It has been a while since Walsenburg has had full staffing in all departments. The city inspector's office has been sadly lacking in qualified staffing for a while and just like that Bob Martin appears on the scene with great qualifications. He is even willing to work of a fraction of the salary he could get in his construction business. It is too good to be true.
He is offering to get inspector certifications and start out at $20 an hour. Why would anyone pass up a deal like that? The answer would have to come from Nick Vigil, Veronica Maes, and Don Martinez who voted to deny his salary requests when the commercial inspectors who are contracted by the city cost $200 an hour plus travel expenses from Denver.
All of this is on video from the special meeting of the city council from August 18. The argument that it would set a "precedent" seems to affirm the argument for agreement to pay increases for certification. We are talking about city inspectors with certification not various employees in other city departments. It is evident that we need a qualified inspector.
Some council members need to recall that they are representing the city and working for the community. Who are they representing when they vote to obstruct the rebuilding of our various departments which have been short staffed and poorly staffed for too long?
