City officials of the city of Richmond Heights night at a council meeting Monday will hear a presentation of the results of a study to combine the fire departments command structure for the cities of Brentwood, Maplewood, Clayton, Richmond Heights and Rock Hill. Firefighters from three of the cities oppose it.
Kurt Becker, district vice president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 2665, sent a memo to the Richmond Heights Mayor Jim Thomson and the city council opposing the command consolidation.
See also: Firefighters union critical of combined command structure, to be presented Monday
The memo outlines why firefighters in Richmond Heights, Clayton, and Brentwood oppose further efforts and expenditures related to the East Central Fire Command project.
Some of the items the firefighters oppose are below. See the full memo here.
- The projected cost to implement the ECFC is $2,068,379. For fiscal year 2017 the collective cost for salaries currently being incurred by the five cities for their fire department administrative services is $1,616,677.
- The Fire Prevention bureau is projected to be “dangerously insufficient and significantly under-resourced.”
- There are no personnel assigned to public education and public relations.
- Performance objectives are not established.
- The city administrators didn’t accept edits firefighters from the union agreed to, to add Fire prevention, Public Education and Communication positions.
- The Rock Hill Fire Department is a ‘huge outlier.’ It pays its personnel roughly half the other agencies, operates with a service model that is 30-40 years outdated, as compared to the other four cities, and more.
I’m opposed to this mainly because of what a disaster it has been since Brentwood became part of the ECDC (consolidated dispatch). The dispatchers don’t know Brentwood and both police and fire have been dispatched to the wrong address multiple times. When you call them it becomes apparent that they have no idea what the city looks like. My wife called in a suspicious person a few months ago and was asked if the guy had gone down an alleyway. There are no alleys anywhere near my house.
As a taxpayer, I’m fine with spending more money to keep Brentwood fire department as an independent entity.
Next up, your Police Department. This is in the game plan of Better Together. Pick off the city’s one at a time, making one big Department and then join with the city of St Louis. So much for what the people want. On TV last night I saw all of ten residents. After a promotion ceremony by their Police Department over half of the residents left. You get what voted for. A group that has only one thing in mind, power to a few! This time next year you will be saying to yourself ” how and when did this happen “? Just about the sametime we were all up in the air about a few lifeguards at the Maplewood pool. Speaking of pool, what do you think the new name of the pool should be? St Louis City West, Mid Town Pool ? Think about this. We are only a few years away and you know how time flys.
Where is the $2,068,379 coming from? That kind of money could help fill in potholes left from last winter. Help build a levee along Deer Creek. Clayton, Richmond Heights and Brentwood are on the right track so far. It would be shameful for each department to loose their command control. All you need to do is make sure the dumb butt is terminated who did not send Maplewood FD to assist Brentwood FD in the old Brentwood Inn fire some years back.
More voices heard will likely result in a more comprehensive, well-thought-out plan for everyone.
I appreciate the Firefighters unions position on this merger, but must say as a citizen, my position is that this is not about the union, it is about the financial stability of our public services and protecting the citizens of Richmond Heights.