Carefree Truth

                                             Issue #474, April 1, 2016

 

 

 

During Call to the Public Karen Remy O'Toole, who identified herself as "Remy Out", complained that she was treated rudely by the Administrative Assistant at Carefree Town Hall when she applied for a garage sale permit.  Ms. "Out" was told that the permit fee was $25.  She said she had paid $100 in the past.  Ms. Zimmerman assured her that it is $25.  Ms. "Out" again insisted the fee was $100, saying she'd paid that in the past.  Ms. Zimmerman said it had been $25 since she's been working for Carefree since August but that Ms. "Out" could speak to the Code Enforcement Officer.  Ms. "Out" said Ms. Zimmerman then got up and "sped away", so she left, but called after she got home.  Someone else answered the phone.  Ms. "Out" asked to speak to the office manager and was told there was not an office manager but that she could speak to Mrs. Peterson, who had answered the call.  After hearing the complaint, Mrs. Peterson said she had walked in as Ms. Zimmerman excused herself, said she going to get someone, and would be right back.  Ms. "Out" disagreed, called Mrs. Peterson a liar, and asked who hired her.  Mrs. Peterson responded that Ms. "Out" was harassing her.  Ms. "Out", who was recognized as a friend of the previous Administrative Assistant, said the person who used to work there was so nice, and played with her dog when she brought her dog into Town Hall.

 

 

 

Ms. "Out" found it "offensive and condescending" that Carefree only allows 2 garage sales per year, and provides the signs that can be used.  She said she hadn't had a garage sale for 8 years.  She felt it says to the community, "We don't trust you.  If we don't have laws and put our foot down, you're going to have a garage sale every weekend.  You're going to make us look like hell up here.  We're going to look stupid.  We're going to have these crummy garage sales, and it's worse than having a post office box out in front of your house, you know, a mailbox.  We won't stand for it!"  Ms. "Out" said no one needs to have a garage sale to pay their mortgage or electric bill.  "No one's having garage sales every week.  Frankly, I wish there were more because it's the only time you get to meet anybody in this town is if you go to garage sales and you start talking to people.  It's the only place you really network unless you just want to go to a bar or something.  It's really the only way."  "There's nothing wrong with garage sales." 

 

 

 

She added that the 3 signs provided by Carefree aren't enough to get people to her house.  She would rather use her own "professional", color coordinated signs.  Instead of garage sales, she said the Town should worry about the mistletoe in the trees making Carefree look bad, and the power lines that people have to look at from their houses every day.  Councilman Mike Farrar asked if she had spoken with Gary Neiss.  She said she had, and had "gotten nowhere".  Mr. Neiss told her there had been no other complaints.

Remy "Out"

 

 

 

 

Jim Van Allen thanked the staff for putting the agenda and the full packet on the Town website the Friday before the Council meeting.  He was told it was done as a courtesy, and said he wanted it to be made an into an Ordinance.  Mayor Les Peterson explained that it was particularly difficult to prepare the packet in advance when the end of the month closely corresponds to the meeting.  The financials and other items are being closed out at the months' end, but as a courtesy Jim Keen, Gary Neiss, and Kandace French were striving to accommodate Mr. Van Allen's request.   

 

 

 

Mr. Van Allen also noted that the Town is getting ready to start the preliminary budget process.  He recommended that rather than using the year to date expenditures and adding a percentage, which is the government standard, Carefree should switch to zero based budgeting, which was used in the hotel industry during his 35 years there.

 

https://vimeo.com/157858533 

 

 

Lyn Hitchon

 

 

 

Prepared by Carefree Truth

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