Hick Holds On

Hick was excited to tell me the events of his meeting with the people who run the city. In fact, he stopped me on our gravel road as I was heading to town.

"I'd like to hear about it, but I AM trying to get through traffic before the schools let out, and to the bank before it closes..."

"Oh. I can tell you when you get back. So far, I still have the job!"

Hick said he tried to be polite when he started.

"I know that I say things sometimes that might offend people. That's not my intention. I see what needs to be done, and I try to fix it. If that hurts somebody's feelings, I'm sorry. I want to make this building as safe for the people as I can. There are things that haven't been done that need doing... 

Then the one guy in charge of the council told me I needed to get a business license. He asked me if I was an LLC, and I said no. 'The city won't sell me a business license unless I get insurance, and I'm not going to do that. The city has insurance. I don't mind paying $40 for a license to do business. I'll get that back. But I'm not buying insurance. If that's going to be an issue, then I'm done right now. There's no point.' The guy said well, I might get hurt, so I need insurance. Then a lady said the old guy didn't have insurance. I told him the city is responsible for ANYBODY that gets hurt in that building, whether it's me, or an old person who lives there, or somebody coming in for lunch. That's just how it is, and I'm not buying insurance. Then some other people spoke up, and agreed that I shouldn't have to buy insurance to work there.

I told them about how I've already talked to the fire chief about the alarm system, and where somebody has cut off the connector where the fire department could plug in their big hose. He told me to document everything, so we know what needs work. The whole thing is run down the middle of the hall, when it should go into each apartment.

I asked why we weren't using HUD to rent out the apartments, and they said that's only for individuals, not for commercial, but I disagreed. And I said it looked like at one time the city had applied for a grant to fix up the building. But then they said no, that was about using HUD, and they were denied. But a couple others seemed to remember something about it, and also questioned it. I said I welcome the building inspector to come look at any work I do, but I probably know more about it than he does.

Anyway, there was a lot of people who seemed to agree with me, and only two who seemed to disagree with what I was saying. They tried to say they've been working on fixing up the building for a long time, but it's clear that nothing has been done for years."

"That's good that most of them understand what you're trying to do. I'm starting to think that the ones who don't are afraid you're too smart for them. That they are suspicious that you're trying to point the finger and get the city in trouble for not being in compliance with some things. Not saying that they're crooked, or using money for something else. Just that they're used to having things their way, and it's easier to hire some kind of janitor guy to collect the rent, and not really do big repairs to fix up the building. I don't know why else they would try to make you do something the other guy didn't have to do, like get insurance." 

"Yeah. I don't know what's going on with them two. But I said I was only going to communicate through my direct boss, and not be telling anybody else anything except at the meetings. So then I can't be offending people with what I say."

That might be the smartest decision Hick has made. It's not like he's getting rich by working there. It pays less than $100 a week. There are no set hours, and he's on call in case something goes wrong. Still, I think Hick is worth less than $100 a week!