Letter to the Editor: Dave Hinman Responds to Letter From Reader

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Letter to the Editor:

Recently, there was a letter to the editor written by Mr. Bomont that was . I would like to address a few of the items that were a little incorrect.  His first statement “The O’Fallon Fire Protection District has a history of great service to us, the citizens.  They go above and beyond when they take care of people and their belongings.” Is 100% correct and I agree we have one of the best public entity staffs around.

Mr. Bomont then goes on to talk about the state audit that took place in 2004-2005. I was the Board President for one year of the many years that the audit covered.  I was included in a sister city trip to Ireland that was entirely paid for by O’Fallon businesses. Not one penny of City money was spent on the trip.

He also states that the city’s financial obligations rose significantly.  That is true because of unprecedented growth in the City in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

Mr. Bomont then makes several comments in regards to newspaper articles on myself over the past year. This information was in the newspaper and commented on from several people at the time. Here is the information that he left out.

1. On June 24, 2011, I had dinner with several employees and their spouses at Outback Steakhouse. On the way home, one for the people that was riding with me asked to stop to pick up a nice cigar and a bottle of wine for someone back at the hotel. Someone just “happened” to snap a photo and send it anonymously to the St. Charles Journal. Steve Pokin never confirmed the identity of the person that sent him the information. There was no drinking of alcohol before dinner, at dinner or on the ride home.
2. The plan to restructure the fire district went into effect on January 1, 2012.  There were changes in some members salaries and instead of making someone take a huge pay cut in one year, the Board allowed this person to take the cut over five years. In turn, it did cost the district money. I did not have all the facts when the first story ran but everything was corrected in the second story.
3. In January of 2012, I did sign the contract on behalf of all three board members to do a citizens survey. At the last Board meeting a citizen that is also the Shop Steward for the O’Fallon Professional Firefighters did speak about the survey.  The Citizens survey was slated to go out to the public in February but was put off because of questions that were addressed from the citizens and the Local.  I am not sure why it is a bad thing for the citizens of our district to have their input in their fire district.
4. I did announce with great appreciation from our staff that the O’Fallon Fire Protection District had received re-accreditation from the CFIA. Those attending that were paid for by the district were myself, Mike Ballmann, Fire Chief and Mark Morrison, Fire Marshall.  As I have a real job as an elected official I did have to arrange three days off at my work in order to represent the district at the commission hearing and the leadership classes that I attended over the three days.

Thanks for allowing me to set the record straight on these items. I did try to contact Mr. Bomont personally but he is not listed in the four phone books that I have, not listed on the internet white page and not listed on the list of voters that I have. If anyone has any questions please feel free to call me at my home 636-978-9567.

Very Dedicated Public Servant,

Dave Hinman

O’Fallon