Attended Committee of Whole

I attended the Committee of the Whole to discuss annual appropriations. Here's what I saw.
-Trees. We under invest continually in tree replanting. We are at risk, increasing every year. However I'm not much of a salesman and got budget up only +$5000. We need much more focus here. We live within the canopy of a dedicated, focus effort in the 1920's. Without big, continued investments, we will lose the canopy.
-Turnout gear for fire. 40 people on a part time roster is fine until you factor in a need for personal gear for all. Gear costs $2000 per each. I'd like us to reduce this number to a minimum. Maybe 25? Rick and Jeff would need to sign off for sure, but we should crank up quality AND availability and reduce the list's members.
-Police cruiser. New Taurus interceptor is a nice fuel savings story. Would like to see us go 100%6 cyl engines for our fleet.

Cortney