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City of Benson helped ease dilemma
One of the great things about living in a small town like Benson is the way people come to your aid, even people who are annoyed at you from time to time.
The News-Sun had a clear example of that last week. Thursday seemed like just any other day at the newspaper. That is until shortly before lunch when the building filled with smoke and the smell of burning hit everyone. The employees evacuated and called the fire department.
When Benson Fire showed up, they took care to protect the computer equipment inside. They quickly traced the source of the problem to some overhead lighting. But the issue was larger than just one light and calls for the building to be rewired. Suddenly we were homeless for three weeks.
An inquiry to the city about the availability of the old City Hall building for rent brought Mayor George Scott and City Manager Martin Roush to the News-Sun office to talk about options. Both said we were welcome to the old City Hall, but Roush noted it didn't have air conditioning. He offered the break room and some adjacent space at the new City Hall. He said we were a city business with an emergency and they wanted to help.
Try calling Tucson City Hall with the same problem and see what kind of response you get.
It was a heck of a day, but it was made better by some of the folks who live and work here. Fire Chief Keith Spangler and his crew took care with our equipment and even retrieved a camera for us so we could photograph the story. Mike Lockett, the Building Official, and Jeffrey Smith, building inspector, were the ones who told us we couldn't work in the building until the electric was repaired. But then Smith got on the phone, called the electrician and got him over here on five minutes' notice.
Mayor Scott and City Manager Roush were tremendously helpful, and their coming over here says something about who is leading the city. City Clerk Vicki Vivian agreed to be interrupted to show us the space we would be camping in, even though she was supposed to be at a meeting.
As it turns out, we decided to do some other work to the building while we were temporarily out of it. So we are renting a temporary office to be placed in our parking lot. We will be conducting business in the same place, just in a different building. Nevertheless, a bad situation was made much easier thanks to our neighbors in Benson.
The News-Sun had a clear example of that last week. Thursday seemed like just any other day at the newspaper. That is until shortly before lunch when the building filled with smoke and the smell of burning hit everyone. The employees evacuated and called the fire department.
When Benson Fire showed up, they took care to protect the computer equipment inside. They quickly traced the source of the problem to some overhead lighting. But the issue was larger than just one light and calls for the building to be rewired. Suddenly we were homeless for three weeks.
An inquiry to the city about the availability of the old City Hall building for rent brought Mayor George Scott and City Manager Martin Roush to the News-Sun office to talk about options. Both said we were welcome to the old City Hall, but Roush noted it didn't have air conditioning. He offered the break room and some adjacent space at the new City Hall. He said we were a city business with an emergency and they wanted to help.
Try calling Tucson City Hall with the same problem and see what kind of response you get.
It was a heck of a day, but it was made better by some of the folks who live and work here. Fire Chief Keith Spangler and his crew took care with our equipment and even retrieved a camera for us so we could photograph the story. Mike Lockett, the Building Official, and Jeffrey Smith, building inspector, were the ones who told us we couldn't work in the building until the electric was repaired. But then Smith got on the phone, called the electrician and got him over here on five minutes' notice.
Mayor Scott and City Manager Roush were tremendously helpful, and their coming over here says something about who is leading the city. City Clerk Vicki Vivian agreed to be interrupted to show us the space we would be camping in, even though she was supposed to be at a meeting.
As it turns out, we decided to do some other work to the building while we were temporarily out of it. So we are renting a temporary office to be placed in our parking lot. We will be conducting business in the same place, just in a different building. Nevertheless, a bad situation was made much easier thanks to our neighbors in Benson.
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