Minutes 05-10-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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criticism of the volunteer fire departments. At this meeting, there was more of a peace about this issue. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board needs to decide what kind of reports they want generated and which risks to manage. He wants to try and make a better system. Commissioner Hemminger said that as she read this document she realized how much the County depends on its volunteer fire departments. Frank Clifton said that the County has come to the scene of emergency services a little late as a governmental function since it has relied on the volunteers for so long. Even though the departments are called volunteer, they would not be able to function without paid staff countywide. He said that this is a universal problem in the state. He said that many of these paid staff work for various fire departments. He said that these volunteer departments are basically independent agencies and this study is basically an inventory of what the County has and is doing now. He said that he does not think that the County wants to manage independent fire department districts, but he wants to at least try and conform to some sort of standard. He said that the departments need to be flexible and so does the County. Commissioner Hemminger said that since the County cannot afford to take over this system, the County Commissioners need to become better at communicating with these departments because right now it is all over the place and there is a lack of coordination. Commissioner McKee said that he found it disturbing that the largest service provider in Orange County— Orange County EMS — had a section of about four pages. The number of personnel is higher than any of the other departments. He said that there was no breakdown on Orange County's calls, but there was a breakdown on some of the volunteer departments. There was also no equipment breakdown. He said that this seems to be only a cursory review of the County EMS as opposed to a more in-depth review of the fire departments. He personally feels that more ambulances are needed on the road, but he has no way to justify that without the data. He said that it is unfortunate that this has been done in a work session where public comment cannot be taken. He would like to have a work session with the fire departments since the fire departments are a taxing authority. Chair Pelissier said that she attended a fire chiefs meeting last week with Commissioner McKee and she echoed his suggestion of having a work session with the volunteer chiefs in the County. She suggested that EMS and others respond to these weaknesses. Commissioner Jacobs said that the only time the County Commissioners have any direct dealing with what fire departments do is when they approve their budgets. He said that one purpose of this was to give some context but also to educate the Board. He said that he is uncomfortable when people average out times for various departments because it is an average of people who live in Hurdle Mills and people who live in the rural buffer. This is not an intelligent way to measure services. He thinks that everyone is committed to promoting and protecting public safety. He said that he would like to see staff come back with comments from providers and look at what the next steps could be. He would like to see the Manager work with the appropriate entities and come back with some possible next steps and improvements to make regarding the costs. Commissioner McKee said that he realizes this report was conceived as a three-part study, but he will not be comfortable moving forward with any other part of this study until there is some discussion with the service providers regarding the weaknesses and strengths and trying to develop some sort of strategic plan. Chair Pelissier said that she would not like to move on until there is a joint session with the service providers.