The Glendale Star in an effort to perpetuate the current feud between the Glendale Fire Union and Freightliner, Inc. recently ran two opinion pieces, one by Joe Hester, President of the Glendale Fire Union, and one by Tim Noeding, General Sales Manager of Freightliner of Arizona. Here is the link to the Hester op ed: http://www.glendalestar.com/opinion/editorials/article_80078e26-9d73-11e3-8f2f-001a4bcf887a.html . Here is the link to the Noeding op ed: http://www.glendalestar.com/opinion/editorials/article_ea857dd8-9a46-11e3-a4c4-0019bb2963f4.html .
Again, it is apparent that the situation is a “he said vs. he said.” The general public does not understand or appreciate the technical nuances both gentlemen have used without any published facts. Neither side has offered anything new that hasn’t already been said.
So what do we need to know to ascertain the truth? At this point the fire department (or perhaps Joe Hester??) should provide the original, time stamped or dated, original bid specifications provided to the vendors. It should also provide the ratings sheets/evaluations of each bid publicly. If they are unwilling or unable to do so publicly speculation will continue to grow over was there ever was a standard set of specifications.
Apparently no formal RFP was ever issued. That flies in the face of city policy. Chief Burdick and Joe Hester claim that they dusted off old bid specifications, unused because of a lack of funding. When the older attempt to buy a truck did not occur, that was a final action. It died. When grant funding became available a new bid process should have been initiated. That did not happen. Why? Until the truth is known this incident will fester like a wound that is infected.
© Joyce Clark, 2014
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The 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 ‘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 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.
According to a friend in the business is that captain Hester’s way of protecting the chief who has been approving his special assignment pay for the last three to four years so that he can do union business on the backs of citizens of Glendale. I wonder if the council knows about special arrangement as they try to fix the budget problems facing the city. As far as the purchase of fire truck and the irregular behavior of the fire department I am told this is not anything new and if anyone would like to see the same people in action just check out the HALO contract or the Southwest Ambulance contract. The same type of irregularities exist the difference is no one had the courage to challenge the chief for fair of being frozen out of other city contracts.
Holder, Very interesting. Had heard some of the same as rumors…nothing factual to substantiate.
I do not have any names to give up but you comment sent me looking on the city’s web site and I found two internal audits. One on the repairs to a hanger at the airport and the other on Southwest Ambulance Contract that very “kindly” address the irregularities or lack decisive action by the management in the fire department. It would be interesting to see how they are handled by leadership and the response from the chief.
Holder, I would be interested in seeing what you found. Can you please send me the links to clarkjv@aol.com?
Thank you.