Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Greenville will hold a public meeting on the EMS issue - August 7th

It's time for all you anonymous commenters to put up or shut up (respectfully). The next meeting is August 7 at 3pm in the city council chambers.

*comments are now closed

26 comments:

  1. As a preface to the meeting, the chair should read the annual appropriation for the GFD, then read the appropriation for the Greenville Township FD, then that of the Greenville Township EMS. The need for the meeting will evaporate.

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  2. The city is quite jealous if you will that the township is fiscally prudent, and they are reckless/
    The city gave the firefighters 3.9% raises a year for 3 years, even though they lost around 30% of their calls when the township started their FD.
    Who gets that kind of raise after they lost some of their job? No one.
    And now they want to run the EMS into the ground?
    The City should explore contracting their fire service to the township.
    The savings would be huge, that would free up money to fix streets, the Mausoleum roof and restore funding to the parks.

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  3. signing with the word anonymous is the only safe way not to lose your job in this city. They may have a hard time firing you but you would be treated unfairly.

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  4. I think it would be a good idea to consolidate services. However... it sounds like the city fire wants the twp. rescue to lose personnel and not them. This hardly seems fair especially when twp rescue does more work load. Its too bad the city and township cant get along and work things out like adults. Thank you to all the paramedics and firefighers of Greenville that serve the public everyday.

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  5. Has anyone asked the question as to how the township has carried over surplus revenue since they started billing insurance companies for their services? Rescue makees money; fire costs money. Why is it fair that the township makes money and the city loses money? It's not the city firefighters' fault; they do their jobs very well and should be compensated for that. It's a power struggle between politicians. If the city ran rescue and fire, then the city taxpayers would save money. But nobody wants to look at the facts. Pay attention to the numbers and leave your emotions out of it.

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  6. Your right its not fair that the city loses money. With that said I think its time for them to look into a joint fire district. A joint fire district would save tax payers money however egos keep getting in the way. Combining services is a bad idea. You have firefighters that dont want to do EMS and you have Paramedics that dont want to Fight fire. It is the firefighters fault that the city is in this position (unions fault). If there pay was where it should be and there man power was where it should be things would look alot different on paper.

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  7. Ah, finally a firefighter has spoken (July 23, at 1:18 pm). Your right, we should ask why the city is losing and the township has a surplus. When you look at the city fire having just shy of a $2 million budget for 780 calls last year (over 100 of them due to two days of bad weather that does not happen very often) and the rescue has a $1.4 million budget for 2940 calls last year with a carry over I would venture to guess that it is poor fiscal management by the city/fire department heads, not greed by rescue.

    Further more, when you look at fire departments all over the nation downsizing and laying off employees, coupled with the exorbitant amount of financial increase the city asked the township for fire coverage a few years back, I would say (completely my own opinion) that this venture to take over EMS is just an attempt at revenge and job security for seemingly over paid, under worked fire fighters.

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  8. Anybody curious as to why a public meeting is being held at 3:00 pm on a work day? So what I have to take time off of my job to attend? Pretty obvious that they don't really want "us" there.

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  9. Folks, in some other areas where fire and EMS are togehter, fire has a smaller budget and can operate very well. In these times there is nothing wrong with having a FD or EMS department made up of Full time / Part time / and Volunteers and still have great protection. It works for other city's are size or larger. And when you are able to keep them seperatre as Greenville area does, the people/tax payers come out on top but getting the very protectin and care. Firefighters are firefighters by heart and EMS people are EMS by heart. This is why the people in Greenville/Greenville TWP are lucky to have such great FD's and EMS. (My opinion) One reason why the TWP has a surplus. They have a full/part/and volunteer department. "BIG COST SAVINGS". I think it works because of the respect and dedacation the full/part/and volnteers give to each other which refects on savings to there community. This is returned by the respect they reciecve from the city and Twp people. Little side note: Around 70% of FD and EMS are covered by volunteers in the USA and they receivce little or no pay. Again we are one of the lucky ones to have people on call 24/7. With that being said I can see savings with a few changes that might have to be proposed. Like a full/part/volunteer FD. Look around a the succesful comunitys. You still see people volunteering , New Madison, Ansonia, Gettysburg, Arcanum... Granted the call volume is smaller but they still work hard to give the pepole the best. Change hurts but always pays off in the end. Let's keep them seperate.

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  10. I agree with what you say about volunteers. Between the city and the township there are about 800-900 calls per year with about 50 firefighters (paid and volunteer) covering both jurisdictions. Rescue has 25 paramedics and EMT’s (paid and volunteer) covering the entire jurisdiction with 2940 calls per year. Who is ripping off whom here? A joint fire district would be a great idea to save taxpayers money, but somehow I don’t think the politicians and firefighters would be interested. I think the employees at Greenville Rescue would be more interested in that plan instead of potentially losing their jobs to the city.

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  11. The city begged for an ethanol plant and look at what you got and are about to get, This city has a knack for turning gold into lead.
    They need to stay away from the EMS so they don't screw that up as well.

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  12. I just received a copy of the EMS Feasibility study. They obviously have no clue what there talking about when it comes to EMS. The amount of Paramedics they are wanting to utilize is mind boggling. Please tell me how ?? I feel sorry for those Paramedics. They will be ran into the ground. Can you say UNSAFE. I now know how they are saving the tax payers money. Are those Paramedics permitted to take vacations ?? If so you are a little short on man power. I would go to the meeting but I will be at work until 5 pm.

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  13. I have been a Firefighter/Paramedic for 15 years now and I have ran for many departments. Five of the departments were Fire based EMS. Two of them were county wide EMS departments. I will tell you that from my experience you will not receive very good care with a fire based EMS system. Firefighters for many years have been trying to keep there job security. Unfortunetley they have dragged EMS into the mix of it all. The majority of Firefighters hate EMS. They only want it for the job security. The county wide EMS departments I have worked for the employees love EMS. They have the passion it takes to be a good EMT/Paramedic. They keep up on the many hours of continuing education because they love the career not because its just a certification to keep there job. To all the citizens of Greenville please keep services separate. The public needs to be better educated on how EMS has become so in depth. This would be a huge mistake for the city of Greenville. I actually worked for a department that was Fire Based EMS and they would argue who was going to be on the Medic for that particular shift. It was sad. Get more involved with your community Greenville. God Bless the Firefighers and Paramedics of the city/Township of Greenville.

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  14. I would like all the citizens of Greenville to go to www.iaff.org. This is the Union that represents Firefighters. This says it all. Search the website for any information on EMS. You can find some if you look hard enough. Its all about firefighting to them. EMS is on the back burner.

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  15. First off, Greenville Township is saving you more money than you think by not squandering it, hence the surplus. Most importantly, money should come second only to good, high quality, health care. When you read the other post about firefighters fighting over who would be on the medic for a shift you should be very afraid of the city taking over EMS. And when you have city firefighters with the motto “let’s get muddy and bloody” do you really want them doing EMS.

    For proof of the fear the city fire department has over the potential for lay off’s go to
    http://www.ffwaterfowl.com/Fire/index.php?PHPSESSID=pfn7f3tvhqqm04dltnmq6qh3b7&board=1.0

    This is a web page put together by some of the cities firefighters. The above link will take you to a forum that has many posts by Axe Man (aka, the Greenville city fire chief). These many posts, too many for a working fire chief if you ask me, have to do with cities laying off firefighters and downsizing. They are afraid of losing their jobs. I would be too, but I would not try to do away with another’s job just to keep my own.

    By the way, the link above will show you posts with the above mentioned motto signature line. You will note the name belongs to a city firefighter.

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  16. After reading the many Anonymous reply's, it's pretty clear the FF have a fight on there hands from the people in this City. City counsel as well sould be careful. And the opening statment "It's time for all you anonymous commenters to put up or shut up (respectfully)." Who is respectfully/(Anonymous)? I respect Anonymous people. I have heard of cases in which people making public statements agianst Firefighters/EMS had some bad experences when they needed the fire deprtment. One case in Michigan several years ago, a man did not donate to a local FD department when they asked for donation. Guess what happened when his house caught fire.... no more house. Know most of the City employees I wouldn't think this would happen...however if my job was in question... well most of those people are good people and relly care about this City.

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  17. To the 7:52 PM comment. When they are willing to drain the fuel out of a fire truck going to another department, you have to wonder what else they will do.

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  18. 9:18pm That one will never be forgot. That made national news all over the net. Like 7:52pm stated there are only a few city employees that are making the rest look bad. Most of them are good, caring people as stated.
    A wise man once said,"careful what bridges you burn" you know the rest.

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  19. In 1975 City FD could have started on the ground floor to have EMS, City said NO WAY.
    Again in later years The City could have EMS and again City said NO WAY. SO why now another push for EMS????

    The way it was reported in the Advocate last week the City could do the EMS service for 117,000 or so dollars and hire 7 more people and by squads, I hope someone does the math for this problem

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  20. The Advocate is not biased or anything....

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  21. sounds to me like the only posts are comming from township trustees

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  22. Ok, so what is your opinion on the issue?

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  23. I am still trying to get a grasp on all of the issues myself. I'm glad to have seen the discussion above take place. In general - my thoughts are that I'd like to get past all the finger pointing and just figure out what is best for the city and county. I've never heard anyone criticize the township rescue, so I am kind of wondering why we need the city services.

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  24. Obviously most of the people on here have no clue what they are talking about!!! I think if you had a volunteer dept. as your main fire protection you wpold also be crying. Nothing aaginst the volunteer depts. but the citizens of Greenville are spoiled with their insurance rates. Just ask your insurance agent what your rates would be if you were covered by a ISO class 9 dept.
    To me if the entire country is in a "financial crises" why is there a 2.3 MILLION dollar carry-over with the township? Don't give me that crap about poor management, someone is paying way too much? But who? Oh yeah the taxpayers of Greenville & Greenville Twp.
    The people posting on here better get your facts straight, your letting people and opinions lead you down a path you know nothing about.

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  25. To 7-24-09 at 7:25 PM My name is Chip Fashner, and my signature line on MY WEB SITE has to deal with hunting not Fire or EMS. That web site was started by several of the dedicated City of Greenville Firefighters, But has nothing at all to do with the City. Also if you are going to talk (or point out) specific individuals be man or women enough to add your name! If not stay to the general subject, which our website has no bearing on, but thanks for the publicity. Seeing how a portion of those proceeds go to the shriners burn center for children, the kids thank you also.
    Chip Fashner

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  26. Yes Chip - I now realize the commenter above was out of line. I'm shutting down comments on this one. Go to one of the newer stories if any of you want to continue the discussion.

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