First, I would note that the numbers used came directly from Courier-Herald reporter Daniel Nash’s account of the fire chief’s presentation to the Buckley City Council. I would take that to be fact as no one disputed those numbers until I brought them up in my (July 14) letter to the editor.

But that is not why the letter was written. The city of Buckley has a person with the title of chief financial officer, with commensurate pay and benefits. If that person is capable of the position then they should have knowledge of financial markets, specifically the bond market. If they don’t have that level of knowledge then they should not be the chief financial officer. To imply that this person will have significant input into the process is disingenuous.

Government entities all over our nation are whining about the lack of funds to do what they want to do. Most of them have had the backing of experts with little skin in the game, but the government entity is still broke or close to it. The ones that seem to have few problems are those that apparently applied a little common sense to their governance.

It doesn’t take $6,500 to know that the bonds should be put up for competitive bid. The only expense the city of Buckley should incur would be the expense of getting the best rating the city could get from the rating services.

I wish the chief the best with his fire station, the volunteer fireman of this city have earned it.

Marvin Sundstrom

Buckley