Bill Monroe's column (NFR sort of)

[Joe Schwab]

Bill's column in the Oreg. this morning hit the nail right on the head. Ouch! If you are one of the dedicated ODFW staffers who are going to get shafted in the move to Salem, my heart goes out to you. And if you are one of the Adminstrators that stand still and let this kind of thing go on, shame on you! You collect your high 5 figure or 6 figure salary for what? Being a rubber stamp to Salem? For once show some backbone and do the right thing. What? You might get fired? Gee, then you can collect your PERS retirement based on your last three highest years and find some work in the private sector where you can be even better off.
Most people want their careers to end on a positive note so they can look back with good memories and say "I made a little difference."
These people deserve better than a terse note saying "we're moving, deal with it." Do you suppose our important fish and wildlife issues are going to get their undivided attention in the next year or however long this move takes?
I never liked the idea of unions in the public sector all the time I worked there, but instances like these show there is a need for some sort of employee power.

Will we really be better off with HQ in Salem so legislators can keep and eye on them? Sounds like the Gov. and Legislature wants to micromanage everything and the leaders they appoint fall right into step with them. Glad I'm retired!!

[ 11-10-2002, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Capt. Hook ]

[hawgcatcher]

What got me about this whole situation is that they don't have money to run hatcheries but they do to build new buildings and move the works to Salem. I would rather see them stay where they are and apply the money to the hatcheries.

[Thumper]

Well spoken, guys!

[bigshark]

What still keeps coming to mind for me is that the sale of the Portland building is just enough to pay for the moving of the dept to Salem. I'm sure I read this a month or two ago..........I hope it isn't true...............How could that be?
Does 7+ million ring a bell with anyone else? Awe, it must be I got a bad olive in my martini and I had one of those dreams like the mushroom people.

[TheRogue]

Actually, I would bet you that they knew EXACTLY where the 50 mile radius is!!!

Yes, it's sad. Just another important thing that has been completely politicized. It's been all downhill for ODFW since runs have come under ESA, and things like the ludicrous no bait-or-dogs for hunting was done by Multnomah Co. voters for the rest of the state to live with.

This department has become heavily political, the one department in the entire government that more than any other should be based on science!!

I, too, feel for all these people being forced to uproot and move, leave their jobs, or commute. Just what we need, a few hundred more cars on the freeway each day burning gas, clogging lanes, and creating a little more smog!!

I challenge ANYONE to come up with a sound reason for the move, that overrides all the reasons not to move!!

Thanx for getting the information out, Bill.

TR

[The Fishing Geek]

Article is here.

Without the economics of their current location to compare to the new location, or where the spending came from, I am not going to pass judgement. With the truth it may make sense, so who am I to say without the facts?

As for paying the employees for moving expenses, I can envision an alternate universe where people would be posting on moc.hsiFi about how the ODFW cannot afford to keep hatcheries funded but they CAN afford to pay moving expenses for ODFW administrative staff for a 46 mile move. These people would say "Heck, when my company moved 50 miles away I was expected to just commute further" or "I used to do a much longer commute all the time" or several other things of the same theme.

I'm not going to say which is right or wrong, as that would get into an ugly debate that is better off in General Chat. Suffice it to say that there will never be a decision that the ODFW makes that will not upset half the people out there, even when it comes to relocating.

[Hoosier Daddy]

My take on this, such as it is is this. I believe the economics of it had to be justified ahead of time to go through with this. I don't know the numbers but the building they are in now is in downtown Portland, and worth some money. I believe they are leasing a building and remodeling/upgrading, not building new, but I could be wrong. And you are darned right the folks that selected the site knew what they were doing with the 50 mile radius thing. That's why the place is located in Keizer, even though they were technically ordered to move to Salem proper. The site is just inside the radius that the state uses for determining moving expenses. Someone should do an article on how many experienced people with huge amounts of expertise will and have been lost over this and the other recent issues with the legislature. I think we would all be a little afraid of the results. Granted, maybe some of them are better off gone, but not all. Pretty hard to hit the reset button in the middle of issues like Oregon salmon has and not have SERIOUS repercussions. Hope it all works out.
Gutshot Ape, I changed to "I" a long time ago. So far so good! :grin:

[GutshotApe]

I doubt if any of the legislators had a clue about the costs involved when they decided to order the move. And I don't believe the 50 mile rule had anything to do with the decision of siting the new HQ - that would be too devious. This was a pure example of political muscle flexing by people unconcerned with details.

My understanding is the Ptld ODFW HQ building was paid for, and although in need of repairs, was worth considerably more than it cost several years previously. In Salem, ODFW will rent space for a few years (at a lot more per sq.ft. than it costs to stay in Ptld) and eventually a new building will be built near the capitol bldg. Rent on the new bldg will be paid to Dept of Admin. Svcs. That also won't be cheap. But it is a ways off in the future and most voters will have long forgotten about who did what back in 2002 when the bill comes due.

If it was so important to get ODFW HQ to Salem I wonder how long until the geniuses in the legislature order DEQ to move, too? :whazzup:

[GutshotApe]

IMHO, ODFW's move to Salem is the result of several years of many, many people complaining to their state reps about ODFW. Thousands of disgruntled hunters & anglers, unhappy with just about everything under the sun call & write continually, i.e.: having to draw tags for E. Oregon hunts, not being able to keep wild steelhead (and other ESA-related restrictions), allowing limited wild steelhead retention in some streams, having flyfishingonly areas, not having more flyfishingonly areas, gillnets in the Columbia, not being able to fish Columbia sturgeon 12-mos. per year, spike-only elk hunts, the tag lottery point system, the price of licenses & tags, allowing C&R angling, issuing doe tags, etc, etc, etc. Just about anything ODFW is involved in has people with strong opinions on either side of the issue. [img]graemlins/icon_argue.gif[/img]

The average Salem politician doesn't fish or hunt much. They don't know much about it and don't have the time to learn the issues - they have bigger fish to fry, do to speak. But, they all want to get reelected and they all get lots of complaints about ODFW - never mind that most of the things complained about are out of ODFW's control - so the squeaky wheel got greased.

The legislature refused to pass the current budget unless the previous ODFW director was unceremoniously thrown over the side and replaced. They ordered ODFW to move to Salem (so they can monitor the agency more closely - guess their phones don't work?). Doesn't matter if the old director needed firing or not and doesn't matter if moving to Salem makes any sense. Our fearless legislative "leaders" can go back to John Day, Myrtle Creek, Coos Bay and all the other nooks & crannies where they came from and tell their constituents that "By God, they shook up ODFW, and how!!!"

Yeah, ODFW is shook up - but to what effect. :depressed:

Kind of makes me want to change my voter registration to "I".

[C&R]

Just one question what are the econmics behinf the move? That might be the first place to start. I seriously doubt that the political "leaders" were smart enough to figure out the 50 mile move thing.