Chaves DID happen. Burns, Oregon, moved from Chaves to Caselle just recently for many of the same reasons.

Due to all the cuts that previous city council and budget board members made over the last 20 years, the technology issues have compounded. Before I came onboard, the city’s network and technology was out of compliance for cybersecurity insurance. The network devices and several workstations were failing. The city’s data was not being backed up and could be lost at any time. The city’s technology had to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. I worked diligently to find places where we could save money and increase efficiency. Baker City has the lowest technology budget compared to La Grande, Baker County, and Ontario.

I loved my job at Baker City. I left mostly due to the political environment, and the overwhelming workload. Quit blaming Jon Cannon and management for 20+ years of compounded problems. Mr. Cannon is doing an outstanding job. Shame on you budget board for “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” and doing a vote of no confidence, when that isn’t even in your purview. Shame on those who continue to attack Mr. Cannon before sitting with him as an adult and seeing both sides of the story and receiving the facts from the source. And shame on Baker City Herald for spreading this rhetoric just to gain a few subscribers.

Good luck to you, Baker City. Certain individuals are driving some of the greatest leaders and employees of the city out of town. It is time to turn this freight train around and support your City Manager and management staff. Robbing from other budgets and cutting your way through the problem, will not fix the problem.

Dallas Brockett

Baker City