||| FROM ANTHONY SIMPSON |||
Full disclosure, I am and have been a volunteer with Orcas Island Fire and Rescue for about 10 years since I moved to Orcas with my family. I was recruited by Chief Kevin O’Brien.
To improve the reliability and timeliness of our department’s responsiveness, Chief O’Brien initially pursued an austere strategy. That strategy would have significantly increased the burden on our volunteers by requiring in-station shifts and dedicated on-duty periods. It was too much to ask and the alternative was to increase professional staffing by adding career firefighter/EMTs positions. The consensus assessment at the time was that the increasing call volume, overlapping calls and island limitations required this operational prioritization. Those considerations remain true today, perhaps even more so.
While not immediately apparent, this decision was made knowing there would be a necessary offset in reduced funding for facility maintenance, vehicle maintenance and replacement, benefits and stipends for volunteers, as well as training for volunteers and career staff (including efforts to attract new volunteers).
This is anecdotally robbing Peter to pay Paul and not sustainable indefinitely. Without a substantial funding increase (such as the proposed Lid lift) the department will have to reallocate resources and that will likely mean eliminating operational staff to keep pace with other demands and even that won’t rectify the backlog of deferred maintenance and replacement.
The department and commission have rigorously analyzed their long-term needs to sustain the service they provide at the current level of performance and that is available for review in significant detail at https://www.orcasfire.org/
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Tony,
Your claim that the fire department board “rigorously analyzed their long term needs” is, shall we say, interesting. Especially when one considers the fact that this board never once discussed specific needs in an open meeting before voting to approve this request for a permanent 83% increase.
The “rigorous analysis” also never came up with the actual amount they need! This is a fact. They can’t know how much they will be getting until October when the 2023 assessments are released by the county.
Thank you for your service.
Tony, I was on the OIFD Board up until Kevin’s departure.. your history and information is lacking. The changes were from former Chief Mike Harris, Kevin inherited the newer protocols which included the restructuring of Duty Shifts. Also the Cross Training.
The Capital Levy that rebuilt the department, then asked by Kevin for a roll over with a new vote to the Community for another 10 years at the same rate, ( Mind you we had over a million in our reserves) also adding the new fee of collection for Ambulance services.. (which many taxpayers felt was double dipping)
From that time until now, many issues have arisen. My comment is Personal, our Administration has grown dramatically!
It’s not just all the new positions, it’s the $15k plus per individual on top of wages on top of poor Union Bargaining.. that’s still lingering.
My simple question today is, we have maintained 50 -70 active Volunteers in our history. I wonder how many active, that means Current on calls, all training and background work to stay current..
I asked a knowledgeable individual that’s current… todays total is substantially less..
Its very apparent, new energy is needed to get things on track, a new Levy will be needed but I’m afraid this proposal for August is a Swing and a Miss.
I’m happy to talk with anyone who’s reviewed the analysis provided by the department and has questions or values the perspective of a current volunteer. My phone is 360-317-6579 and I’d prefer to meet in person but I’ll talk on the phone if you prefer. – I’m not sure why that was omitted from my submission but please reach out.