The Emperor Has No Clothes

The Emperor Has No Clothes

 

Like the Emperor in the famous Danish Fairy Tale by Hans Christian Anderson, Pacific Mayor Cy Sun must surround himself with people who tell him that he is doing what only a very few wise men can see is right.  It’s time for the citizens of Pacific to stand up and let him know that the Emperor Has No Clothes.

I originally gave Mayor Sun the benefit of the doubt and believed that once he took office he would discover that all of the lies he was encouraged to spread during the election were false and that he would apologize to the voters for misleading them.  The problem is, if you only surround yourself with people who either share the same delusions or are manipulating your delusions for their benefit, you will never recognize the truth.  You will figuratively walk around in the nude believing you are wearing clothes made of the finest material. You not only are unable to see your delusions, but you are unable to see the impact you are having on the city you claim to care about.

I love this great city of Pacific.  It pains me to see the struggles it’s going through currently and I do fear it might be in its death throes. It pains me to see us go from a city that was well respected regionally, was able to fight for and win very competitive transportation funding to fix its roads and was recognized nationally for its efforts to protect its citizens to a city that is ready to fold.  Even those people who have always stated that “elections have their consequences” would be amazed at how dramatically Mayor Sun has destroyed this community. The City’s Insurance Company made it very clear; there will be no insurance as long as Cy Sun remains in office.  Without his immediate resignation the city will not have coverage as of January 1.

Some people that are behind Cy Sun have claimed our city is better off disincorporated.

Those people may find they shot themselves in the foot as losing our city will most likely result in higher property taxes, a reduction in services and no representation.  You will not see less government with disincorporation; you will only see the loss of local control and of leaders who live right in our community and put our citizens first.

It is amazing how much our city has lost in less than a year.  Millions of dollars that we had secured in 2011 for widening Stewart Road, sidewalks on Milwaukee Blvd. and other projects seem to have disappeared because of Mayor Sun’s lack of leadership.  Some great staff members that put our citizens first and helped us efficiently move our city forward have now left and have gone to work for other entities.  When Mayor Sun took over we were a city that not only had a balanced budget but was able to build more than $500,000 in reserves at the same time other governments were still drastically cutting personnel.  We followed a philosophy of sound fiscal management that built budgets around very conservative revenue estimates and constantly looked for ways to provide better service for less money. We now are a city that has fewer services but has to increase taxes to present a balanced budget; that does not sound like fiscal sanity to me.  Most of all we have gone from a city that was respected for what we had accomplished or what we were doing, to one that is a laughing stock not only regionally but across this nation.  You can no longer blame the City Council or others for the crisis our city is in.  The Insurance Company made it very clear that this is on your shoulders. Mr. Mayor YOU HAVE NO CLOTHES. It is time for you to resign.

Calling All Video Gamers

Calling all Video Gamers

By Rich Hildreth

 

With the release of Call to Duty – Black Ops II today I started thinking about what an Emergency Management video game might look like. I realize it might not be as exciting as shooting terrorist and shooting down enemy drones; however as a tool to educate people in what it takes to be an emergency manager it might prove valuable.

Our game would start out with the player gaining a situational awareness of the resources and vulnerabilities of their jurisdiction.  Multiple landscapes could be included so players could choose between hurricane risk, earthquakes, tornados, floods or any other type of disaster.  Different types of landscapes could also be used for different levels of the game. Once the player gains situational awareness they then could establish their emergency operations plan by use of a drop down menu.

Actual play would of course be the approach of a storm or the onset of a disaster.  What decisions would you need to make and what consequences might occur as a result.  As an example with the approach of a Cat 4 Hurricane that is 36 hours out from a resort town you might consider mandatory evacuations.  You could have businesses argue with you that they will lose money and threaten to sue and have your public works people voicing concern over the ability to provide services after the storm.  Variables could be tossed in such as questions over where the storm might make landfall or the availability of safe locations for shelters. If you choose to order evacuations you could have clogged roads, gas shortages and break ins of vacant homes pop up, if you choose to only make evacuations advisory you might have people trapped in homes when the storm hits. As professionals we know that in any disaster there will never be clear concise answers, we can only make choices based on the best information we have at the time.

Figuring you survive the storm as a player the next phase could be how you respond. Based on the resources you previously identified, how do you deploy them for effective response and recovery?  You could have resource request coming in and have to scramble to find ways to fill them.  You could have power outages where you planned to set up a shelter or a staging area that is now inaccessible.  There are plenty of realistic variables that could be tossed in.  You could have politicians and citizens both making demands that you direct resources in one area when you know they are better used in another. You can have the media covering the house on the beach where the residents threw a hurricane party and are now trapped in a partially collapsed home and surrounded by water and debris, while ignoring the efforts to find shelter locations and supplies to take care of those people who did evacuate.  I know as professionals you recognize these variables are realistic, but wouldn’t it be fun to see how gamers might react?

At the end of each level you could have participants put together an after action conference and refine their emergency plans accordingly.  They could compete for mitigation projects and the building of additional capacity and resources.  You could have players and elected leaders debating why they should fund emergency management programs instead of building a park.  Players could have to convince their bosses why it is important for them to gain training in Incident Command or why attending an emergency management conference is important. I recognize this might not seem to be the most exciting part of the game, but as professionals, we know the impact this portion can have on the next disaster.

I do not have the skills to create a video game like this, but I think it would be interesting.  Most people do not recognize that emergency management is not just the response to a disaster.  As Call of Duty and other games have become so realistic and interactive that people swear it is just like real war; maybe the same thing can be done with disaster. It might not be as glamorous however I feel it is just as important for people to gain a sense of realism of what pressures impact disasters.  Maybe then people will be a little more proactive in being prepared themselves.

 

Elected Leaders Need Training - Their Citizens Deserve it

In the wake of Hurricane / Super storm Sandy, I know that some of the comments I hear being made by small town mayors and other elected officials blasting the FEMA response are being made out of frustration.  I have experienced firsthand the citizens and community you serve and truly care about suffering from the devastation of a disaster. However I must again remind these officials and all elected officials in our nation how the system works; All Disasters are Local.

Disasters are a true test of the leadership and preparedness of an elected official.  Especially in a small community or in a community that lacks dedicated emergency management personnel (separate from Police and Fire), citizens deserve elected leaders who take the time and do what is necessary to gain the skills, awareness and knowledge that might be needed when a disaster strikes.  Many of those officials are not aware that programs exist where they can gain this insight for little or no cost.  I hope that this article can inspire some of those officials to take advantage of these great programs and do what they were elected to do, protect their communities.

DHS/ FEMA operates a series of training programs that are open to and are of benefit to elected and other policy leaders.  Among these is the Integrated Emergency Management Program (IEMC) that is available at the Emergency Management Institute located in Emmitsburg Maryland.  In the IEMC classroom, participants not only learn about the emergency management process, but they also have the opportunity to apply what they learn in realistic disaster scenarios and functional exercises.  Participants assume a similar role to what they play in real life and learn new skills and concepts needed in all phases of emergencies.  The best part is these classes are free.

Applications are now being accepted for 2013 classes at http://training.fema.gov/EMICourses/ .  FEMA covers the cost of training, transportation from the airport, housing on the campus of the National Emergency Training Center (where EMI is housed) and reimburses the cost of transportation to the DC area.  The only cost to the participant is the time to take the class (typically 1 week) and the cost of the food ticket (typically around $100).

I encourage you to look at this and other programs that are available and encourage your elected leaders to take advantage of these programs.  The skills they gain might just make the difference during the next disaster.  The life they save might be someone you care about.

Richard Hildreth

Former Mayor, City of Pacific Washington

richhildreth@aol.com

And there are still people who are fooled

The following is a Facebook E-mail I received today.  This is why I have to keep posting corrections to the lies that Cy Sun and others have spread (and are still spreading).  I will not include this person’s name, however there are still a lot of people who have not figured out they were lied to in last year’s election.

“I see you're suing the city for half a million dollars. Why sink our city further? You already got a second career off of our money.”

Over the past few days people have called me a money grubber, just dog piling on the mayor and that I am out to destroy the city.  I personally wish I did not have to take this step and have done so only as a last resort.  As the Mayor continues to lie to the citizens in spite of the facts presented and his unfettered access to those facts he has continued his accusations and stated some new ones.  The US Supreme Court might allow candidates to say whatever they want to get elected, but he is no longer a candidate, nor am I an elected official.  The intent of my lawsuit is not the money but is to clear my name and let our citizens know the truth.

I responded to this latest with two responses. The first:

I could care less about the Money; I want Mayor Sun to quit claiming corruption and tell the citizens the truth. His lies have already cost me at least one job just from the questions.

 

And the second:

Also, you should know that #1, I am in the same career I have been the past 25 years (Electrician). 2nd you should check the facts of how my training was paid for (most cost not reimbursed by FEMA was covered by local business). I ate the lost wages for time I was away at these training's, and as a result of my efforts our city had a State Approved Emergency Management Plan and was receiving a little over $12,500 per year (for 4 years) to help build up preparedness in our city. Even if the taxpayers had funded 100% of the cost it was still far cheaper than highering a consultant to write our plan would have been and less than what we received as a result of our plan in EMPG grants.

Just thought you might want to have your facts strait.

Have a nice day

Rich

 

I don’t care to go back and blame anyone for my losing the election.  As we have now seen, elections have consequences and Pacific’s citizens are now seeing the impacts.  It is unfortunate that so many people fell for the lies of Mayor Sun’s campaign and the Anybodybutrich campaign put on by a disgruntled businessman, but that is life.  Hopefully people will now do a little research before voting and recognize when they are being lied to.  They facts are out there for anyone to see.  They are in this blog, the State Auditor’s Office (and website), The Public Disclosure Commission and Pacific City Records. If you do not want to believe me you can go look at the facts yourself.

Why I was forced to file a lawsuit.

As many of you might now know, I have filed a $500,000 claim for damages against the City of Pacific for the actions and statements of Mayor Sun that impact me.  I personally wish that the suit could be against him personally and leave the city out of it, however as his actions were taken in his official capacity the city is involved.  It is not about the money, it is about the truth, getting the facts out there and clearing my name.

During the election, then candidate Sun made statements claiming that I was corrupt and was illegally using the city credit card for personal gain.  Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court has ruled that candidates do not have to tell the truth in their advertising nor do they have to tell the truth about their opponents.  Candidate Sun could have claimed I was an ax murderer and I could not have legally prevented him from making the claim.  However he is no longer a candidate and I am no longer his opponent.

There was no corruption in City Hall and as investigations and the facts have shown, I did not illegally use the credit card for personal gain.  But his continued claims that I did so to avoid telling the people he lied to them and his blog (that he also advertised in the city water bill) of September 9^th claiming additional proof of his claims have crossed the line.  I am now turning to the only option I have left to clear my name.  If he has this proof of my corruption then he needs to file a criminal complaint, not make accusations to make him feel better.

In his September 9^th post he has made wild accusations that lead a reasonable reader to believe that as the past Mayor I committed fraud, theft of city funds and was part of a conspiracy with others to hide evidence of this corruption.  This accusation amounts to defamation of my character, loss of professional reputation and has resulted in physical and emotional stress and may have resulted in the loss of at least one job I had applied for.

As a result of this I am asking for the following action to be taken:

·         An immediate Cease and Desist Order be issued for any accusations except as submitted to a Court of Law.

·         Payment for a complete investigation of accusations made by a reputable and neutral party complete with an audit of City of Pacific finances with full reporting to the Citizens of the City of Pacific, not funneled through any source that could be deemed as bias.

·         Payment of All Attorney Fees

·         Financial Damages in the amount of $500,000

I care for and love this city that I spent the past decade serving.  I hold no grudges against the mayor, the council (for they have a role to play in this as well for their actions in 2011) or the citizens who may have voted him into office.  That is politics and I never have believed that politics is fair.  I do however believe that it is wrong to continue to lie to the citizens, especially if it damages the good name of others. I worked hard for this city and when I left office it was fiscally and operationally in good shape.  I am proud of what we had accomplished even with the limited resources we had and the fiscal restraints of an international depression.  This claim for damages was the last thing I ever wanted to do, and some people will (as was claimed in another blog) say I am dog piling on the City before it goes under.  I would much rather have my name and reputation intact and the citizens of this great town all knowing the truth about corruption. It appears that this claim and lawsuit is the only way that is going to happen.

One last time ..... THERE WAS NO CORRUPTION

In spite of numerous explanations, facts showing there was no corruption in my office and the resulting disastrous consequences of last year’s election there are still some people who what to hold on to mistaken beliefs. They will believe what they want to believe but to me they have the credibility of birthers or those who believe that 9-11 was a hoax to give President Bush a reason to attack Iraq. I have moved on from the election, but I do grow weary of the twisted facts, outright lies and in the case of one blog, comments such as “like past Mayor’s comments, the Prosecutor declining charges does not prove innocence.” But weary as I am about this; let’s go over this one more time.

Following my announcement in January of 2011 that I was going to run for a third term as Mayor of the City of Pacific a series of things started to occur. First was the appearance of www.anybodybut rich.com, a website funded by a local business owner who was upset that my administration would not turn away from violations he was making of zoning laws, permitted uses under his business license and environmental standards. It was not that we were against what he wanted to do, it was that he refused to follow the same process everyone else was required to use. He was upset we would not give him special treatment. This is the same person who tried to recruit City Council Members to run against me and who paid for papers and campaign workers to deliver them in the last weeks of the 2011 campaign. This is the same person who still has a lawsuit against me because of the already disproven allegations that my travels for training and conferences were outside of the scope of my job as Mayor and illegally funded by taxpayers. It is funny that even though the current Mayor’s actions have required him to hire an outside attorney because he was outside of scope, I am still covered by the City Insurance Company because even their investigation showed I did nothing improper.

Following a meeting with members of the council and this business owner, questions about my use of the city credit card were raised by the City Council. Although I will admit I could have handled this situation a little more calmly than I did, I asked the Insurance Company to do an investigation into the allegations if nothing else to show due diligence and that there was no attempt to cover up anything. The investigator looked at my travel, the types of training I took and if the training was consistent with my role as Mayor and in the public interest. That report by Canfield and Associates is included elsewhere in this blog. The only question that the investigator could not confirm was an incident in 2007 where my wife accompanied me to a conference in New Orleans.

That conference, sponsored by FEMA and ICMA (International City Management Association), was “Restoration 2007”. I not only attended this conference, in spite of being a “Strong Mayor” and not part of a Council / Manager form of government, I helped organize and plan for this event as well as being one of the workshop speakers. For my efforts in organizing the event, my conference costs were picked up by the host. When I purchased the airline tickets from Orbitz.com they would not allow for split billing. When I talked to the Finance Director at that time, I was instructed to pay the city for my wife’s ticket (which was done prior to the purchase), and then purchase the tickets together on the city credit card. This was consistent with what had been done the previous year when the Community Service Director and her husband traveled to Anaheim for the All American City Award. This was disclosed to the council at the time of purchase and In August was discussed with the Washington State Auditor’s office as part of the 2006 audit. It was decided that although not technically illegal it was not a best practice. We then internally changed the practice of how spousal travel would be dealt with to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

As for other travel to and from training programs sponsored by FEMA and/or DHS there are two important facts confirmed by the investigations and by documentation that has been provided. First the types of training taken are consistent for Governmental Administration including elected officials. In fact in the IEMC classes I shared the governmental role with three Texas Judges (comparable with a County Administrator) and a City Council member. Although it is admittedly unusual for a Mayor to take these classes, the information was brought back and directly applied for Public Benefit in our emergency plans and were all concerning information that is important to the Policy role of government. Secondly the investigation showed and verified that this travel was accomplished at little or no cost to Pacific residents or taxpayers. Local businesses such as Gordon Trucking, Valley Truck and Equipment and Commercial Metals made donations to what was a line item in the city budget as “Mayor’s Travel”. These donations were to cover travel expenses not reimbursed or otherwise covered by DHS/FEMA. As traveling to EMI in Emmitsburg Maryland was complicated by cross country flights and specific times that FEMA provided buses picked up students at the airports there was a choice. Fly out at midnight our time on Saturday night and not make it to sleep until 8 pm Sunday night and be a zombie all day Monday or fly in on Saturday day, stay overnight in Washington DC or Baltimore and arrive refreshed at EMI on Sunday. Again these trips were all booked on Orbitz.com with a typical cost of $75-$100 a night. Although Mayor Sun’s blog might claim that I was gallivanting around the country staying in 5 star hotels, it was a dramatically reduced cost and for justifiable reasons. Even though the cost was covered by donations, I constantly looked for ways to keep cost as low as possible. Cost of Airfare to EMI was always covered by a reimbursement by FEMA to me and then deposited into the City Accounts as a line item in the Mayor’s travel.

FEMA’s reimbursement policy at EMI (Emergency Management Institute) was not something that I or any other student had control over. They were required by Federal Policy to reimburse the student and could not legally issue a check or payment to the city, regardless of how the travel cost were originally funded. Approximately 6 weeks after a class they would electronically transfer a reimbursement for airline cost and baggage fees to my account. Upon receipt I would write a check to the city or deposit the funds in cash back to the city. These items were also listed in the Mayor’s travel fund line item and typically were flagged as FEMA reimbursement. During the investigation we did find a few cases where the deposit was mislabeled and deposited in the wrong fund; however in no case was it ever shown that funds were not immediately turned over to the city. After the turmoil started in the Council, a reimbursement for a class in January was used to partially fund travel to a class in June, however that was partially because the travel in January was partially funded by an airline voucher for being bumped from a flight. When the reimbursement for the June class was received it was immediately turned over to the city.

Not all of my travel was to EMI; I also traveled to DHS funded training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston Alabama, TEEX in College Station Texas and CHDS in Monterey California. In these courses Governmental contractors would book the flight themselves and the only cost would be an occasional meal and/or baggage fees. Again these would be covered by donations and/ or reimbursements by the Federal Government. Although some people might question if the training had a public benefit (and this question was brought up by opponents and by council members) both the investigation by the insurance company and the fact that information brought back was immediately included in our CEMP and /or training and exercise that was provided to staff and to citizens.

I have tried to stay out of the controversy over Mayor Sun and the efforts to recall him. I personally wish that he had been outstandingly successful in running the city in spite of the fact that I know there was not corruption, an out of control budget or employees making outrageous salaries. I do not find any glee in seeing our city become the laughing stock of the nation or a poster boy for dysfunctional government; I fought too hard to bring us back from that when I took over as Mayor in 2004. My only issue in this at all is I am tired of people, including the mayor, continuing to mislead the people of this great city. So one final time; there was no corruption in city hall under my watch, I did not illegally use the city credit card to fund a future career (although if the city wants to they can pay for some of my student loans) and local taxpayers did not fund out of control travel, vacations in 5 star hotels for me and my wife and fancy meals at expensive restaurants. If you don’t believe me the facts are here in this blog and you can verify my figures in the public record.

FACTS DO NOT LIE.

 

The following is the introduction for one of my classes at AMU.  It describes why I got so involved in emergency management and the classes I have taken.  This class (Coll200) is to apply prior experiance, knowledge and training to gain credit twords my BA degree in Emergency and Disaster Management.  The training I took as Mayor and experiance I gained is only a small part of my future career.  From time to time I will share some of my classwork in this blog as I expand my horizons.

I hope this helps explain a few of my motivations.
Rich

I come to AMU and this class with a different background than most.  I have spent the past 35+ years in construction (25 as a Commercial Electrician) but also served as the Mayor of the City of Pacific from 2004 to 2011.  It was during this time that I developed a passion and understanding for Emergency Management and Homeland Security.  As I am now 53 years old and my productive years performing as an electrician are waning, I am pursuing a BA degree in Emergency and Disaster Management with the intent of working another 20 years in this field.

Following Hurricane Katrina I looked at how my city was prepared and what would have happened if similar type events had happened in the Pacific Northwest.  As my community is small we did not have the resources to develop a functional emergency operations plan with existing resources.  The options were to hire additional staffing, move existing staffing to emergency management (and get them trained) or pursue the training myself.  I chose that later and now have extensive prior learning and experience that I hope to apply in this class.

My first step in writing our emergency plan was attending “Restoration 2006” a FEMA / ICMA conference in New Orleans.  At this conference I took a 16 hour pre-conference workshop on Continuity of Operations.  Based on information gained at this training and applying state and local resources for reference I wrote our initial plan. As a result of this experience and the success of the initial plan (it was tested by flooding in November of 2006), I was invited to speak at Restoration 2007 the following year.  While at this conference in 2007 I learned about a training program provided by FEMA at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI).  My first trip to EMI was that August taking the Integrated Emergency Management Course .

The more I learned from classes, the more I realized what was needed to fully develop our program.  An emergency plan is much more than a printed document that describes what to do in an emergency; it is an ongoing project that includes planning, gap analysis, developing capacity and training and exercise.  Again, to leverage the limited resources we had as a community, I took it upon myself to take the classes and bring the information back and apply it to our program.  As a result I have earned credentials as an Incident Command Systems (ICS) instructor, Master Exercise Practioner (MEP) and all classwork for the Master Trainer Program (MTP).  I have taught multiple classes in ICS, COOP Planning, General Preparedness and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).  I have also written, performed and evaluated four table top exercises that tested portions of Pacific’s emergency plan.  In addition, as Mayor, my city successfully responded in five Presidentially Declared Disasters.

Outside of EMI I have taken classes at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston Alabama and Texas Engineering and Extension Service (TEEX).  I have been though the COBRA training facility now four times learning what it is like to operate in a contaminated environment.  In the COBRAtf, I suited up in level B and then Level C hazmat suits and operated in rooms contaminated with GX and VX nerve agents.  This experience gave me a whole new perspective on Hazmat response.

In 2010 I was accepted into the Executive Leaders Program at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS.us) located at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California.  This program, one of the most competitive to gain acceptance into in the country, was less training than teaching participants how to apply critical thinking to their jobs.  In this program I further learned how interdependent and linked the world of Homeland Security is with not only emergency management, but with everyday aspects of our lives and our environment.

I could ramble on and on about the experiences I have been provided and how they can be applied in life and this course, however there will be plenty of time to do this in following weeks.  I look forward to the challenges of this program and how I can apply prior learning to my chosen degree program. In putting together professional quality portfolios applying prior knowledge to course work I hope that I will not only re-experience what I have learned, but actually expand that base of knowledge through additional application.  I also look forward to sharing these experiences with the class as well as learning from you through your experiences. In closing all I can add is wishing everyone the best of luck on their portfolios and in their academic and professional careers.