Wayne Board Considers Fire Dept Consolidation(posted Nov 9) The Wayne Township Board heard the pros and cons of fire department consolidation efforts during its Nov 8 meeting. Mike Reeves, President of Indianapolis Firefighters Local 416, gave a 30 minute talk on the effects consolidation has had on Washington and Warren townships and their departments. Reeves said his goal was "taking care of people first", and that did not mean only union members. Reeves said some poor assumptions were made with the first merger about the roles office staff would have post merger. Two weeks prior to the merger Chief Joe Anderson still had no idea what his role would be in IFD. "We had some pay issues," but Reeves said no one lost any money. The departments "made dry runs" of insurance programs to make sure no one was left without coverage after the transition. There were some hardware issues with bringing the Washington Township stations into IFD. One problem was network connectivity between the township's internet service provider and IFD's system. The city ended up funding the township's stations from the city's cable fund. Cultural differences became apparent too. Washington Township firefighters started their shifts at 7 am, IFD at 8 am. One firefighter, following standard procedures from his old station, arrived at a new station to start his shift and proceeded to remove the turnout gear of the firefighter he was replacing from the truck. He was informed that "we don't touch other people's gear". Reeves said that despite these minor hiccups things went much more smoothly with Warren Township's merger. "We worked diligently to make sure it all happened." In order to make the merger flow better with Warren, 15 firefighters from IFD and Warren switched places in June to get a jump on smoothing out the process. Township firefighters that did not stay at their old station after the merger were placed in substitute battalions that rotate through IFD. Reeves stated that prior to the merger departments county wide responded to 72% of their coverage areas in under eight minutes, after the merger and closing three stations the coverage increased to 82% for the same time frame. Pension system changes were also a major concern for the townships. Washington Township firefighters have paid into Social Security while IFD and Warren are on the public employees retirement fund. Reeves arranged a meeting with a local financial analyst who relieved firefighters concerns over Social Security. Dollar estimates of saving ranged from the City's $7.5 million to $3.5 million. No change in response times has been noted, but Reeves said that data was harder to come by due to the difficulty in trying to get that data out of the dispatch system. Wayne Township's fire tax rate was 42 cents per $100 assessed valuation in 2006, this year's rate is 64 cents and 2008 is projected to be 63. Consolidation should bring this down to 27 cents. Board member Jim Mann asked if the City's figures "were done by the same people who did the police and sheriff's department merger." Board President Roger Bowser said "I'm not for consolidation per se", but that "I have 25,000 tax payers screaming for relief." Trustee David Beard told the board that he would prefer to wait until Mayor elect Ballard has had time to review consolidation prior to the township proceeding with consolidation efforts. "This office and the chiefs have not received any calls about the tax rates." Deputy trustee Lynn McWhirter said "The problem we have is low assessed valuation." She pointed out that Washington Township has one of the highest in the county. Former Wayne Township trustee wanted the board to realize that "Many of our firefighters will turn 65 before they get 20 years in" and wanted to make sure they would not lose their pensions in a forced retirement. In regular business, the board signed a $298,000 contract to provide fire protection service for Clermont. Deputy Fire Chief John Garino reported that Chief Alcorn is doing fine in his recovery from surgery and will be back next week. Chief Garino also told the board that the department would be receiving two new Seagrave pumpers by the end of the month and new airpacks by the end of the year. |
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