The Siuslaw news., March 06, 2019, Page 7A, Image 7

SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2019 | 7A
CANDIDATES from page 1A here, get their training, get know of. No facilities plan, or
Long also believed that tak- which SVFR does not do in an
experience and then they’re fleet replacement plan. It’s on ing such a step could lead to- effort to encourage use.
plan, and put a capital re- gone. You have to accept that.” paper, but there’s nothing on ward more collaboration be-
“We have a fire marshal
placement plan together. We
Schick pointed out SVFR’s any spreadsheet or anything tween the two departments. here that goes out and does
learned a lot, and I think we recruitment/retention officer financially. You’ve gotta plan While SVFR and WLAD have fire inspections, but there’s no
were really successful there,” as a step in the right direc-
cost of an inspection for a
he said. “It’s a lot of the same tion, “But still, it’s going to
business,” he said. “Every-
“I think Siuslaw is a little unique because they have such where else in the country,
issues that Western Lane and be tough. The thing is, if a
Siuslaw have. Really, all the structure fire happens and a wide age range of volunteers, which is fantastic. One gen- a fire inspection costs to
same in fire departments you have 14 career people, tleman has 39 years here and 49 years of experience. You get done. So, you can gen-
around the country — you that gets expensive. You can’t replace that experience, and for the younger people erate income from fire
can’t get enough volunteers, can’t afford that. You have to see that is great. You have to make sure your current inspections. But there’s
maintaining vehicles is ex- to have a volunteer base
volunteers feel valued — and that you’ve given them op- no code enforcement that
pensive. Everything is expen- that are willing to do it
comes with any monetary
portunities.”
sive.”
and that are trained to be
penalty. So, why would a
— Michael Schick , business want to correct
As to issues specific to safe. And then you’ve got
Siuslaw, Schick brought up to keep replenishing those Siuslaw Valley & Western Lane’s choice for new chief director a deficiency if there’s no
communication, and the people.”
penalty for not correcting
possibility of the creation of
To do that, Schick said for the future, because things been working toward inte- a deficiency? So we do two
a third entity, which would management has to get cre- are going to happen, engines grating services ever since the things. First, we get the place
create a third, non-taxing or- ative and involved.
are going to wear out, SCBAs inception of the IGA, Long in compliance, but we also
ganization that would govern
“I’ve got no problems tak- are going to get old. Radios would like to see more.
generate some funding for
certain aspects of SVFR and ing a Saturday and teaching are going to get old. You have
“I would like to see more that service.”
WLAD. The two emergency HAZMAT classes. We’ll pre- to have money in the bank to cross training,” he said. “You
While Sullivan agreed that
response organizations share pare you for the test. If you take care of your day to day have 11 members of the am- more money needed to be in-
an administration under an can’t make it this night, we’ll operations and your long- bulance district that have fire- vested in the department, he
intergovernmental agreement do it some other night. I’m term planning.”
fighter backgrounds. Let’s get also believed the community
(IGA).
more than willing to commit
This is not to say that Long everybody together. It’s going would back more funding.
“With Western Lane Am- to recruit volunteers, if they’re would like to see new taxes. to take work. I would like to
“At the end of the day,
bulance and Siuslaw Fire and willing to commit back to the Instead, he would like to see see a lot more compatibility, sometimes increasing taxes
Rescue, how are they going to community,” he said.
SVFR and WLAD fully collect a lot more working together.” is what you need to do, and
coexist?” he asked. “They’ve
Ultimately, it’s an ongoing what the current levy allows.
But, because of the staff at can be done with the buy-in
got that IGA where the fire process.
“The current tax rate is SVFR and WLAD, Long felt it of the community if they un-
department provides admin-
“You can’t just say, ‘We’re $1.14 per thousand. You can was doable.
derstand what the improve-
istrative leadership, but it done for the year, we don’t move that up to $1.54. That
“The people are some of the ment is and why it’s needed,”
doesn’t give as much input for have to do anything more,’” would give you enough buf- best I’ve ever met. Some peo- he said.
Western Lane directors into Schick said. “You have to keep fer to take care of most of the ple have their agenda, they
As for what the funds would
things that are going on. But going. And I am impressed items you need to take care have their concerns, and that’s go to, Sullivan also focused on
that’s just the form of the IGA. with Siuslaw Valley here. of. So, there would be no new fine. But if you listen to their what he felt was an outdated
So do they form a third entity They’re doing their own acad- taxes. Just the ones that you’re message, the fire department dispatch system.
IGA? I think that is the way to emy, they’re bringing outside allowed currently, that’s what does a great job, the ambu-
“I learned today that the
go.”
people in to train as well. we’d like to see. I would like lance does a great job,” he said. dispatch system is definite-
He said the possibility of That’s how you get the best, to get the fire district in bet-
ly different from what I’m
a merger would create too by knowing how the recruits ter financial shape. And I
Paul Sullivan
used to seeing, and how calls
many problems, as the dis- have been trained. That’s the think just by getting that extra
Sullivan comes from Balti- are dispatched. And there’s a
tricts would have to look into right way to go. And then you $700,000 a year, that would do more, and from how he puts system in place already that
the legality of merging a health hire from your volunteers. If it,” he said.
it, getting things right in the everybody in the country is
district and a fire district.
you have a career opening,
As for dispatch, Long said Siuslaw region is easier than using, but two or three de-
One of the greatest you know who you’re hiring, the department could have metropolitan areas, particu- partments. The benefits of
strengths, and challenges, you know their experience. better EMD (emergency larly because both SVFR and going to that dispatch system
Schick sees in this region is its You make those opportuni- medical dispatch) codes.
WLAD are special taxing dis- is astronomical in the delivery
volunteer force.
ties, and you make opportu-
“It’s so the crews actually tricts.
service.
“I think Siuslaw is a little nities for training and other know what is going on from
“I think sometimes in busy,
“I responded on a call today
unique because they have certifications. You just have to an alpha to an echo, alpha fast-paced departments, you where the information came
such a wide age range of vol- be widely creative.”
being, ‘Hey, someone has fall- don’t get to make the chang- out and it was bad. We all
unteers, which is fantastic,”
en over, they need help.’ And es as quickly as often as they started toward one location,
he said. “One gentleman has
Keith Long
then echo is ‘CPR in progress.’ need to be because of bureau- which wasn’t the location, it
39 years here and 49 years of
With almost 40 years in the I think some of that commu- cracy,” he said. “In order to was somewhere else. If we
experience. You can’t replace business, Long brings a wide nication needs to be updated,” put new jobs into place, it’s got had computer priority dis-
that experience, and for the variety of experiences into the he said.
to go through legislation, in- patch, that probably wouldn’t
younger people to see that, discussion. The current chief
Long also stated that the stead of being able to just cre- have happened. Today it
that’s great. You got to make of Mountain View Fire Res- department needed a 24-hour ate, budget and hire the posi- wasn’t something that was life
sure your current volunteers cue, Long has also worked as shift on the fire department tions. Purchasing can take a threatening and didn’t have a
feel valued — and that you’ve a paramedic, flight paramedic side, though not right away. year or two to get something. catastrophic result, but what
given them opportunities. It’s and EMS educator.
“I’m not saying in six months,
“I will tell you right now, happens if that happens one
tough to maintain certifica-
When asked about what he I’m talking a couple years for us in Baltimore, a lot of day?” Sullivan asked.
tions.”
felt is an area of improvement down the road,” he said.
the money goes to the police
However, he did believe
And it’s tough to maintain a at SVFR/WLAD, he went
He agreed that one of the department because we have that the overall system of
volunteer workforce with cur- straight to equipment.
largest issues facing WLAD such a high crime rate. They SVFR and WLAD is sound.
rent demographics.
“I think that’s something and SVFR is communication. need more money than the
“I think right now, the sys-
“This is a problem around the fire district can do better,”
“I would like to see that fire department needs. While tem works,” he said. “The
the country. There’s not as he said. “I see equipment, I even more so both districts there may not be a lot of mon- services are being delivered.
many young people that want look at the exhaust systems have a voice,” he said. “Right ey here, it does come quicker, There’s just more things you
to do it. There aren’t as many for the engines. Some of the now it doesn’t seem or appear and you’re not battling with can do. And I think they’re
30- or 40-year-olds that want things need to be updated that way.”
other agencies for the same already on the minds of the
to do it anymore. Both par- with the fire department. You
As for the third entity con- funding.”
interim chief and some of
ents are working, you’ve got have the right people here, it’s cept, Long called it “a fantastic
But it’s the smaller budget the others. It’s just, how do
kids activities. It’s just real- just a matter of putting a plan idea.”
of SVFR/WLAD that Sullivan you get those changes to take
ly tough,” he said. “I started in place and following the
“My whole philosophy is go sees as a problem.
place? Transparency is im-
out as a volunteer 25 years plan.”
thin, go easy, go the cleanest
“There needs to be an im- portant. If you do things be-
ago. It was mostly blue collar,
As to how to fix the issues, route for efficiency. Right now proved revenue stream. I ing transparent, then I think
white collar, 30s, 40s. Very Long focused on funding.
I think having two boards don’t want to say raise taxes, you can be successful. I think
few young people. Now, your
“I think that we’re going is inefficient. I would rather because there is a set tax rate. a lot of people are reluctant
typical volunteer or recruit is to have to really look at the see one board, so instead of But there are other ways to for change because they don’t
going to be a young man or property tax that is being left having 24 meetings, have 12. generate revenue.”
know why.”
woman who is looking for a on the table. Right now, there’s Everybody has a voice at the
Sullivan focused on ser-
career job. And this is how no capital improvement plan table. That’s where I want to vice-based feeds, such as
Jim Dickerson
they start. They want to come that’s been approved, that I see the collaboration.”
charging for fire inspections,
As SVFR’s current opera-
HOLLOWAY & ASSOCIATES, LLC
Certifi ed Public Accountants
733 Highway 101, (across from Safeway) • Ph #541-997-3434
We specialize in
Karla D. Holloway
CPA
Tax Strategies
Bookkeeping and Accounting Services
Payroll Services
Preparation of Tax Returns
for Individuals
Corporation
LLC’s
Estates & Trusts
Business Consulting
Quickbooks Installation & Training
Rod McCulloch
CPA
Serving Florence for 40 years
Proud to be a Florence and Reedsport-Winchester Bay Chamber member.
Rick Yecny
CPA
tions chief, Jim Dickerson has
seen up close what he feels are
some of the challenges facing
the organizations, and the tri-
umphs.
“We have a ton of good
people,” he said. “We have a
really interesting call ratio
and citizen base. It’s all great
things, but we have some bud-
getary issues and we have the
IGA and the third entity that’s
coming up on the table.”
For Dickerson, the IGA
is the future of WLAD and
SVFR.
“I think that’s an excellent
opportunity for the commu-
nity to see fire and EMS work-
ing together as one team. The
one-team concept, I think, is
not in its infancy. We’ve been
doing it since we’ve started,
and it’s been going on for
years. But now that we’re ac-
tually stepping forward with
it, I think people are going to
start seeing an increase in ef-
ficiency in both fire and EMS
sides. We’re going to increase
training and mutual work. I
think it’s all leading to a cer-
tain point that — not going
to say full operational merger
— having the leads, especial-
ly the division chiefs, at the
same level working for the
same team is really going to
help out with operations.”
As for issues with the orga-
nizations, Dickerson focused
on funding.
“With those budgets, al-
though they look very solvent
right now, we have raising
costs from health insurance
and operating insurance.
We’re also needing to fix fire
stations and build additional
ambulance corridors. We’re
starting to outgrow some of
the things that we have. We
have a need for capital im-
provement plans, both fa-
cilities and vehicles on both
sides.”
As the other candidates,
Dickerson pointed to the
third entity as a fix for some
of the issues.
“My suggestion is, if we
were to have that third enti-
ty, it’s clear where that mon-
ey is going,” he said. “We can
look at the tax revenues and
how some of those are get-
ting pushed around and make
sure that we have a solid levy
on the Western Lane side.
Maintain those tax districts as
they are right now, and keep
the districts operating togeth-
er, but still separate under
that administrative IGA. And
looking toward, in the future,
more operational things com-
ing up. I think that’s the smart
way to play the economy for
the community.”
Despite economic issues,
Dickerson believes that the
overall health and progress of
SVFR/WLAD is sound.
“We are really upping our
game on training,” he said.
“Our current status of entry
level firefighters is going up —
We’re requiring all firefighters
to be Firefighter One. We’re
providing the internal EMR
training, which is emergency
medical responder, which is a
step right before EMT (emer-
gency medical technician).
People are getting top-quality
firefighters coming out the
door. We really stepped up
our game on vehicle opera-
tions. We’ve stepped up our
game on EMS training, which
you can see in the combined
class with Western Lane for
EMTs. So we’re really stepping
out to provide that.”
While the future of SVFR/
WLAD still has challenges,
Dickerson believed that the
foundation is strong.
“There’s nothing I want to
tear apart right now and start
putting back together,” he
said. “We have solid founda-
tions here. Good houses come
from good foundations. If we
continue to build on those, I
think we’re going into a good
direction, and by building on
those foundations that are al-
ready set, it’s just better for the
community and for the fire
and EMS professionals.”
For more information on
SVFR and WLAD, visit svfr.
org and www.westernlane
ambulance.com.