Carefree Truth
Issue #581, July 28, 2017
Like many in Carefree, as is evidenced by the piles of Sonoran News issues in the Carefree Post Office trash cans, I stopped reading the Sonoran News long ago, but occasionally something in it is brought to my attention. Former Councilman Peter Koteas' Letter to the Editor was one of those items. Several have suggested that I respond to it. Where do I even begin to address such a confused rant?
John Traynor's associate, Mr. Koteas, has now taken up the mantle of attack, since Mr. Traynor and I were requested by the Mayor and some Council members to cease the "negativity". Do Mr. Traynor and Mr. Koteas seriously think that people can't connect those dots? "It wasn't me!" only serves to insult the intelligence of Carefree's residents.
Mr. Koteas wrote that he "received an email from a friend" and noted, "Ms. Hitchon mentioned me, not by name, but as one of three Carefree Council members who had just been elected who had been endorsed by the Sonoran News and over whom Don Sorchych had influence." He called my assertion "fake news" and "worse yet, a bald faced lie", yet he admits to being one of the unnamed Council members to whom I referred.
Mr. Koteas insists that he, the other two 2009-2011 Council members who supported the recall attempt, and John Traynor were not backed and influenced by the Sonoran News. One simply needs to check the Sonoran News archives, starting with the period running up to the 2009 Carefree Council elections, and going through the time of the failed recall attempt that ended with the recall election in May of 2010, to see the unabashed promotion of those candidates, and read their "Guest Editorials" during the recall. The candidates backed by the Sonoran News during the General Election and the run-off election were Peter Koteas, Doug Stavoe, Bob Coady and John Traynor. John Traynor was the only one of those four who was not elected. He became the candidate running against Mayor David Schwan, a mulligan in the form of a recall; a do-over attempt for Mr. Sorchych to get the majority he needed to have the Carefree municipal advertising dollars, taken away by former Mayor Ed Morgan, returned to the Sonoran News.
Carefree Truth began towards the start of the failed recall attempt on David Schwan, and I did quite extensive research of the past public records, as well as reporting on the Council meetings at that time, to produce those early newsletters and combat the outrageous lies being told by the recallers and printed in the Sonoran News. After a few months, Herbert came on board with the video camera to record the Council meetings, so people could see the facial expressions and the body language of the Council members, both of which are often at least as important as the words. Carefree Truth newsletters have all been public record facts, and all are still available for viewing. Our original website, www.carefreetruth.com, became filled and would accept no more. www.carefreetruth2.com replaced it, and both are active sites. Feel free to browse through the newsletters and to watch the videos. Our websites are quite user friendly. The earliest newsletters and videos chronicle the recall period.
The following is one example of the many videos of the 2009-2011 Council meetings to be found on our website. Here is the story behind it. Councilman Doug Stavoe had challenged Mayor David Schwan's right to disperse a check to the Foothills Caring Corps that was mostly funded by a grant given to municipalities for the purpose of helping fund public transportation. Municipalities are required to match 25% of the grant. Because Carefree has no public transportation, Caring Corps has historically been eligible to benefit from this grant as the closest means of transporting citizens who are unable to go places on their own, and on each occasion that the grant was received, it was dispersed to the Caring Corps. This video clearly shows the level of "courtesy" demonstrated by Mr. Koteas. Please do watch it. It is quite enlightening.
Issue #581, July 28, 2017
Like many in Carefree, as is evidenced by the piles of Sonoran News issues in the Carefree Post Office trash cans, I stopped reading the Sonoran News long ago, but occasionally something in it is brought to my attention. Former Councilman Peter Koteas' Letter to the Editor was one of those items. Several have suggested that I respond to it. Where do I even begin to address such a confused rant?
John Traynor's associate, Mr. Koteas, has now taken up the mantle of attack, since Mr. Traynor and I were requested by the Mayor and some Council members to cease the "negativity". Do Mr. Traynor and Mr. Koteas seriously think that people can't connect those dots? "It wasn't me!" only serves to insult the intelligence of Carefree's residents.
Mr. Koteas wrote that he "received an email from a friend" and noted, "Ms. Hitchon mentioned me, not by name, but as one of three Carefree Council members who had just been elected who had been endorsed by the Sonoran News and over whom Don Sorchych had influence." He called my assertion "fake news" and "worse yet, a bald faced lie", yet he admits to being one of the unnamed Council members to whom I referred.
Mr. Koteas insists that he, the other two 2009-2011 Council members who supported the recall attempt, and John Traynor were not backed and influenced by the Sonoran News. One simply needs to check the Sonoran News archives, starting with the period running up to the 2009 Carefree Council elections, and going through the time of the failed recall attempt that ended with the recall election in May of 2010, to see the unabashed promotion of those candidates, and read their "Guest Editorials" during the recall. The candidates backed by the Sonoran News during the General Election and the run-off election were Peter Koteas, Doug Stavoe, Bob Coady and John Traynor. John Traynor was the only one of those four who was not elected. He became the candidate running against Mayor David Schwan, a mulligan in the form of a recall; a do-over attempt for Mr. Sorchych to get the majority he needed to have the Carefree municipal advertising dollars, taken away by former Mayor Ed Morgan, returned to the Sonoran News.
Carefree Truth began towards the start of the failed recall attempt on David Schwan, and I did quite extensive research of the past public records, as well as reporting on the Council meetings at that time, to produce those early newsletters and combat the outrageous lies being told by the recallers and printed in the Sonoran News. After a few months, Herbert came on board with the video camera to record the Council meetings, so people could see the facial expressions and the body language of the Council members, both of which are often at least as important as the words. Carefree Truth newsletters have all been public record facts, and all are still available for viewing. Our original website, www.carefreetruth.com, became filled and would accept no more. www.carefreetruth2.com replaced it, and both are active sites. Feel free to browse through the newsletters and to watch the videos. Our websites are quite user friendly. The earliest newsletters and videos chronicle the recall period.
The following is one example of the many videos of the 2009-2011 Council meetings to be found on our website. Here is the story behind it. Councilman Doug Stavoe had challenged Mayor David Schwan's right to disperse a check to the Foothills Caring Corps that was mostly funded by a grant given to municipalities for the purpose of helping fund public transportation. Municipalities are required to match 25% of the grant. Because Carefree has no public transportation, Caring Corps has historically been eligible to benefit from this grant as the closest means of transporting citizens who are unable to go places on their own, and on each occasion that the grant was received, it was dispersed to the Caring Corps. This video clearly shows the level of "courtesy" demonstrated by Mr. Koteas. Please do watch it. It is quite enlightening.
Caring Corps #2 from Herbert Hitchon on Vimeo.
In his letter to the Sonoran News, Mr. Koteas claimed credit for the push to consolidate the Carefree and Cave Creek Courts, "only to be undermined by the then Mayor and Town Administrator". The public record shows Mr. Neiss giving the Court presentations based on his research, his meetings with the Administrative Office of the Court, the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, and the Town of Cave Creek. None of the 3 Council members noted by Mr. Koteas played any role in that research or those meetings. It was the Cave Creek Council who, at that time, rejected the notion of a combined Court at the end of a joint meeting, which I attended, of the Carefree and Cave Creek Councils. Cave Creek finally agreed to consolidate the Courts, which was approved by the Carefree Council in October, 2013, when it became apparent after an audit of the Cave Creek court that they needed to do so. Mr. Neiss negotiated the IGA. In fact, Mr. Koteas and Mr. Coady offended the Carefree Court Judge and, during a Council meeting, admitted they didn't trust him or the Court Administrator, Adrian Larson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nEWXH0bTao and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aToWCThGPgM
Councilwoman Susan Vanik was "the driving force" in building up the Carefree Veteran's Day event; she was not just a "tremendous amount of help" to Mr. Koteas. While Mr. Koteas did obtain a generous corporate donation from his business associates at Tyson Foods, which was certainly much appreciated, it was Mrs. Vanik's ideas and her sweat equity that drove the event.
The database for Carefree businesses on the Town of Carefree website was generated using the registered business licenses. It was compiled by the Town staff. It was not built and "gifted to the Town" by Mr. Koteas. We too have a website that lists many Carefree businesses, but it is impossible to generate a complete list using a source other than that of the business licenses. Like our weekly ads for Carefree businesses, listings on our businesses website is free, yet not all businesses chose to participate.
The "strange" loan Carefree made to the Carefree Water Company in 2008 was used to install fire hydrants, which increased the safety of Carefree residents and reduced their insurance rates.
The "emergency purchase of 8 Sundial Circle" (where the Carefree Town Hall is located) "to the full benefit of the owner", was negotiated by then Councilman Greg Gardner. It was done quickly because the owner of the building discovered that he needed a tax write-off, so had to conclude the sale before the end of 2008. The building was sold to the Town for a very advantageous price, producing a win/win scenario. The loan for Town Hall was paid off after "the three left the Town Council" because it had not been budgeted prior to that.
The town-wide fire contract was negotiated with Rural/Metro at a time when R/M was considering pulling out of the area due to a lack of private subscriptions, as it had done not long before that in Scottsdale. Fortunately for it's residents, Scottsdale had the size and resources to start it's own municipal fire department. When Carefree signed the contract with R/M, our residents were assured of continued fire service. This is the desert, so, yes Mr. Koteas, we do have fires, much like the big one you recently had in Prescott that threatened houses. And yes, there are house fires here. In fact, our house burned down during construction in 1990. The ambulance service that was included in the original R/M contract was carved out, saving the Town $26,000 a year, after it was discovered that most peoples' health insurance covers Emergency Medical Services.
Although some interest had been expressed by potential buyers, Ed Lewis folded his condo project because he could not get sufficient financing for it due to restrictions imposed by the Frank/Dodd Act. Eastwood and Almarte were market driven. Many Carefree residents have wanted or needed to downsize, but wanted to remain in Carefree. There were no single family homes which met their needs before these two developments were implemented, forcing those residents to move south to Scottsdale or Phoenix. Almarte is already sold out. Approximately 85% of the homes in that development were purchased by residents of Carefree. I have no comment, pro or con, about these developments; I'm just presenting some facts.
Mr. Koteas moved to Prescott after his 2 year term on the Council. The downtown area looks far different today than it did back in 2011. The Town has made many improvements on public property, where it has the legal jurisdiction to make improvements. This encouraged several of the landlords to improve the exteriors of their buildings.
The aggressive marketing program, which includes the spectacular Town sponsored events, has encouraged businesses to come to town. Spanish Village has new owners, and the once practically empty space is now almost full again, with a new restaurant scheduled to open there this fall. Bashas', which was heavily wooed to relocate to the space in Scottsdale once occupied by Albertson's, choose to remain in Carefree and make a million dollar plus renovation to the store. Starbucks, a sushi stand, and a soup & salad bar were added. Basha' is now well patronized. The Carefree Resort is slated for a $10 million dollar renovation by its new owners, turning it into a world class spa/health and wellness center. The downtown is sufficiently well lit that people are seen walking around in the evenings. The much maligned Gary Neiss was involved in all of these achievements.
Mr. Koteas states that "non resident staffers are not the best choice to make those decisions" about improving the overall aesthetics and attracting new businesses. In reality, the Council is the body that approves money spent to make improvements, but the leg work is typically done by the staff. It is the Town Administrator who solicited many of the new businesses. Mr. Neiss is an experienced, well educated, and well regarded professional in his field. Would Mr. Koteas choose to have a plumber provide his medical care or to have a physician do his plumbing, simply because that person happened to be a resident of Prescott? Any thinking person wants a professional trained in their field to deliver services. Mr. Koteas cites ARS Article 3: 9-236, stating that the mayor is the CEO, and says there is "no mention of a Town Administrator there". He fails to mention that managers/administrators are the Chief Administrative Officers. Our Town Ordinance and the historical job description are quite clear as to Mr. Neiss' defined tasks.
The record of "the questionably competent Town Administrator" speaks for itself. Carefree has more money in the bank than it has ever had, despite the economic downturn experienced worldwide, the many capital improvements made to the downtown, and the extensive maintenance work on streets and the public infrastructure. Private investment in our community continues, with new owners of Spanish Village and the Carefree Resort, as well as the revitalization of Bashas'. New businesses and restaurants are coming into town, and investments continue to be made in the remaining undeveloped properties in Carefree. Yet the cycle of abuse from the "usual suspects" to members of the Town staff, and to Mr. Neiss in particular, continues, in a years long, ongoing pattern. The short video below, also part of the Caring Corps grant challenge, clearly shows this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nEWXH0bTao and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aToWCThGPgM
Councilwoman Susan Vanik was "the driving force" in building up the Carefree Veteran's Day event; she was not just a "tremendous amount of help" to Mr. Koteas. While Mr. Koteas did obtain a generous corporate donation from his business associates at Tyson Foods, which was certainly much appreciated, it was Mrs. Vanik's ideas and her sweat equity that drove the event.
The database for Carefree businesses on the Town of Carefree website was generated using the registered business licenses. It was compiled by the Town staff. It was not built and "gifted to the Town" by Mr. Koteas. We too have a website that lists many Carefree businesses, but it is impossible to generate a complete list using a source other than that of the business licenses. Like our weekly ads for Carefree businesses, listings on our businesses website is free, yet not all businesses chose to participate.
The "strange" loan Carefree made to the Carefree Water Company in 2008 was used to install fire hydrants, which increased the safety of Carefree residents and reduced their insurance rates.
The "emergency purchase of 8 Sundial Circle" (where the Carefree Town Hall is located) "to the full benefit of the owner", was negotiated by then Councilman Greg Gardner. It was done quickly because the owner of the building discovered that he needed a tax write-off, so had to conclude the sale before the end of 2008. The building was sold to the Town for a very advantageous price, producing a win/win scenario. The loan for Town Hall was paid off after "the three left the Town Council" because it had not been budgeted prior to that.
The town-wide fire contract was negotiated with Rural/Metro at a time when R/M was considering pulling out of the area due to a lack of private subscriptions, as it had done not long before that in Scottsdale. Fortunately for it's residents, Scottsdale had the size and resources to start it's own municipal fire department. When Carefree signed the contract with R/M, our residents were assured of continued fire service. This is the desert, so, yes Mr. Koteas, we do have fires, much like the big one you recently had in Prescott that threatened houses. And yes, there are house fires here. In fact, our house burned down during construction in 1990. The ambulance service that was included in the original R/M contract was carved out, saving the Town $26,000 a year, after it was discovered that most peoples' health insurance covers Emergency Medical Services.
Although some interest had been expressed by potential buyers, Ed Lewis folded his condo project because he could not get sufficient financing for it due to restrictions imposed by the Frank/Dodd Act. Eastwood and Almarte were market driven. Many Carefree residents have wanted or needed to downsize, but wanted to remain in Carefree. There were no single family homes which met their needs before these two developments were implemented, forcing those residents to move south to Scottsdale or Phoenix. Almarte is already sold out. Approximately 85% of the homes in that development were purchased by residents of Carefree. I have no comment, pro or con, about these developments; I'm just presenting some facts.
Mr. Koteas moved to Prescott after his 2 year term on the Council. The downtown area looks far different today than it did back in 2011. The Town has made many improvements on public property, where it has the legal jurisdiction to make improvements. This encouraged several of the landlords to improve the exteriors of their buildings.
The aggressive marketing program, which includes the spectacular Town sponsored events, has encouraged businesses to come to town. Spanish Village has new owners, and the once practically empty space is now almost full again, with a new restaurant scheduled to open there this fall. Bashas', which was heavily wooed to relocate to the space in Scottsdale once occupied by Albertson's, choose to remain in Carefree and make a million dollar plus renovation to the store. Starbucks, a sushi stand, and a soup & salad bar were added. Basha' is now well patronized. The Carefree Resort is slated for a $10 million dollar renovation by its new owners, turning it into a world class spa/health and wellness center. The downtown is sufficiently well lit that people are seen walking around in the evenings. The much maligned Gary Neiss was involved in all of these achievements.
Mr. Koteas states that "non resident staffers are not the best choice to make those decisions" about improving the overall aesthetics and attracting new businesses. In reality, the Council is the body that approves money spent to make improvements, but the leg work is typically done by the staff. It is the Town Administrator who solicited many of the new businesses. Mr. Neiss is an experienced, well educated, and well regarded professional in his field. Would Mr. Koteas choose to have a plumber provide his medical care or to have a physician do his plumbing, simply because that person happened to be a resident of Prescott? Any thinking person wants a professional trained in their field to deliver services. Mr. Koteas cites ARS Article 3: 9-236, stating that the mayor is the CEO, and says there is "no mention of a Town Administrator there". He fails to mention that managers/administrators are the Chief Administrative Officers. Our Town Ordinance and the historical job description are quite clear as to Mr. Neiss' defined tasks.
The record of "the questionably competent Town Administrator" speaks for itself. Carefree has more money in the bank than it has ever had, despite the economic downturn experienced worldwide, the many capital improvements made to the downtown, and the extensive maintenance work on streets and the public infrastructure. Private investment in our community continues, with new owners of Spanish Village and the Carefree Resort, as well as the revitalization of Bashas'. New businesses and restaurants are coming into town, and investments continue to be made in the remaining undeveloped properties in Carefree. Yet the cycle of abuse from the "usual suspects" to members of the Town staff, and to Mr. Neiss in particular, continues, in a years long, ongoing pattern. The short video below, also part of the Caring Corps grant challenge, clearly shows this.
Mr. Koteas accused me of being a Town of Carefree "cheerleader", as have others in his circle of crotchety cronies. I proudly accept that title. I believe we live in a great, and historically well run, town. We have been blessed to have had many fine men and women volunteer to serve as our Town officials. But Mayors and Councils come and go. As Mayor Schwan often said, "Staff is the continuity". We have had consistently excellent Town staff members who have gone above and beyond their "job descriptions" to serve Carefree with dedication and distinction. Herbert and I appreciate and salute them.
As former Mayor Ed Morgan is fond of saying, "Life scripts don't change". I dedicate the following well known saying to those who consistently denigrate our fine staff. "If you are dining with a person who is nice to you but treats the waiter badly, that person is not nice."
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.
As former Mayor Ed Morgan is fond of saying, "Life scripts don't change". I dedicate the following well known saying to those who consistently denigrate our fine staff. "If you are dining with a person who is nice to you but treats the waiter badly, that person is not nice."
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.