Cuckoo for Coconuts

The following are excerpts from a New Times article dated December 21, 2006.

"...Those are the first things that the mayor [of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea] brings up when asked about the issue that is ripping his quaint and unique beach burg apart: The hostile takeover of the town's fire services by the Broward Sheriff's Office."

CORRECTION: BSO Fire Rescue did not "take over" fire service in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, nor could it. In all the cities and towns where BSO provides public safety services, it has been the elected leaders of the municipality, not Sheriff Ken Jenne, that made the decision to contract with BSO for service. Likewise, it was the elected Town Council in LBTS that decided two years ago to contract with BSO for fire service. Since then, BSO Fire Rescue has always been the Town's primary provider of fire and emergency services. That has not changed.

"...The sheriff's office then locked the volunteers out of the town firehouse and commandeered their fire trucks and equipment."

CORRECTION: With the exception of one older fire truck that was too old to be in service, the volunteers did not own the fire trucks used in LBTS. The fire trucks used by the volunteers have always belonged to the Town. In fact, the trucks used by BSO also belong to the Town. The contract between BSO and the Town allows BSO to use these trucks for the duration of the agreement. As for the older truck, it belongs to the volunteers and remains in their possession.

Blast E-mail from the Lauderdale By The Sea Times

The following are excerpts from a blast e-mail from the Lauderdale By The Sea Times during the week of December 11, 2006.

"...[The VFD was dismissed ] by a cash hungry Sheriff Jenne, [and] residents of LBTS pay more per capital for fire service and police service for Jenne’s troops then anyone else"

CORRECTION:

1. The fire agreement between the Town of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and BSO is a $2 million dollar contract in Sheriff Ken Jenne's overall BSO budget of $700 million dollars. It represents less than 1/3 of 1% of BSO's budget. It is also a contract from which BSO makes zero profit.


2. As for the cost to the Town, LBTS is a barrier island community that - for public safety reasons - must have a minimun of one fire engine and one rescue ambulance ON THE ISLAND to respond to emergencies. While critics claim the town population may be approximately one third the size of other similarly equipped communities, it is impossible to staff LBTS with one third of an engine, or one third of a rescue. On the other hand, while the Town only pays for one fire truck and one rescue, BSO sends to every structure fire call in the Town a total of 3 engines, 2 rescues, 1 arial truck and two battalion chiefs at no additional cost to the Town.

"...[LBTS Town Commissioner John] Yanni works for BSO and in any sense of fairness should not have been allowed to vote to remove the Volunteers."

CORRECTION: It should be pointed out that LBTS Commissioner Jerry Mcintee is an Assistant Chief with the volunteers, and LBTS Commissioner Jim Silverstone is the Chief of the volunteers. Yet both men routinely and repeatedly voted on Town issues regarding the VFD without ever citing any conflict of interest.

Letter by Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Volunteer Fire Department to LBTS Residents

The following are excerpts from a letter by the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Volunteer Fire Department to the residents of the Town dated November 28th, 2006.

"...The illegal actions of the BSO in locking your volunteers out of your fire station, and taking possession of all the fire trucks and equipment that had been purchased with your dollars and making it their own; shows the blatent disregard BSO has for due process."

CORRECTION:

1. The termination of the LBTS volunteers was legal, and followed the process agreed upon by both sides in the contract between BSO and the volunteers.
2. When the Town contracted with BSO for fire service, the Town turned over two fire engines to BSO. BSO uses those trucks to serve the residents of the Town. But both trucks would be given back to the Town if BSO were no longer the Town's fire service provider. A third truck purchased by the volunteers but too old to be used for fire service remains the property of the volunteers.

"...[BSO] broke in to our file cabinet and rifled through our personnel files, extricating personal information illegally."

CORRECTION: When BSO terminated the contract with the volunteers, a fully documented inventory was done at Station 12. Records show no cabinets were broken into, and no personnel files were "rifled through."

Commentary about BSO's Contract for Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Fire Rescue Services

It is important to clarify why BSO cancelled its contract with the Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Volunteer Fire Department. The Town Council hired BSO Fire Rescue in October, 2004 to provide fire suppression as well as emergency medical services. BSO’s professionally trained, full time firefighter/paramedics are the Town’s primary emergency responders for all calls, both medical and fire-related

As part of the 2004 agreement, BSO hired the volunteers as sub-contractors. The volunteers were paid by BSO, but the volunteer leadership was responsible for day-to-day volunteer operations as well as discipline of their membership.

During the past two years, several concerns regarding the volunteer leadership have been raised and documented. These concerns involve the volunteer leadership, and its inability to provide the professional direction that the volunteer rank and file clearly deserved. This lack of professional leadership was endangering the lives of all firefighters and paramedics on the scene, as well as residents and visitors.

Much has been said about the VFD’s civic involvement. While BSO supports community service, helping neighbors cannot be a substitute for providing an adequate level of life safety protection. In addition, pulling fire equipment out of service to assist residents as well as fellow volunteers to maintain their own personal property is dangerous. It is important to help one’s neighbors, but not at the risk of public safety.

"... [The Sheriff] was asked to bring in all the other reserve fire status fire personnel. He never brought it in because there are only two." -Town Commissioner & VFD Deputy Chief Jerry McIntee Town Council meeting November 18, 2006

CORRECTION: BSO Fire Rescue is specifically creating the Reserve Unit in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea in an effort to provide the rank and file paid volunteers with a place where they can receive the proper training and learn the proper procedures for fire fighting. It is being created because BSO Fire Rescue realizes that the hard working rank and file of the paid volunteers should not suffer at the hands of inadequate leadership.