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1985-08-05 Workshop Session3774 WORKSHOP SESSION 85-9 I The City Council and the County meeting at 304 Northwest 2nd Streeet, Monday, August 5, 1985. The following Mayor Oakland Chapman Councilman Nick Collins Councilman Oscar Thomas Councilman Andy Rubin Councilman Edward Douglas MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 1985 Commissioners met in a workshop Okeechobee, Florida at 7:00 P.M., City Council members were present: The following County Commissioners were present: Commissioner Jim Lashley Commissioner J.C.Bass Commissioner Charles Harvey Commissioner Jim Broome, absent Commissioner Clif Betts, absent Others present were: L.C. Fortner, Jr., Administrative Assistant Jerry Bryant, City Attorney Keith Tomey, Fire Chief Lydia J. Wilkerson, Deputy Clerk Sue Ocher, Deputy Clerk Bonnie S. Thomas, City Clerk absent The meeting was called to order at 7:15 P.M. by Commissioner Jim Lashley for the purpose of discussing the possible merger of the City Fire Department and the County Fire Department. Mayor Oakland Chapman expressed the concern that he felt that a decision should be made as to who was going to govern the fire department merger, if merged. Councilman Collins stated that a decision should be made if it was going to be the city or the county or a mixture of the two departments. Councilman Rubin stated that for a period of six years he has felt. that a merger should be made between the city and county fire departments. He also suggested that a person with some expertise be hired to help with the problems of merging the two departments. Councilman Thomas expressed a concern over city and county taxes and he felt that a merger could be worked out between the two departments. Commissioner J.C. Bass stated that he felt some studies should be made to see where the savings would be as a result of the possible merger and if a duplication of certain services were evident then to do away with the duplicate services and save the community some expenses. He also felt that a board should be developed in order to supervise the merger. Commissioner Lashley stated the he felt that it was an important decision and that a possible solution would be the establishment of a fire board to work with the possible merger. He also stated that some people with more knowledge of mergers in the fire departments come and be a part of a fire board to lend some experience and past fire fighting knowledge and help our community through this merger. He is in favor of the merger because it will save the community money in the future. Councilman Collins stated that he felt that the meeting was too important to make any decisions without all board members present. Commissioner Lashley agreed that it was an important meeting and that all members should be present. They be present in order to express their view points on the merger. Councilman Collins stated that all members should be present before any committees or boards were set up concerning the merger. 3775 r J P5 Councilman Rubin stated that he wanted to hear Fire Chief Roman's and Fire Chief Tomey's opinion concerning whether or not an outside person should be hired in order for the merger to take place. Fire Chief Tomey stated that he was in favor of the merger because the community did not have the tax structure to support two fire departments. As far as a person with expertise coming in, there are a lot of retired Fire Chiefs in the state that could come in and talk with the two fire chiefs and work out some solutions to the merger. He also said that Fire Chief Brice from West Palm Beach was not available to be hired because he was an active Fire Chief, but he would be available to come to Okeechobee and talk with those involved with the departments and help work out some solutions to the possible merger. Commissioner Lashley said that Fire Chief Rogers from Ft. Pierce would be available to come to Okeechobee also. Fire Chief Roman stated that he was in favor of the merger, and that he felt the merging of the two departments was justified due to the expanding costs of operating the fire departments. He also felt that an outside person with some knowledge was also a good idea. He stated that he and Fire Chief Tomey could sit down with a committee and work together on any problems involving the merger. He stated that he was for whatever the board members and community decided. He felt that the merger could be completed without anyone's job being in jeopardy. He expressed the desire to go on with the plans and come to a conclusion as quickly as possible, so the community could go on to bigger and better things. He said that he had spoken with Fire Chief Rogers in Ft. Pierce concerning the merger and that he was agreeable to any invitation to come and speak to the boards. Councilman Oscar Thomas asked Fire Chief Roman if he felt that it would cost the county a great deal more to take care of the city as well as the county if the two departments were merged. Fire Chief Roman responded, "If you are talking about County taking over the whole thing, we are running it now with, last year 576 fire calls and 2,000 rescue calls. Our operating budget was $632,000, which came out to approximately $200.00 a call. So we were pretty well cost effective. It can be cost effective, if you run it that way. Whatever you two boards decide, it can be done. Councilman Rubin stated,"Roman, your budget today is $700,000." Fire Chief Roman responded, "$715,000 is my proposed budget, approximately $400,000 for paramedics." Councilman Rubin stated that the two fire departments were operating on approximately the same amount of money, roughly $300,000 dollars each. Fire Chief Roman said, " Yes Sir, roughly about that, I think the county is running with this proposed budget this coming year, the fire side is probably running about $3401000." Councilman Rubin said that he'felt most of the community thought the entire budget was for the fire service. The taxpayers should be told that the largest amount of the budget was not for the fire service but for the safety department. Fire Chief Roman said,"Councilman Rubin, in answer to your question, my proposed budget, this year of $347,429 dollars, is roughly estimated to be for the fire side, out of the total budget of $715,000." Councilman Rubin asked, "How would you feel about separating the paramedic's from the fire department and setting up two separate departments for each?" Response from the audience indicated that all were opposed to this suggestion. Commissioner Lashley explained, "The county fire and rescue departments were separate at one time in the past, however, after some research, was made it was determined that it would be more cost effective if the two departments were combined into one department. If all the men were combined under one building and every man was cross -trained, either they are EMT -fire fighter or paramedic -firefighter. By combining the departments you are probably saving a man and half because these men are able to go either direction, out on a fire call or out on a rescue call. You are saving manpower by having the departments combined." Fire Chief Roman stated that he felt that the ambulance service should remain exactly where it is presently located and that no changes should be made. 3776 �- 5 - m- Commissioner Lashley stated that the main objective was to save money and keep quality service in our community. Commissioner Harvey stated that the main concern at this meeting was to establish whether or not all were in favor of the merger and if so, how the merger would be done. Before the decison on whether or not the merger would be done, find out if it was saving money for the community and that the service would be quality service. Commissioner Lashley stated that he felt that that a board should be established for the merger. Fire Chief Rogers from Ft. Pierce should be invited to come over and talk with the commissioners and councilmen. Councilman Collins stated that the board should be formed with two members from the County Commission and two members from the City Council and a fifth person, such as Fire Chief Rogers, that could offer assistance in forming the merger. Commissioner Lashley asked if anyone from the audience would like to speak. After citizen input the board's workshop was continued with,the respective fire chiefs comments as follows. Fire Chief Roman stated that he felt that between Fire Chief Tomey and himself that here was enough expertise here that they could work something out as far as the merger was concerned. Fire Chief Tomey stated that the first question to be andwered should be who will govern the merger if that is what they wanted. The next question would be who to choose to come and talk with us about the merger. After these questions are answered then we can work together. Discussion involved as to whether to invite Fire Chief Brice from West Palm Beach to come up and discuss the merger. Commissioner Lashley asked if made. No comments were made at this Commissioner Lashley adjourned ADJOURMENT ATTEST: BONNIE S. THOMAS, CMC CITY CLERK there were any other comments to be time. the meetiong at 8:35 P.M. OAKLAND R. CHAPM , MAYOR This meeting, as all others is taped in its entirety and is on file in the City Clerks office.