The Emporia Gazette

Bike Police Are Not Patrolling the City

Seems to me the bike patrol would be a cost savings to the city, while still providing effective coverage of the downtown and surrounding areas. So why not park a car or two?

January 31, 2012 at 6:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Energy savings Achieved

I read this article several times, but nowhere did I find how much we spent to realize these savings.

December 16, 2011 at 6:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Main Street, RDA fight for more tax money with differing results

Why not take the $17,000 that the RDA does not plan to spend and give $10,000 of it to Main Street who will put it to good use?

August 15, 2011 at 9:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Hetlinger breaks ground on expansion

A great day in Emporia and another shot in the arm for our local economy as work to construct this begins!

August 15, 2011 at 9:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Let the construction begin

Another example of our community, with a little outside help, stepping up to improve itself! Congratulations.

February 22, 2011 at 11:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Some county workers miffed by courthouse closures

Steve, I'd expect that that is the case. Or at least I hope so.

Not sure if all reading this are aware or not, but R&B is (I believe) the only department with an overtime budget who were not impacted by the budget cuts over the last few years. Last year alone they spent over $130,000 on OT wages! They budgeted $10,000 for 2011. Think that'll hold? In the last 3 years the personnel services line item has only gone up- not true for other departments.

I'm not implying our R&B crews don't work hard as they do their job to make sure our residents are safe. I just have little patience for whining.

February 15, 2011 at 7:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Some county workers miffed by courthouse closures

Just because it rains doesn't mean it floods, Lyon. In fact, most times it rains it doesn't flood. So, again, what do the R&B guys do when it is raining, or for that matter, is too cold to work?

I work construction, have all my life, and sometimes you put the hours in to get the job done. Goes with the territory, so if they aren't willing to do that, they need to find a new career.

February 14, 2011 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Some county workers miffed by courthouse closures

So how are rain days handled when the county crews are unable to work? Are they sent home? Is the time made up? My first guesses would be yes, no.

There are a lot of people who don't get paid when operations shut down due to weather, so anyone whose paycheck wasn't affected should be thankful.

I can help boost morale. Put them back as hourly employees. Or better yet, I'll put them to work on one of my crews. They'd be working 3-5 hour from home, will be living in a hotel during the week, and will have worked about 4 days in the last 2 weeks. I'm guessing their current job wouldn't look so bad then.

February 12, 2011 at 6:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

E-Verify

There is absolutely no reason to kill the E-Verify system. We use it to confirm employment eligibility for all of our hiring, and have done so for the last eight months. The system does have its quirks, but seems to work a lot more efficiently than the old way of reporting social security numbers to the Social Security Administration. What we find interesting is that we have had many Nonconfirmation's, but not one has been contested

Hopefully the word is getting out that if your paperwork is not in order (US citizen or not) don't bother applying as you won't keep the job.

February 24, 2009 at 4:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Statewide smoking ban?

seriouslyfolks -

Admittedly, "Pro-smoking" was a poor choice of words on my part, but I still stand behind my comment that all those who feel they are being misrepresented need to put their money where their mouth is and run for one of the 3 open seats on the commission.

My folks live in Iowa which has enacted a state-wide ban. I've been up there several times since the ban went into effect last summer (July, I believe) and have yet to here a negative comment, nor have I heard of an establishment going out of business as a direct result of the smoking ban.

I was originally against the ban and would have voted accordingly. But after seeing the positive results in Iowa I have seen for myself the reason this ban is a good thing.

January 22, 2009 at 2:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )