Tomorrow morning from 6:30-7:30 AM we will have our 32nd Coffee with a Commissioner event.
Unlike our typical events, however, we will be totally online and remote--we will not be out at a location interacting with people due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. We will be socially distancing and taking questions from constituents and others LIVE on facebook. You can join in and participate, just tune in at https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/
County administrator Janice Gilley will give an update on the status of County Services in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic locally. I will give a brief update on some significant D1 projects.
But the lion's share of the morning will be devoted to questions about the Chinese Coronavirus.
We will have special guest Dr. John Lanza, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County, on our virtual coffee session. He has received authorization from Tallahassee to participate, and he has graciously offered his time to be at the event. He will be answering questions in real time from constituents who send the questions in on facebook. You can send your questions via this blog post as well, and I will ask the doctor your questions for you.
I will replay the entire video on facebook for those who cannot make the session live on my facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/
13 comments:
boy howdy, i sure hope you're ready to face the music tomorrow after these arrests at ems
it's going to be quite interesting to hear what you have to say about dr. edler now
i hope that you issue some sort of apology to her or at least thank her for trying to make ems
a better organization
now maybe you will let her do the job she started and make ecems premier once again
Anonymous 3:24:
I have read the arrest warrants, documents you have probably not seen. You sound almost gleeful in your comment, gleeful and almost celebratory. Four words for you to keep in mind: Innocent until proven guilty. In this country, one has due process through the court system and one is innocent until proven guilty. We will see what happens in the trial that will be forthcoming but I'd caution you against burning these folks at the stake just yet......they get their day in court. If they are guilty and did what is alleged, then they will get their due punishment. As it pertains to these folks---I have not said anything publicly about these four individuals. Nada. I have mentioned the fact that multiple harassment complaints have been lodged in Public Safety and the staff did not handle the complaints properly. Three of the individuals that filed these complaints are not associated with these four arrests from today. And the paramedic that I have storngly advocated for also is NOT associated with this investigation and these charges in any way. And his case was totally and completely bungled by staff for months and months and months which has led to another lawsuit. So in your glorious, glee-filled excitement today, remember this: Don't conflate these personnel that have been arrested, and thier issues, with the other issues in EMS where our board policy on harassment wasn't followed. Two separate issues, separate and distinct. Do you understand that?
Jeff, it's ok to admit it, you've been getting your information from the wrong people. Don't let your pride get in the way of listening to the men and women who work for the county that have been trying to tell you the facts. Hopefully you will start listening to the ones not feeding you a bunch of bull and be a leader and fix the mess that's been going on. I live in your district and the word is definitely spreading fast about the decisions you've made. I voted for you last time. I'm not so sure this time, along with many people I've spoken too. I've never seen a leader talk so much crap in my life. Makes me believe I should vote for Casey or Owens. I'm glad I looked at your blog before i voted, all I see is a bunch blabbering without fixing anything. Sounds like a Democrat instead of a republican.
no joy in mudville sir. why are you so harsh? i did not mention their guilt, innocence nor any other criminal activity, NADA. i simply stated are you ready to face the music with questions that you apparently had the answers to yet continued to hammer dr. edler in grand fashion in a public forum. she is trying to do the job you or whomever hired her to do yet some folks who were upset because questions were raised on how they practiced their life saving skills, ran to you for protection. and the issues you speak of are the ripple effect of their former leader. so yes, the issues that confound ems now are the result of their, alleged, dereliction. do you understand that?
and by the way, you do owe dr. edler an apology. do you understand that?
lastly, you will not treat me like a child with the, do you understand that, comment. you are not my father. do you understand that?
good luck come august, it seems you're going to need it.
Dear Mr. Bergosh,
I have a concern that's actually NOT Covid-19 related. There has been a tremendous amount of growth in the Tower Ridge Rd area of Beulah. There are three large subdivisions in close proximity developed or under development that will ultimately have over 600 homes. Smack in the middle of the three is a large landfill. Fortunately, it appears to have recently been relatively dormant, but I'm concerned about the potential for this becoming another Saufley Field Road landfill situation in the future. I'm sure you remember the problems that resulted from operation of the Saufley Field landfill in the middle of residential development. If you take a quick look at Google Earth, you'll clearly see the potential for problems. Are you aware of or monitoring this situation? Are there processes in place to prevent this landfill from becoming an active industrial operation, with all the related dust, noise and odor issues, in the middle of an area of rapid residential development? Is this even the type of business we want operating in this area as future plans for the development of the Beulah area progress? I just wanted to bring this to your attention if you're not aware, and I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter.
Regards,
Robert Sapp
I appreciate your discussion with Dr. Lanza today. It was very informative. What strange times we find ourselves in today. One would think petty gripes or personal agendas would go by the wayside with this pandemic, but I see not from the comments above. I noticed the head union fireman asked during your presentation if employees would have to use any of their sick leave if they are forced to quarantine. It seems common sense that if you have sick leave, you would use that. I'm sure all of your county staff are working more now and will be paid. Of course, if they get sick due to their work, I am sure they'd file for workers compensation or sue you all. I found the question tone deaf to citizens as most of us in the private sector don't have the sick and annual leave, retirement or even higher pay that these county union workers do. I think this union head guy makes around 60K a year. I get it, it's a dangerous job, but around here, many of us have had dangerous jobs. My service in South East Asia was as dangerous and maybe even more dangerous than being a union big wig, with a lot less pay and benefits for us GIs.
As for the union axe grinders from some above, let's save all that for another day. Don't clutter up this great information with selfish union driven agendas for more money. That bickering can happen after the pandemic subsides. But, I really want to see the salaries of the county workers.
I tell you, if we're in a recession or a depression and I see union public workers complaining about making 60, 70, 80 or 90 thousand a year, I am going to lose it. My house is in District 1, too. I have voted for you on many occasions and will again as you are smart, hard working, transparent, polite and listen. My circle of friends are also voting for you as well. I see the Rick Outzen poll has you beating everyone, which is as I expected.
Plus, I do not know the other people running like Scott Trotter, James Ownes, Karen Sindel or Casey. I think they have all run for or been in some office before, but I just don't know them.
Again, thank you for this information and for the other helpful and interesting information on your blog.
NW FL should set up a Cordon and seal the borders If you open the beaches the hotels will fill with people from New Orleans and they will not leave. Lanza is a Covidiot-- NE article saying there is no community spread Makes me wonder if you're a covidiot also if if you think restrictions should be lifted.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-orleans-emerges-as-next-coronavirus-epicenter-threatening-rest-of-south/ar-BB11HRXa
Union big wigs? 60,80 and 90 thousand? You surely don't know why they unionized. It was back in 2000. It was a a good move. Nearly every FD is part of the IAFF. So the union is there to protect and not profit.
Those figures you scoff about may be accurate however, the hours worked is the kicker. You're looking at figures where guys have worked an avg of 500-800 up to 1000 hrs of OT when it's available. And upon retirement they still have to pay for med insurance. No Tricare for those guys.
As for pandering during a pandemic, who do you think is out there treating, transporting and taking care of these folks that may or may not have C-19? It's not you or your associates. It's the union thugs and big wigs. So before you go popping off about the thugs and big wigs, engage your brain before you engage your mouth.
With all the craziness going on, and possible exposure on EVERY SINGLE CALL by going INTO other people's homes, i gotta wonder how many, that like to talk about our profession are willing to switch places now. Think we get paid too much? Think we dont deserve the benefits we get? Out of everybody around, we have the HIGHEST RISK of getting exposed. And this isnt a new thing, we're always at risk. And you know what, we STILL SHOW UP AND DO OUR JOB. Not only do we show up, but we work more with mandatory duty. Away from family and kids with the potential to get our own family and kids exposed every time we go home. Anybody that talks about "what we make" or "what benefits we get", but that hasnt risked their own life for another, needs to get a reality check. But, thank you for your service in South East Asia, you would think that maybe you would understand the situation and relate a little more.
Union Thug (you called yourself that, so I'll go with it), your reasoning is flawed. The straw man, appeal to authority, and tu quoque logical fallacies of your response immediately come to mind. Listen son (I'm old), I did not get paid overtime by uncle sam when I was deployed and in harms way for sleeping on enemy ground(and make no mistakes, I have seen fires as big as you have ever seen and probably bigger) so don't tell me about hours counted as work by sleeping in the station after having a big meal from the butcher shoppe. Again, it's a logically fallacious thought process. Hear what I say without arguing in your mind, the union big wig was asking about additional leave to be granted on top of the sick leave already held by employees, which is a great question to HR off line, but TONE DEAF to citizens who pay his (and your) generous salary and benefits. The administrator rightly shut that down as the meeting was about COVID and how to stay safe, not worrying about strategies for employees to accumulate leave to sell back when the union boys retire. You think most able bodied Americans would shy away from hundreds if not thousands of hours of overtime (your estimate) at time and a half if they could? Of course they would. So, just admit you have great deal, be humble about serving the public (not your arrogant statement, (again your words)"who do you think is out there treating, transporting and taking care of these folks that may or may not have C-19? It's not you or your associates. It's the union thugs"). As for having to pay for medical insurance when you retire, the bright side is that you are young when you retire. And for TRICARE, most who served in the military did not retire, hence no TRICARE.
Whatever lol stay safe old man. Watch out for the covid-19, since your more at risk. You have no idea and will never have an idea of what’s going on behind the scenes and how sad our operations are being ran from the inside. You only see what’s going on the outside, so you see no problem. Your are greatly blinded to the reality, sir. It’s just some of us are fed up with the county and how they are not correctly protecting there employees or first responders that are in the front lines. Anyone can get in front of a screen and say everything is ok and we’re taking precautions for our first responder/ employees but in reality, We’re low on supplies and there not even following directive orders. So The union is in the right to look out for there employees, and Don’t get it twisted we have many and plenty of veterans that served just like you, that work within our ranks and continue to serve the public. So if you think it’s all about hot meals and nights with sleep. I’m sorry but you are sadly mistaken. You should really come see for yourself, instead of talking so much about something you have no idea about.
And with all respect i thank you for your service and I understand you probably seen a lot of things over in south East Asia. But what we’re witnessing on our end is own local government is telling you what you want to hear but in reality there sending us out here to the front lines with no protection or preparedness whatsoever. So take it how you want, the union is in the right to look out for their brothers & sisters in a time like this. Just how we are looking out and continuing to show up everyday for the protection of the citizens.
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