[News Boquete] ALTO AL CRIMEN RESPONSE

Newslady Note:
This will be the last news.boquete email on the subject of Alto al Crimen and Rodny.
Rodny will be allowed to advertise his services once per calendar month like any other business.
Alto al Crimen will be allowed to send out news.boquete emails when there is something new to announce.
That is all !!!!

Remarks from Alto al Crimen

It is always pleasant to read a re-telling the story of the origins of Alto al Crimen and of how Rodny came to be the operator of the Alto al Crimen Hotline. It is a success story for Alto al Crimen, for the local expat community and, of course, for Rodny.

As with all things, over time time, facts can be remembered differently. I would like to review the facts as the current board of Alto al Crimen has experienced them.

In 2013 Mark Heyer, representing Rodny's interests, wanted to make Rodny an independent contractor instead of an employee. This was probably most directly related to the fact that another expat community had formed a group similar to AAC and was using Rodny's services. The rationale was that it would be better that he be a contractor rather than working as an employee for more than one entity, which would have complicated decimo, vacation, Social Security and the like.

AAC at the time was paying a monthly salary of $300 and paying for the other benefits. A monthly contract payment of $500 was agreed upon as being enough to cover the benefits and various operating costs plus a generous pay increase. This level of income would the envy of hundreds of thousands of Panamanians, and there was more income from the other community (now two other communities).AAC's monthly contract payments were made to EMERGENCY SOLUTION 4.

In regard to the Customer Database, David van Harn, a highly experienced database and systems manager, examined the database situation and determined that it was in fact valid and secure. Rodny had encountered some problem managing updates. There were instances when some registrations and updates had been received with incomplete information. I have reviewed every message from Rodny sent to me and other board members since May of 2013. There are 53 of them, most reporting calls about criminal activity. There was ONE message in mid-March this year that mentioned failure to receive email notices about six registration and expressing that it would be nice if a lot of people would make donations so that we could perhaps change to a different program. This was the ONLY message from Rodny about database problems or mentioning a possible program change. I retain ALL AAC messages. Responding to Rodny was a matter under Lee Zeltzer's responsibility, and I do not know any he and Rodny had any other correspondence or discussions about that subject. At any rate, after Lee's death David van Harn perceived that there were some maintenance problems and voluntarily assumed full management of the database and website to remove that as a problem for Rodny.

The lack of access to the AAC checkbook after Lee's death was, indeed, a problem, but there was no "grave doubt" about paying Rodny. He was offered by email payment from the personal funds of one of the board members, did not respond and later declined a second offer in person. Cash donations in the normal course of business, without a specific campaign to pay Rodny, provided funds to pay Rodny for August and for September. The August payment was late, but the September payment was paid early, before September. Legal paperwork changes are in process and should be completed before October. The Coronado and Volcan community payments presumably were received on time so that Rodny had funds available. There appears to have been no need for a group of citizens to step in and carry him through because a short delay in one of three contract payments for August.. There was no "transition" of which AAC was aware.

Rodny has been operational under his sole company ownership and control since February of 2014 when he assumed the role of independent contractor. He is and has been "independent of AAC" except for those obligations specifically outlined in his contract, similar to those obligations in his contracts with the Coronado and Volcan communities.

Rodny is and has been an excellent asset to AAC and to the community. We regret his decision to terminate his contract with AAC (official notice of which was received Friday, 5 September 2015), but we wish him only the best in all his endeavors.

Alto al Crimen has a large base of clients who depend on our Hotline services. They and others in the community can also benefit from our other services. We believe that in their interest and the interest of the community that AAC as a non-profit community service organization still has an important role to play.

Bob Gregory

Alto al Crimen Board Member

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