Ralph Altizer Retires

I see the Assistant Chief of the Arcata Fire Dept., Ralph Altizer, is retiring and the City is going to leave his position vacant for lack of funds. Maybe more agencies should do this? After all, when fire and police personnel retire, we might still be paying for up to ninety percent of their salaries, assuming they're on that high speed pension plan that more and more public employees are signing on to, the subject of which is the "pension reform" we hear the Governor and others talking about nowadays. And that doesn't even take in any health or other insurance benefits they take with them when they leave.

I don't have any grudge against fire and/ or police, per se. I just question how many management positions we really need in these, and other, government agencies? Will the Arcata Fire Dept. really feel a pinch if Altizer's position is left vacant? I'm sure they will, if you hear it from them. But, I suspect that vast majority of us won't notice in the short or long run and the Arcata Fire Dept., although certainly facing its share of problems, will continue to run pretty much as it always has.