Letter to the Editor

Proposed PBPD size questioned

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Dear Editor,

NOTES ON THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONDAY NIGHT

PLEASE WATCH THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON YOUTUBE

I HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED AN “ANGRY LITTLE MAN” BY THE CITY

Why am I angry? The City Council is going to purchase 58 ACRES OF PRIME RETAIL PROPERTY FOR A MILLION DOLLARS!! That property should be used to generate commercial gain for the city through taxes and fees by businesses locating there.

AND still NO ANSWERS!! Are they still going to use the Consultant?!!!!

After they said the police station would only need 2 or 3 acres, am I crazy or what? I don’t follow the logic, so why 58 acres?

Then we had an argument why the police station needed to be 27,000 square feet, I know I am not an expert, but doesn’t that seem a little extreme? A 1,000 square feet per officer?

So I went home and googled it, check this out:

At: revenuecost.com/blog/dif/police-station-sizing-400 . It comes from California where they spend money like crazy.

The resulting space per officer for the 23 agencies ranged from a high of 607 square feet to a low of 133 square feet. The average was 347 square foot per officer, with 10 policing agencies above that average and 13 policing agencies below that average. This does not indicate that 350 square feet per officer is the correct amount.

THE COUNCIL says I am being unfair and mean, am I? Buying 58 acres when you need 2 or 3 acres? Or building an extremely large police station, because we all respect Danny? Let’s be reasonable, we will still respect him if he has a smaller station say, 607 square feet times 27 officers that would be 16,389, of course Danny is a great chief and he is going to ask for whatever he can get, doesn’t mean he should get it, does it? Or am I wrong? Then how are they going to maintain it, they can’t meet budget now!

By the way, they said they would pass an ordinance about keeping City Hall downtown, then a LITTLE LATER asked if they could change it, later, WHAT!!!!!!!! I AM AN ANGRY LITTLE MAN FOR SURE!!

GUESS who is up for re-election next April, Ron Black and Steve Davis, come on somebody has to step up, I can’t, I love being the Angry Little man!!

Tell Steve Davis 573-718-2993, sdavis@pbcity.org, Ron Black 573-718-7081, rblack@mycitycable.com,Shane Cornman 573-718-3095, scornman@pbcity.org, and Lisa Parsons 573-712-8198, lparson@pbcity.org, Barbara Horton, 573-778-7373, barbaraannhorton@hotmail.com, they should do what’s best for the City!!. Curious, isn’t it? Well, that’s how it goes when they are spending someone else’s money, the taxpayers’ money, and just when we thought they had come to their senses. They are still determined to go ahead and find a way to bankrupt the city and why not, it isn’t their money, it’s ours.

Robert Smith

Poplar Bluff attorney

(Note: This letter is not from Mayor Robert Smith.)