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Boardman fire chief: Station closures justified
TweetThe closings will not affect the main fire station on U.S. Route 224 across from the mall, the chief said.
By Sean Barron
BOARDMAN — Despite the best-laid budget projections for 2009 — and the passage last November of a 2.2-mill police and fire operating levy — a difficult economy and several unexpected situations have combined to make the rotational closings of two fire stations a necessity.
That was the main message Fire Chief James Dorman delivered during Wednesday’s trustees meeting as he explained why he felt such an option was needed.
Closures will alternate between the station near Lockwood Boulevard and Shields Road and the one on South Avenue; the main fire station, on U.S. Route 224 near Southern Boulevard, won’t be affected, he explained.
On Saturday, Dorman closed the South Avenue facility.
Based on firefighters’ vacation schedules and the average number of annual sick hours, Dorman had predicted about $180,000 would be needed for overtime in 2009. That figure, however, was surpassed last month, in part because four firefighters were injured this year in the line of duty, he noted.
Also, one firefighter resigned this summer, and another died, neither of which could have been factored into the budget. All of this contributed to overtime’s being more than what had been appropriated at the start of the year, he continued.
The department, which has an annual operating budget of about $4.3 million, has exceeded its overtime for 2009 by more than $40,000, he noted.
Dorman said he has discussed with some of the township’s 34 full-time firefighters the need to make reductions. He also considered two other options to deal with the overtime situation, but neither proved viable, so the closings was the best one economically and in terms of service, Dorman explained.
The chief said the two stations each will be assigned a month to be closed, but that such a schedule is flexible and heavily dependent on manpower at both.
The main station will remain open because of the average volume of calls it receives each year compared with the other two. The Route 224 station fields between 1,300 and 1,400 calls annually; the average number of calls each year to the others is 700 to 800 each, Dorman noted.
Trustees Larry Moliterno and Robyn Gallitto agreed with Dorman’s assessment of the overtime situation. Trustee Kathy Miller, on the other hand, opposed the closings.
In somewhat heated discussions with officials during the session, Miller called the decision irresponsible in light of the levy passage.
Miller complained that she only recently learned of the situation and that no formal talks among trustees took place.
In addition, she continued, too little community input was considered before the move, and trustees should have had the opportunity to further review the township’s expenditures and be a bigger part of discussions.
The closings could have a long-term harmful effect, she predicted.
Nevertheless, “We have to operate year to year,” said William D. Leicht, fiscal officer.
Dorman has said he does not anticipate layoffs, and that closing a station will still allow all personnel to remain on the job.
The chief added that talks must take place between trustees and the firefighters union as soon as possible to find common ground and save money.
Comments
But what Dorman DOESN'T say is that each truck counts as one call, so if two trucks are sent to a crash, they count that as two calls. If three trucks go to an actual fire (and don't be fooled, they don't see real, actual fires that often), they count that as three calls. Just an attempt to inflate the numbers and justify having eleven firemen on-duty at all times.
"Closures will alternate between the station near Lockwood Boulevard and Shields Road and the one on South Avenue"
Does this mean fires are to alternate likewise?
If one firefighter resigned and another died, doesn't that release some funds for overtime?
The trustees have lost control. Vote for 2 new ones in November!
New trustees will have no impact unless they are wealthy and want to fork over some of their wealth to the township.
They've already exceeded the 2009 OT allocation by more than 40 thousand with nearly 4 months to go.
The employees all need replaced, not the trustees. Go to a predominantly volunteer FD. More levies are on the way!
RFederer:
I agree with you in part as the language on last November's ballot read, "...or the payment of permanent, part-time, or volunteer firefighters or firefighting companies...."
The two women politicians bicker for their own self-preservation, not the common good, and their shelflife has expired.
Why didn't the Trustees explain the situation? Isn't that their job?
All we get are excuses for complete mismanagement.
Both Kathy (idiot) and Robyn (ego maniac) need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Just curious Oz, I mean valleypolitics, what part of the township is broke don't you understand?
The mismanagement was years ago and this group is reaping the rewards.
So 2 women who have been highly successful are idiots and ego maniacs?
Regarding the 'highly successful' and reaping the rewards of mismanagement from years ago:
http://www4.vindy.com/content/opinion...
Take-home cars link:
http://www.boardmantwp.com/trustees/M...
[Although she made a stink about it in 2006, the number doubled after Patterson left. Go to the Township building today and look at the row of cars just recently parked for auction.]
Chief’s tuition link:
http://boardmantwp.com/trustees/Minut...
[Although making $100K, both approved paying his tuition whereas the average cop pays for his own somewhere along the road to being hired. And keepin mind being paid $100K as a chief for the first 9 months without a certificate]
jr99 writes that the FD counts each truck to a call pads the number of responses by the FD. One call no matter how many trucks respond to the incident still is one call. These calls are reported to the state of ohio we do not pad our responses or call numbers based on the amount of vehicles that respond to the incident. You would think that he would know this if he is retired from the township.
jr99, that's a damn lie. You sound like somebody who's a little resentful because you just weren't good enough to be hired.
Good enough to be hired? Like Kendall and Kasiewicz? Or the IT coord, the toddler administrator, Oz's ex wife, and anyone else who had connections! The most important thing you need to get a job in Boardman is the right connections. The right last name, campaign contributions, or friends/relatives with the power brokers. Talent, knowledge, and experience doesn't count. My guess is jr99 just didn't have the right last name or friends in the right places.
If I were the township Trustees, I would resign. This board has put the township in disgrase and have NO clue as how to pull them out of it.Big time saleries that they carry could also help a little if they gave a little.along with their high priced police and fire chiefs.
It's a constant battle between who has the biggest rear end to wipe,between Boardman and Canfield.Both are so upity and rightious and both are the same amount of crime as Youngstow but neither will admit it.And both have the most dangerous streets being 224 run thru both towns.