It's Like Doing a Rain Dance, Then Complaining About a Lack of Umbrellas When it Starts Pouring.....

When you pray for rain it is good to have a solid umbrella....

County and IAFF bargaining continues tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there are significant issues that still need to be addressed in the fire union contract.  I am hopeful our bargaining team can carry the board's proposals tomorrow and an agreement can be reached.

At least that is the hope.

But in listening to the last 10 minutes of the most recent session with the IAFF--it appears their  positions are very intransigent.  I hope this changes.

Continuing shots at commissioners have not stopped or changed, though.  Through selective releases of certain information on social media, via proxies sympathetic to the union,  and the union itself---- information and data that are misleading, inaccurate, or flat out fiction pour out.

For Example:  the false social media posts related to a tragic fire resulting in the death of a citizen were weaponized and launched onto the internet by the union.  This rightfully led to disciplinary action against those union leaders that did this but would not admit their culpability.  Good.  That tragic death was absolutely NOT about a lack of resources as the union falsely claimed.  That was a straight-up, bald-faced lie.  Sickeningly, it had the appearance of an attempt at utilization of a tragedy to further union negotiations for higher wages.  Disgustingly unprofessional.

I was contacted by that victim's family in that instance and they were not happy about that post.  Believe that.

At a breakfast I enjoyed this past Saturday with a current county employee and former volunteer firefighter in West Pensacola, he recounted that his own experience as a multi-year volunteer was bittersweet.  "I enjoyed doing it for many years, but we were never treated fairly, we were not allowed to ride along to fire calls, and we were given only menial tasks to do in the firehouse.  Most of us left because we were treated horribly, like second-class citizens."  

A current volunteer (one of the few remaining) summed it up succinctly "This can be fixed with minimal cost. Just need to put people with vision in these positions and let them build it up and get us all to working together. Volunteers and career can Co exist but we need to begin with solid volunteer leadership to start with. And it can grow if given the chance. Cuts down their overtime and increases services to the citizens at minimal cost. But you gotta start with solid volunteer leaders.

Right now they [IAFF Union] control ECFR every aspect of it and that is not working. District Chiefs with a little backbone for the volunteers is what we need right now. If you noticed recently that station one now has no volunteers and they are trying to achieve that at all stations. I myself have almost thrown in the

 towel but it come to my attention that if I quit my station will have NO VOLUNTEERS and I won't let that happen. Right now I am the only reason we still have volunteers at [my station]."

Volunteers are not being treated fairly--and some within the union want this NOT to be discussed or even acknowledged.  They want it swept under the carpet. ( Ironically, many-if not most-of the union leadership are themselves former volunteers........)

They're upset with me because I'll never sweep this under the rug.  I will work to fix it.  Just last year it was reported that nearly 20 volunteers were "knocked off the log" when a fire union member called the employer of the 20 volunteers and voiced concerns about their "safety" if they followed through with it and became fully certified volunteer firemen.  Ultimately, due to this phone call notification, the employer relented and forbid these young men from volunteering to serve their community.

There were no discipline ramifications for that issue from our previous administrator, the former administrater, even though the easy math shows the devastating costs that one incident of volunteer mistreatment may have caused.  Take the average total burdened cost(s) for 20 ECFR IAFF fire personnel and that cost exceeds $1 Million Dollars.  Conversely, 20 fully trained, fully certified volunteers cost the county just $96,000.00---less than 10% of what the paid personnel that replaced them will cost taxpayers.

So yes, as a policymaker and an elected official--this flagrant abuse of the taxpayers ENRAGES ME!

Regardless--just like we have done for other units with whom we bargain--I believe the board will do what is right when the bargaining is concluded with IAFF.  Just as we did for the Sheriff, as we are doing with EMS and the Paramedics, and as we are working toward with corrections and ECAT.  But treatment of volunteers will be addressed, too. 

And at the conclusion of bargaining, I do believe this will encompass a raise for starting firefighter pay in Escambia County.  

Let me be perfectly clear.  I respect all first responders for the difficult work they do, all of them.  In this county, they are treated fairly and compensated with a generous pension plan, tremendous benefits, and good yearly earnings.  (Look on our website under employee wages, then filter to "fire pd" and see what folks actually earn yearly juxtaposed with the fictional "$10.79" figure the union likes to trumpet.)

It's public service.  Unless you live in California, Chicago, or New York--you're probably not going to get rich in this line of work.  But if you make a 25-30 year career of it locally--you can retire with nearly a 6-figure pension (the equivalent of 90-100% of your ending salary average).  Right here in Escambia County.  Yes it is a tough job, and yes it is dangerous.  But again---if you make it a career it comes with a pension and benefits package that is unrivaled in the private sector. 

Therefore, as a steward of precious taxpayer resources, we have to be smart with limited funds and utilize all available labor (including volunteer firefighters) in a way that is intelligent, safe, economical, efficient, and sustainable as we staff our fire service locally.  Which means we may not necessarily always agree.  Which means bargaining can be contentious.

But my first reaction will NEVER be to lay out prostrate and do the bidding of a union that proposes huge tax increases as their "only solution."  Nope.  Especially when their leadership lives in Pace and would not even be subject to the payment of a doubled MSBU.

Instead, we have to capture every efficiency, limit non-mandatory, discretionary overtime, cultivate and embrace volunteers to supplement the service, and properly maintain gear and apparatus.  

I believe when we do all of this, combined with the siloing of EMS revenue under the umbrella of public safety, putting all equipment and apparatus on a predictable replacement cycle with utilization of ONLY LOST funds for purchase of such equipment, the lowering of the MSBU by $50 yearly with the addition of a MSTU that will generate the delta in year one (which will negate year over year tax rate increase I don't support yet will generate significant additional revenue going forward yearly compared to a static MSBU)  We CAN get where we need to be.

But it has to be a holistic solution, and it is not an instant fix.  Will we get there though?  

Yes.

I'm confident we will get there.  We have finally hired a brand new fire chief (after two years without one) who is experienced in mixed departments.  He takes over a department that has suffered from a serious leadership vacuume.  We have a brand new, dynamic and exceptional interim director of Public Safety that is doing a tremendous job for the citizens.  I hope he takes the role on a permanent basis.  Now comes the part where we put it all together and fix it.  This is in process right now.

But we have to work together, respect each other's roles, responsibilities, opinions, and perspectives. Personal, ad hominem attacks have NO place in this fix either.

As I have said before--I have great faith in all first responders and I am optimistic about the future.  But when something isn’t right, I’ll stand up and say something and do something about it.  Even if I take shots for it.   Always have, always will.  And I’ll always stand up for volunteers when when they get bullied, harassed, and run out of fire stations as has been happening for the last several years in Escambia county without anyone curbing this.  It is for this reason that the budget is under strain because when the union runs out a fully qualified, fully certified volunteer that costs us $400 per month and then replaces this person with a paid fireman that costs $50,000 per year (when benefits and fringes are added in)—that costs a lot of money and crushes the budget! 

So if the game is belittle volunteers, denigrate their service, run down their availability, and purposely preclude them from riding along on calls—that’s a game that is going to end---for my vote at least ---as a part of any long-term solution.  Because to do otherwise would be ridiculous.  

It would be akin to the union coming to the board and screaming “we need more people!” When it is, in part, a staffing dysfunction they themselves cultivated; kind of like doing a rain dance and then complaining that you don’t have enough umbrellas when it starts raining.