Today I went to a county commision meeting to hear them deny me a raise that I need....what I heard was that they were going to cut vital needs of my community. When the citizens spoke, the Mayor and two county commisioners got up and took a coffee break. This is my e-mail response to their actions and my thoughts and veiws since I was not able to speak today, not that they would have paid attention...here it is.
Please be honest as I will be sending this out shortly. Thanks in advance, its a little long and a few errors I have to correct.
My name is Zacharias Reis, I am 23 years old and a 15 year resident of Monroe County. I am writing this to express my extreme discontent with the way that you acted and the way you have disrespected the citizens of this county. We all showed up to this meeting. Some of us took time out of work. Some of us woke up 5 hours too early because we work nights to be able to attend this meeting. Some of us took off of work all together, some of us used our one day of rest and relaxation for this month to be there. We all sat and listened to what you had to say and what you chose not to say.
Then it was our turn to speak....we expected you all to listen. I expected you to at least pay enough attention that you could discuss the concerns of your citizens with them instead of looking up from the paper work on your table long enough to say "Thank you, next speaker". I expected too much I suppose. I am disgusted at the level of disrespect you have shown to your community. You should be ashamed.
Today you spoke of the Trauma Star Helo, and I will agree...it is a service that this county needs. It would be a grave mistake to disband the Trauma Star program. Disbanding the Trauma Star program is putting your life, my life, my brothers, my sisters, my friends, my acquaintances all at risk......This community would be at risk. I would hate to be that one pour soul trapped inside of my vehicle somewhere along the US1and that under paid under appreciated public servant comes to my window and tells me Mr. Reis, I'm very sorry but your going to die tonight.....The things you stood for, the things you could have accomplished in this life, the people you have touched and the people you will touch...sorry, it just does not fit the budget. You cannot put a price on some ones life, if you think I am wrong in saying this I ask you....how much would you pay to spend one day with a loved one? This is something that should not have ever been questioned, rather evaluated and a plan formulated to make it work. If there is a will there is a way.
You also spoke of the requested raise for the Monroe County Sheriffs Office. When you spoke of it I thought that Sheriff Richard Roth himself requested a raise for him and him only. I did not realize until speaking with another member of the audience hours after the fact that you were speaking of the exact matter that I was in attendance for......my raise. You seem to think that the current rate of pay for a low level officer is sufficient to be able to live off of here in Monroe County. I am 23 years old, I dream of buying a house. I dream of starting a family in Monroe County. They are short lived dreams awoken by a nightmares. The sad and harsh truth is that I cannot tell you how many years of service I will be able to offer to my community. With the rate of rising costs in these trying times it gets harder and harder as the days pass. At the end of this month I will be left with a few dollars and a couple of packs of ramen noodles to hold me over till the next payday. One of the speakers brought up that a lot of officers are going else where in the state of Florida where the pay is better and the cost of living is lower. This thought has crossed my mind more than a few times, still I remain. I will remain here serving until I am buried in credit card debt, with my phone ringing non stop from collection agencies. I am not ready to give up on my home, I will not turn my back on my home, I urge you to stand with me and not turn you back on those that protect you. The women and men that run into burning buildings to drag out the victims, the paramedics saving lives in our community, the police officers that would jump in front of a loaded gun to protect this community. These are the people that are willing, and are giving their lives to this community each day. All were asking for is to able to continue to serve our community, to protect our community. I will never become a millionaire, I will never own a mansion, I will never be able to buy a luxury sedan off the showroom floor, but on my death bed ill be able to remember those in my home town that I was able to help in their time of need. The exodus of your public servants has begun. Please end it.
The last issue I would like to address is cutting community services. I was raised to respect my elders. Our senior citizens cannot go out and work, they need our help. This is a service that we cannot go without. Let me run a scenario by you. A senior citizen is sitting at home, and begins to have a medical emergency. He/she calls 911 for help, at that exact time there is an accident somewhere in the vicinity to that persons residence. All the budgeted medical/fire/and police are tied up in that incident. When enough of those emergency personnel are able to get to that person they realize he/she needs to be flown out to a facility somewhere on the main land. No Trauma Star, Lifenet is an hour out when this person has exactly one hour left to live....to think, this persons medical emergency could have been avoided by a vital doctors appointment he/she was supposed to be at and could have been put into the hospital hours earlier that day, but sadly he/she was unable to make it due to the recent cut in community services.
I pray that you can see the big picture here. You need all of the above mentioned. If you disband Trauma Star you are putting a dollar sign on a human life that could very well be your own. By not giving your public servants enough of a raise to be able to live here the end result is a force of rookies, trained by rookies. The blind will lead the blind. Once again you are putting a dollar sign on human lives. By cutting your community services people will not receive the care they desperately need....again, lives are at risk. I realize that you have all been put in a rock and hard place to decide what to do and who to cut short, but it was you that took us down this road. I expect you to lead this community back to the right path. This community is unlike any other. We are all friends, we see each other all to often. When a hurricane comes and destroys everything in our lives we all lean on one another and don't stop helping and giving until the last nail is replaced. I ask you to replace the last nail, fix the damages caused, right the wrongs. Ensure that Monroe County will always remain the place I claim as my home, if that is out of your pay grade please direct me to the person with that pay grade.
I thank you for the time you have taken to read my e-mail. I hope what I have said here sinks in and might help you to see another way out of this mess. You may see this on some bumpers around the Florida Keys "One human family" I say its about time we start act like it. Lets work as a team, as a community to correct this.
Respectfully
Zacharias Reis
Please be honest as I will be sending this out shortly. Thanks in advance, its a little long and a few errors I have to correct.
My name is Zacharias Reis, I am 23 years old and a 15 year resident of Monroe County. I am writing this to express my extreme discontent with the way that you acted and the way you have disrespected the citizens of this county. We all showed up to this meeting. Some of us took time out of work. Some of us woke up 5 hours too early because we work nights to be able to attend this meeting. Some of us took off of work all together, some of us used our one day of rest and relaxation for this month to be there. We all sat and listened to what you had to say and what you chose not to say.
Then it was our turn to speak....we expected you all to listen. I expected you to at least pay enough attention that you could discuss the concerns of your citizens with them instead of looking up from the paper work on your table long enough to say "Thank you, next speaker". I expected too much I suppose. I am disgusted at the level of disrespect you have shown to your community. You should be ashamed.
Today you spoke of the Trauma Star Helo, and I will agree...it is a service that this county needs. It would be a grave mistake to disband the Trauma Star program. Disbanding the Trauma Star program is putting your life, my life, my brothers, my sisters, my friends, my acquaintances all at risk......This community would be at risk. I would hate to be that one pour soul trapped inside of my vehicle somewhere along the US1and that under paid under appreciated public servant comes to my window and tells me Mr. Reis, I'm very sorry but your going to die tonight.....The things you stood for, the things you could have accomplished in this life, the people you have touched and the people you will touch...sorry, it just does not fit the budget. You cannot put a price on some ones life, if you think I am wrong in saying this I ask you....how much would you pay to spend one day with a loved one? This is something that should not have ever been questioned, rather evaluated and a plan formulated to make it work. If there is a will there is a way.
You also spoke of the requested raise for the Monroe County Sheriffs Office. When you spoke of it I thought that Sheriff Richard Roth himself requested a raise for him and him only. I did not realize until speaking with another member of the audience hours after the fact that you were speaking of the exact matter that I was in attendance for......my raise. You seem to think that the current rate of pay for a low level officer is sufficient to be able to live off of here in Monroe County. I am 23 years old, I dream of buying a house. I dream of starting a family in Monroe County. They are short lived dreams awoken by a nightmares. The sad and harsh truth is that I cannot tell you how many years of service I will be able to offer to my community. With the rate of rising costs in these trying times it gets harder and harder as the days pass. At the end of this month I will be left with a few dollars and a couple of packs of ramen noodles to hold me over till the next payday. One of the speakers brought up that a lot of officers are going else where in the state of Florida where the pay is better and the cost of living is lower. This thought has crossed my mind more than a few times, still I remain. I will remain here serving until I am buried in credit card debt, with my phone ringing non stop from collection agencies. I am not ready to give up on my home, I will not turn my back on my home, I urge you to stand with me and not turn you back on those that protect you. The women and men that run into burning buildings to drag out the victims, the paramedics saving lives in our community, the police officers that would jump in front of a loaded gun to protect this community. These are the people that are willing, and are giving their lives to this community each day. All were asking for is to able to continue to serve our community, to protect our community. I will never become a millionaire, I will never own a mansion, I will never be able to buy a luxury sedan off the showroom floor, but on my death bed ill be able to remember those in my home town that I was able to help in their time of need. The exodus of your public servants has begun. Please end it.
The last issue I would like to address is cutting community services. I was raised to respect my elders. Our senior citizens cannot go out and work, they need our help. This is a service that we cannot go without. Let me run a scenario by you. A senior citizen is sitting at home, and begins to have a medical emergency. He/she calls 911 for help, at that exact time there is an accident somewhere in the vicinity to that persons residence. All the budgeted medical/fire/and police are tied up in that incident. When enough of those emergency personnel are able to get to that person they realize he/she needs to be flown out to a facility somewhere on the main land. No Trauma Star, Lifenet is an hour out when this person has exactly one hour left to live....to think, this persons medical emergency could have been avoided by a vital doctors appointment he/she was supposed to be at and could have been put into the hospital hours earlier that day, but sadly he/she was unable to make it due to the recent cut in community services.
I pray that you can see the big picture here. You need all of the above mentioned. If you disband Trauma Star you are putting a dollar sign on a human life that could very well be your own. By not giving your public servants enough of a raise to be able to live here the end result is a force of rookies, trained by rookies. The blind will lead the blind. Once again you are putting a dollar sign on human lives. By cutting your community services people will not receive the care they desperately need....again, lives are at risk. I realize that you have all been put in a rock and hard place to decide what to do and who to cut short, but it was you that took us down this road. I expect you to lead this community back to the right path. This community is unlike any other. We are all friends, we see each other all to often. When a hurricane comes and destroys everything in our lives we all lean on one another and don't stop helping and giving until the last nail is replaced. I ask you to replace the last nail, fix the damages caused, right the wrongs. Ensure that Monroe County will always remain the place I claim as my home, if that is out of your pay grade please direct me to the person with that pay grade.
I thank you for the time you have taken to read my e-mail. I hope what I have said here sinks in and might help you to see another way out of this mess. You may see this on some bumpers around the Florida Keys "One human family" I say its about time we start act like it. Lets work as a team, as a community to correct this.
Respectfully
Zacharias Reis
