Police Chief Ed Moore's letter to Gordon Boyd

Police Chief Ed Moore criticized Gordon Boyd, John Franck, Tom McTygue and Matt McCabe at a press conference Monday as he tries to convince the City Council to build a new police station. He has two votes on the current council in Ron Kim and Valerie Keehn. In an email Monday evening, Moore criticized Boyd especially sharply:

"Mr. Boyd

With all due respect, I am tired of hearing from those like yourself who wet their finger, stick it in the air of public opinion to see which way the wind is blowing, then publicly state they agree with the need of the new public safety building yet privately conspire to prevent it from occurring. I was present at the AUG 28 public meeting on the capital budget and saw first hand how you used the proposed public safety construction project as a political weapon to attack your opponent. Your thought process in your letter is flawed, and frankly rings hollow in my ears; I have heard many times in the last 32 years from politicians and political wanna-be's how we should take more time to examine the cost of this project. This is nothing but lip service to disguise the real agenda; delay, stall, make excuses and wear down the police so we can shelve this project again and finance our own pet projects.
You propose "setting aside $1 million to $2 million cash each year for a few years in a Public Safety Capital Reserve account. Building up cash for this need will reduce the amount we have to borrow, plus give us time to bring the total cost under control, find the best location, and continue pressing for state and federal aid." In the 1970's we could have built a new PD for less than 1/4 million, but waited. We waited several times after that, the most recent stall being 2003 when the project cost rose to 7 million. Here we are, four years later, and the cost is at 17 million. Your agenda looks and smells the same as the previous several agenda’s on this same issue the last 30 years; Just more of the same old lip service I’ve experienced every time.
You say you "do not agree with the way the Mayor has proposed to finance the project", yet I do not see Accounts Commissioner (accountant by profession) John Frank providing positive feedback on ways the city council can "work together" as a body to finance the project. Instead he categorizes the proposed facility as a Cadillac the taxpayers can't afford, he rants and raves publicly about mortgaging our children's future, and blames it all on the mayor while demanding to know her plan to pay for the capital budget. Isn't that really the specialty of the Finance & Accounts Commissioners? Shouldn't our city council be working in harmony like adults (even if they have differing opinions) to reach the goals that best provide for our community? That certainly is not occurring, and it is clear to me who the cogs in the wheel are.
Forgive me if I offend you, but don't try to sell me sugarcoated dung as good intentions and support. I did not just fall off the turnip truck, and I will not reciprocate in the same vein. I do not appreciate the politicization of an issue that may result in the loss of life, especially to one of my colleagues. We came close enough to that just four days ago with, as of yet, no formal inquiry by either of your compatriots on the council as to Officer Baker’s well being. I do not appreciate our officers being humiliated over and over again by having to apologize to victims for the conditions and lack of basic privacy and confidentiality we subject citizen/victims to with our facilities. I do not appreciate the lack of basic workplace conveniences like a woman’s restroom for our 15 female employees, or a closet with exposed wiring and holes in the wall for their locker room. I don’t appreciate trying to motivate these fine officers to go out on the street every day with pride and place their life on the line for our citizens while their workplace bespeaks what is really thought of their service by certain council members. Yet they do so because they are professionals who recognize their mission and derive their pride from the knowledge that our citizens appreciate them and their efforts in spite of workplace conditions. I believe these citizens support our quest for a new facility. My door-to-door visits with them indicate that overwhelming support, and I intend to continue those efforts until this goal is reached. Make no mistake; I will tell it like it is in each of my visits. I owe this to the men and women of the police department.
Commissioner McTygue, Frank and yourself need to stop playing politics with the safety of our police, firefighters, and our community. The time has come to shelve political dislikes and disagreements and prove that the form of government you rallied to keep in this city can work. All I have seen over the years and continue to see today is one big dysfunctional mess called the commission form of government. I challenge you and your associates to prove me wrong on my perception.

Edward F. Moore
Chief of Police"