" I would like to address Ms Proulx's letter point by point. First allow me to begin by saying the word "coward" never came out of my mouth. I simply addressed Mike Quill's leadership inabilities. To have a senior administrator throw his badge in anger and frustration and quit is not a character trait I would be looking for in our next mayor. Chief Quill's antics revealed a serious character flaw. Furthermore, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been stopped on the streets by "city residents" and thanked. As for the city fathers negotiating the contract you are correct to a point. The fact still remains, we had two individuals that knew the ramifications of that contract a Chief who now wants to be Mayor, and a retired fire fighter who was a sitting member of council, Bill Jacobs. Did either one of these men open their mouths and warn the Mayor and the remaining members of council about the ramifications of that contract? NO! Did either one of these individuals speak against this contract in any way? NO! In fact they endorsed the contract. The Mayor and the rest of the council could not know the impact the contract would have. They were sold a bill of goods and they voted. The results were catastrophic. You say the Mayor and the council were told to hire the men necessary to stop the hemorrhaging, yet, you say nothing about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that had to be siphoned off of other departments, and the dozens of men and women who stood to lose their jobs. And where do you think the money came from to hire the additional fire fighters? It certainly didn't come from your Fleming taxes. It came from the tax increases we city residents had to pay. Next, you talk about being unprotected, how the Chief had to hire the overtime to meet contractual agreements. Lets talk about protection, I seem to remember a half a dozen police officers sitting in the council chambers, each of them were scheduled to lose their jobs. That is what I would call unprotected. How many fires have we had in the city compared to medical responses? How many drug busts, accidents, assaults, robberies, muggings, domestic disturbances have we had in comparison to house fires? In closing, allow me to say that I have no political agenda, I am not running for any office. I am a concerned city taxpayer. If you are so concerned with the City of Auburn's tax problems, then I suggest you move to Auburn, get involved, until that day, your motives are questionable. "