Ten SAPD Cadets to be Sworn in Thursday

According to the meet and confer reports that I've read on here, the city of San Angelo has so far invested approximately $600,000 in hiring, training, equipping and getting them ready for their first day on the job over the past year. Over the next year, 1/3 (or 3 of these investments) will leave for higher paying jobs, taking over a quarter million dollars of city tax money with them for their training and experience that they gained while here. It just seems to make more sense to me to pay these folks the competitive pay that they are seeking and keep our investments right here to get a solid return on the investment put into them.

Yes that would be what makes the most sense Dr D-b but government entities and individuals that are on committees tend to make decisions based more on their own personal agendas and "feelings" than on what makes the most sense financially for the city.

At the March 19, 2014 Meet and Confer Meeting between City of San Anglo representatives and representatives of the San Angelo Coalition of Police (SCOP) aka the San Angelo Police Officers Union. Mr. Koby Kennedy of SCOP asked for input from attending San Angelo City Council Members Fleming and Vardeman. City manager Daniel Valenzuela objected pointing out that SCOP directly addressing Council directly may not be appropriate. San Angelo City Attorney Lisa Bowing made another one of her questionable "legal" decisions stated it was not an issue. Mr. Fleming declared he want to give everyone a raise but give bigger raises to the Police and Fire Departments. It is interesting that the San Angelo Police officers Political Action Committee made a donation of $1,000 to Mr. Fleming's April 9, 2009. Remember Rodney Fleming is a sitting council member who interjected into the Meet and Confer process.

according to bill richardson, everything that's wrong with this town is Rodney Fleming's fault. I guess if the rain doesn't come this weekend like it's supposed to, Rodney Fleming must be to blame. I wouldn't know Rodney Fleming if he walked in the door, but i sure do appreciate that he doesn't lower himself to the level of mr richardson. A job well done, Mr. Fleming.

Attack the messenger, don't bother addressing the issues.

if it wasn't the same message over and over, it might carry a little more weight. It seems like a personal attack and not a concerned citizen informing us. Your sense of community service is appreciated, but not at the expense of one individual being accused of every wrong-doing. The boy who cried wolf also had a correct message in the end, but it fell on deaf ears because of the messenger's past.

Mr. Hyde There is nothing wrong with council members attending the Meet and Confer Meeting as observers however to put in their opinion is highly unethical and possibly a violation of the rules governing the negotiation process. That is why our City Manager objected. Mr. Fleming has proclaimed himself to be the Republican Party representative in the city election. In fact Mr. Fleming has declared on his Campaign Finance Report that he is running in a in a "Primary." Republicans have always complained about unions contributing to election campaigns yet Mr. Fleming accepted $2,000 from the Firefighter's Union and now $1,000 from the Police Union. Since being elected Mr. Fleming has lead the campaign against individual freedoms by first demanding that the city ban tax payers form setting off fireworks in the Twin Buttes area. Then Mr. Fleming went after the tax payers who liked to walk along Red Bluff Road. Next he went after the private business owners who own RV parks. (He has had those business tied up for months and now claims he did not know what he was doing. And now Mr. Fleming wants to raise water rates and penalize accused "water abusers" and deny them their day in court. Due process of law is just too inconvenient for Mr. Fleming. Mr. Fleming is a capital "L" Liberal. We the citizens of San Angelo have conserved water for many years now. It is time for San Angelo City Council to say thank you and show us the respect we deserve instead of picking our pockets.

You just can't face the truth or refute what I have written so you have resorted to person attacks. You don't know Fleming. lol

Thank you for pointing out this inappropriate behavior has occurred in the past. Having elected officials directly address a civil service union's negotiators undermines the authority of the city's negotiators. No one objects to our police officers being paid a salary which will provide them a decent standard of living. However we live in the United States of America where we expect our elected government officials to behave in an ethical manner. Mr. Fleming, Mayor Morrison and other members of this city council are behaving in the same way which we citizen's criticize the politicians in Washington for behaving. If citizens do not stand up for what is right our democracy will fail. To safe guard our rights we need to stand against corruption at the home level. City government has a more immediate impact on our daily lives than the federal and state governments. As well a criticizing San Angelo City Council Member Rodney Fleming's actions I have criticized the actions of Mayor Morrison, Jonny Silvas, the San Angelo City Attorney and the entire city council: Why come to the defense of Rodney Fleming only and why not support the rights of the citizens of San Angelo?