Dear Editor,
In the “Letters to the Editor” on 10/7/20, we were accused of buying the hay barn at 2600 E. Northern Ave. Someone at The Standard should check the facts before publishing. Neither Gerald Lucero, Richard Veradt nor Susan Brown have served on the current NACFD1 Board. In 2012, when the building was purchased, Bailey, Collins, and Berg controlled the board. The building was purchased with no appraisal. One realtor represented both the buyer and seller without bids for that service, and the two other board members at the time were assured by then-Fire Chief Pat Moore that everything was “fine” with the purchase. Prior to this purchase, the previous NACFD1 Board was offered to purchase this building but turned it down as it would not meet the district’s needs and had too many issues to become a serviceable fire station. $1.7 million later, it looks like the prior NACFD1 board in 2008 was right.
Lucero, Veradt, and Brown have been vehemently opposed to the use of 2600 E. Northern Ave. as a fire station. We have provided numerous public comments to the current board which have fallen on deaf ears as Bailey/Collins/Berg work to secure their legacy and waste our tax dollars.
In reference to the article regarding the use of the NACFD1 logo, The Standard only published Bailey’s side. We sent The Standard the correspondence regarding this issue and were ignored. We contend that this logo was never trademarked and designed off duty by the former NACFD1 Fire Chief. It is his intellectual property and was used by five other fire departments as their logo. We chose not to allow Bailey to once again waste tax dollars on the use of the fire district attorney and agreed when requested by Board Representative Sue Wilkin to “modify” the logos. If he, Collins and Berg had such an issue, they would have needed to utilize a private attorney as they are involved in the election. This is one more example of their abuse of power and they are simply upset that we are challenging them for their seats. The Standard needs to check its facts and report both sides to a story.
Previously, The Standard published Jim Bailey’s take on what a great job that Kingman Fire Department is doing managing NACFD1. We asked for equal time to counter Bailey’s comments, yet have received no such time in their paper.
Richard Veradt
Gerald Lucero
Susan Brown
