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Joyce Clark Unfiltered

For "the rest of the story"

It has been 17 years and 287 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

On September 20, 2015 former Glendale Fire Chief Mark Burdick pulled a packet to begin the process to run for mayor of Glendale. That sparked many asking if I would run for mayor. The answer is “no.” I am really enjoying my retirement as well as my new found freedom to comment on Glendale’s issues.

Personally, Mr. Burdick is gregarious and affable. He is a nice man but I know a lot of nice people who do not possess the qualities one would expect of a mayor.

There are two major factors about Burdick that voters should consider a year from now when the election occurs. One is the history of his past associations. Burdick was in the Beasley/Fischer-Frisoni-Tindall inner circle.  Apparently Beasley left as city manager while he could for surely he would have been terminated for his alleged favoritism, i.e, allowing Alma Carmichel, former HR Director, to telecommute from Mississippi; and allowing Art Lynch, former Finance Director, to profit handsomely as a consultant after he left Glendale’s employ. Fischer left as city manager after her actions of publicly berating the Glendale Chamber of Commerce President and in a retaliatory move requested councilmember emails. Tindall and Frisoni were employees who allegedly used their positions to further the goals of the Coyotes ownership group in its dealings with the city. Also Burdick appears to support Councilmember Sherwood who is facing recall on November 3, 2015. Burdick continues to maintain a relationship with Frisoni for he hired her to design the marketing package for his brand new company. In fact, I still remember the evening at a function at Westgate when Burdick and Frisoni lobbied me to choose Tindall as Glendale’s Interim City Manager. There is an old adage that you are judged by the company you keep.

The other major issue is the question of the effectiveness of Burdick’s leadership while he was Glendale’s Fire Chief. It appears that Burdick ceded his vision and leadership to the Glendale Fire Union. Fire union employees are sprinkled throughout the organization in decision making positions and other positions of power. Burdick seemed powerless to rein in the fire union’s agenda and goals. He didn’t seem to have the backbone to stand up to them and to advance an agenda that was good for all of Glendale – not just the fire union. Burdick, as fire chief, would have occasional but regular lunch meetings with councilmembers. I always felt as if I were listening to the fire union’s emissary. Several times I suggested that Burdick had to gain control of his department and I would get silence and this seemingly “deer in the headlights” look from him. His leadership skills are in doubt.

Make no mistake; Burdick will enjoy the full force and resources of the fire union’s support in his quest for mayor. That means that every Valley fire union chapter (except Glendale for that would violate the federal Hatch Act) will donate to his campaign. All of these chapters will “volunteer” labor to put up his campaign signs (while helping opposing candidates’ signs to disappear or be vandalized) and droves of firefighters will walk the length and breadth of Glendale handing out pro-Burdick flyers. The big gorilla, the Phoenix chapter, will do the same in spades, in addition to making independent expenditures for campaign mailers. They want Burdick in as mayor…badly. Can you imagine the coup of having a former fire chief as the mayor of one of the largest cities in the state?

Again, Mr. Burdick is a nice man but you vote for him at your peril. Do you want a mayor who will advance the fire union’s agenda by pouring resources into the fire department at the expense of every other department in the city? The city only has so much money in its General Fund. Do you want your General Fund tax dollars being used for fire almost exclusively while ignoring libraries, parks, streets and a host of other essential needs?

Mayor Jerry Weiers will face a tough reelection. If he expects to prevail he had better get out into the community now. To this day many consider him invisible. He needs to up his public profile. Burdick is already hitting Weiers on the decision to cancel the Coyotes contract and to enter into a two year deal with them. That decision will play well with many voters because it reduced the burden on taxpayers considerably and they like that. Weiers still faces the possible specter of having Sherwood and/or Aldama run for mayor as well.

Burdick will receive a lot of help in his campaign. Don’t become mesmerized. He, like anyone else, has feet of clay. His associations with seemingly bad actors within Glendale government and his seeming inability to lead his own department are Burdick’s feet of clay.

© Joyce Clark, 2015

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It has been 17 years and 272 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

Today, September 30, 2015, former Glendale Fire Chief Mark Burdick pulled a packet from the Glendale City Clerk’s office with the intent of running for the position of Mayor of Glendale in 2016. Burdick will, obviously, receive a majority of support in terms of campaign funding and manpower from the fire unions. As we have witnessed in the past, the fire unions will operate just a hair’s breadth inside campaign laws. Mayor Weiers is going to have a fight on his hands to retain his seat this coming election.

The Glendale Fire Department, kicking and screaming all the way, has finally implemented the use of a unit staffed with 2 persons, a paramedic and an emergency medical technician (EMT) to answer non-life threatening medical calls. It’s about time and the department is to be congratulated for implementing this test program. After all, it’s been in use in Mesa and Chandler for several years and is a proven system. It’s the first step in the elimination of the use of an engine or ladder answering medical calls…and is long overdue.

Also today, September 30, 2015, Glendale announced the hiring of Terry Garrison as its new fire chief. Here is the link: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2015/09/29/glendale-fire-department-names-houston-head-departments-new-fire-chief/73045786/ .

The first question that comes to mind is why would he deliberately demote himself? From the third largest fire department in the country to a much smaller department in Glendale? Apparently Mr. Garrison has been Fire Chief in Houston for the past 3 years and during that entire time his wife continued to live in the Phoenix Metro area. In his resignation letter his reason for leaving Houston is to assist in the care of an infant grandchild with a chronic condition. Many wonder if he will be the man to resist the continual pressure of the fire union power grab. We will find out shortly, won’t we?

© Joyce Clark, 2015

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

It has been 17 years and 242 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.

This is for any “Fischer-philes” still out there. I don’t follow Glendale’s former city manager Brenda Fischer. She’s no longer relevant now that she’s gone from Glendale. Other people still do. One of them sent me the latest on Fischer Consulting.

Guess who two of her latest clients are? How about Julie Frisoni (former Glendale Assistant City Manager) and Mark Burdick (former Glendale Fire Chief)? Here is the link to Fischer’s site: http://fischerconsultingllc.com/ .

I guess Frisoni’s former staid and conservative website was not driving much business. It’s odd because she bills herself as a master communicator. So she Frisoniturned to her old buddy, Fischer, to pep it up with an orange background and an array of microphones as the major image and added a bunch of new communication services (that happen to be eerily similar to Fischer’s offerings on her website). Hmmm…from a sophisticated image to a garish one in one fell swoop.

What is even more interesting is the fact that Burdick has formed his own fire consulting business, Innovative Fire Service Solutions. Is this a precursor for providing ambulance service in Glendale in the near future? Who did he use to Burdickdesign his advertising material? Why, Brenda Fischer. Fischer seems to be rather weak in graphic design. The use of a black background with gold text is not the most readable image. A light bulb with fire atop it is rather trite.

Frisoni and Burdick comprised part of Fischer’s inner power circle during her Glendale days. There were others. So, it’s not surprising that we continue to see the ongoing relationships among all three.

© Joyce Clark, 2015

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.