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Oconee County Administrator Dale Surrett
Old Willie’s gotten so many letters about Chief Rodney Burdette and Station 21, my mind’s a’reeling! Here they all are (I’ve edited a few just to get them all in) with one BIG answer.
Willie,
Is it true that Oconee County Rural Fire has bought Chief Burdette a brand new police package Tahoe? What does the county fire chief need a black unmarked $30,000 car for? Is it true also, that his staff has brand new trucks and cars that are all unmarked? Doesn’t all of his staff take their county vehicles home to Greenville, Simpsonville and Anderson? That is a lot of fuel for each of his staff to drive five days a week and come back to calls. Why does the county fire marshal, that was born and raised in Oconee, still have the old jeep that was a hand-me-down from a sheriff confiscation and Rodney’s new staff have new vehicles that they carry home every day? The fire marshal has to inspect every business in the county twice a year and he lives in the county. Seems like he would have a newer vehicle?
Willie,
Why does Station 21 (Fire Department County) stay at Westminster and Walhalla fire departments and what are their jobs there? These two stations already have a lot of paid men there and a lot of sitting going on. It looks like, to me, that these men are stationed inside the city and the city is getting all the benefits instead of the county and it looks like that defeats the purpose of taxpayers’ money. How many paid men do Westminster and Walhalla have? It looks like these men should be stationed at Mountain Rest, Salem and the West Union fire departments. This does not add up to have all in one place. What if a volunteer does not show up at the volunteer department? Station 21 has to drive 15 or 20 minutes and the house could have already burned up and all these men are at Westminster and Walhalla. Is this true and how much are these men getting paid? Who do they report to, whose fire trucks do they use, whose gas do they use, do they have county vehicles? How much is this costing the taxpayers of Oconee County and should their salaries be charged to the cities? Does county council really know and realize this situation?
Willie,
Can you tell me if the county just gave Rodney Burdette its checkbook and said here and not expect him to talk to the taxpayers about it?
Willie,
I think that the taxpayers in this county should know how Station 21 works. They have a truck that is at another fire station and a F-350 truck. They stay in Walhalla or Westminster, and whenever there is a fire alarm, anywhere in the county, they get called to it. If the call is in Fair Play, they respond to it. Let me remind you it is two people and a pickup truck that cost about $4 each a gallon to run.
Willie,
Is there anyway possible that we can get more information on the county fire service? I have been trying to contact my county representative, but he will not return my call. I read in your newspaper that the county is going to spend upwards of $10 million on a building. What I want to know is two things: 1) Where is this $10 million from? 2) Where can I see a copy of the fire budget? No matter how you look at it this $10 million will be the burden of the taxpayers. Is this building that important? These firemen are volunteers, how do they have enough time to fundraise and fight fire? And for no pay! As I understood it, we are being taxed for fire protection. I spoke with my community firemen and they are saying that they have to fundraise to pay their bills. Why are fire departments having to fundraise? As a taxpayer, I demand to see the county fire protection budget.
Willie,
What is the plan with the new fire station in Westminster? Is that where the county paid firefighters are going to be held? Is that new plan to improve the county? I live in Friendship and I just want to know how that is going to help me. Is this the future for our fire service? I hope not because if it is, the county is only paying for better fire service in Westminster. I guess we are still on the good ol’ boy system.
Willie,
With all this talk about the fire service in Oconee County, would it be possible for the Daily Journal to publish the budget for fire service? I am hearing too many complaints from these firemen and I want to know if they are substantiated or not. I had a fireman from my district tell me that the county is pulling $180,000 (assessed value of our district X 2.9 mill) and they are only getting $20,000 in return. I want to know if that is true or not. I have called my county representative and have not gotten a response.
Willie,
I have been reading the comments on the subject of Station 21 of the county fire service and both seem knowledgeable about their side of the discussion, but they are missing the big picture. When all this got started, all we needed was for the county to step up and start funding the volunteer fire departments so we could keep our equipment up to the standards required. Then the county hired the people they felt would get the job done. Well, they’re not getting it done, people. I was in the meeting when we were all told we would get four mills of the money and the county would get two milss of everybody’s money to run the rescue side of things. Well, guess what people, the county decided to take all your money. They feel they know what each station needs better than the ones that have been having hot dog sales and yard sales to keep them running for years. The county has bought several new pickups for staff that has magnetic signs that are taken off when they drive home every day. Why? Because they all drive home to Greenville and Simpsonville. Now figure up what fuel costs for three or four F250 trucks making that drive is costing us, not mention the fuel costs to drive a fire engine all over the county and not make it to the scene of 3/4 of the calls they are sent out on. Well, this ought to be enough to spark some interest from the voters of Oconee. If you’re a registered voter, call Dale Surrett and Rodney Burdette and demand them to tell the whole story.
Willie,
This fire station #21 is the biggest farce and we county taxpayers are paying for it. I’m told that this new fire station with its paid employees has no station and no equipment. They were at Westminster using their trucks and now they are at Walhalla using their trucks. And we taxpayers are having to pay for this bunch of nothing. We had and still have a great operating rural fire department in Oconee. I think the fire chiefs of these long standing departments should rise up in arms against this farce called Station #21. Come on councilmen ... show your true colors.
Willie says:
The county budget for 2008-09 is not yet finalized, but a public hearing for the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3 at 7 p.m. You can get it online at the county’s Web site, www.oconee.sc.com; click on Notice of Public Hearing. Copies are also available at the county administration office. The budget for the current year is also available on line and in person.
County Administrator Dale Surrett provided some answers to the many questions that have been submitted regarding Station 21. Here are his comments:
The on shift County Emergency Services employees are trained to respond to fire and rescue calls to supplement the existing fire and rescue volunteers. They work on 24-hour shifts. One shift of three employees is on duty for 24 hours and then are off for 48 hours. There are three shifts for a total of nine employees. These employees are available to assist in all areas of the County and are not assigned to a fixed district.
The Westminster location will serve as a central hub that one of these employees will be based. The County has purchased specialized fire, rescue and hazardous materials equipment to be shared by all areas. This facility will provide storage for this equipment such as ladder trucks, hazmat trailers, boats, etc. In the future, a northern and southern hub will be established utilizing existing fire stations.
In each of these three hubs will be one County employee. We will be encouraging existing and new fire and rescue volunteers to staff these hub locations along with the one County employee with a goal to have four responders at each of these three hubs 24 hours a day. These hubs will respond with existing fire and rescue stations to emergency calls and will assist with routine inspections and maintenance.
The City of Westminster maintains a staff of paid and volunteer firefighters to serve their fire response area. Questions regarding the future plans for their staffing would be addressed by the mayor and city administrator.
In a public hearing, that was attended by the media, the City of Westminster mayor and rire chief gave a presentation in which they explained that the joint facility proposal was to meet a common need in which Westminster was planning to build a new fire station and the county was looking for a central hub location for emergency services equipment and personnel, a location for Westminster Rescue Squad, and to provide space for a 24 hour Oconee Hospital Ambulance crew.
Every fire department in Oconee County has been evaluated by the Insurance Services Organization (ISO), a national fire department rating service, and has found to be in need of additional personnel to be responding to fires. Every fire and rescue station in the county, to include the municipalities, is in need of additional volunteers. Contact your local station or Emergency Services at (864) 638-4200 to get more information about serving as a volunteer.
Station 21 is the radio "call sign" designation for the three shift employees explained above. It could have easily been called Squad 21 or Task Force 21, which are common designations for response assets that respond to a broad area. These employees are available for assistance to all areas of the county, not a fixed location. In the event of a structure fire, the three closest fire stations and the three shift county employees are dispatched. Response policies are written. Station 21 personnel respond in addition to local fire or rescue stations. Station 21 personnel respond to assist local fire and rescue stations. Volunteers from any fire or rescue station can also volunteer to partner with these shift employees for part or all of a 24-hour shift and respond to calls throughout the county.
A typical house fire involving two rooms on fire requires two teams of two interior certified firefighters engaged in fire attack. National and State firefighting standards requires an equal number of fully dressed out interior certified firefighters on the outside to standby for rescue and safety purposes. This is known as "Two In – Two Out.” The routine response for a structure fire is two fire trucks and there would need to be an operator for each truck and a person in charge of the whole scene known as an “Incident Commander.” It is also recommended that there be an independent safety officer on the scene. The staffing for this typical house fire is 12 personnel.
For example, if Station 21 personnel were in Walhalla and there was a structure fire that involved the response of Crossroads, Corinth-Shiloh and Seneca, they would travel through Walhalla and West Union on the way to the call. If the arriving fire or rescue stations arrived on the scene and determined that there were adequate numbers of responders on the scene, County employees would be in the area to assist if a second call were to occur while those departments were busy. This practice is known in fire and emergency services as "move up" or "fill in.” They would also be available to help clean hose and recharge equipment to be ready for the next call.
Emergency Services is a new department that was the product of merging the former Rural Fire and Emergency Management Departments. The staffing consists of four from former rural, three from former emergency management, nine shift assigned personnel as detailed above, and a emergency services chief for a total of 17 full-time positions. There are no part-time positions.
Wages only are $310,799.66; wages and benefits are $420,304.79. There are 425 persons listed as volunteers in either fire or rescue. Some individuals volunteer in more than one function.
Vehicles are assigned to the staff to respond to emergencies as well as tow boats and emergency equipment trailers. The staff members are required to drive these vehicles to their homes and respond to calls from their homes when off duty. Vehicles assigned include: Emergency Services Chief – Chevy Tahoe 4X4, Operations Chief – Ford F250 Crew Cab 4X4 truck, Deputy Director (Emergency Management/Rescue) – Ford Expedition, Deputy Chief (Fire Marshal) – Jeep Cherokee, Assistant Chief (Training) – Ford Crown Victoria.
The three shift employees operate existing fire trucks, rescue squad vehicles and a service vehicle (vehicle used to pull the fire safety house) while on duty. All of these vehicles were purchased by Oconee County. Shift employees do not have vehicles assigned for off duty response as is the practice with the Sheriff's Office.
The persons recruited to fill the Operations Chief and Deputy Director positions were senior Greenville County EMS employees and members of the Greenville County Emergency Response Team (a multi-jurisdictional hazardous materials, heavy and technical rescue team). They hold multiple fire and rescue certifications and are Nationally Certified Paramedics. The Emergency Services Chief is allowing those two employees to carpool together to Greenville County in one of the vehicles. Both employees are actively pursuing relocation to Oconee County. Oconee County is fortunate to have these experienced employees bring their training, leadership and skills to the people of Oconee County.
From July 2007 through mid-March fuel cost for Emergency Services administrative personnel and full-time firefighter activities was [Unleaded Gas – $9,963.72] [Diesel – $4,058.49]
Mr. Surrett said that he has seen a lessoning of the “angst” about the county fire service; he feels that volunteers have rightly been concerned that what they have built is not going to be degraded; to their credit, he said, they have given the new situation time to begin to evolve. He said they are beginning to see that happen, with the nine shift employees going to calls and working with the volunteers.
For 2008-09, emergency services has a proposed $1.34 million budget (2.9 mills). The new fire station at Westminster is estimated at $5 to $6 million, but the capital improvement budget has not yet been decided.
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Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the site's terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of Eagle Media. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.Willie,
Thanks for getting some answers! I guess Rodney is still running from the media and hiding behind his boss. I am sure that everyone will say that Mr. Surrett took that upon his self but we know the truth. Is Westminster close to the center of the county? Would it not be better to have a 5 to 6 million dollar station somewhere there was not one? Also let the taxpayers know that the three closest stations are not always the ones called to structure fires. It is whoever the station has on their mutual aid list. Take for example if Salem has a structure fire in downtown Salem and Station 21 is in Westminster. Salem's back up stations are Pickett Post and Keowee Ebenezer. Keowee Key that is a manned station and is closer than Ebenezer, but is not called out to the call. Station 21 has to drive through 4 other fire districts. Why not call Keowee Key? The answer is that stations had to pick 2 stations for automatic mutual aid so it is not always the closest three. We can all sit here and fuss on the computer like little kids and nothing gets done. Sometimes a little common sense goes a long way. There is no way you can justify Station 21 running that far with diesel over four dollars a gallon. Mr. Surrett said that Station 21 would help the county with ISO, he is wrong no one in the county gets any ISO credit from them call and ask Rodney yourself. Cell phone 723-5510---Pager 888-931-5958 if he tell you that anyone get ISO credit call ISO and ask for yourself. To UGOTTABEKIDN if my spelling aint good enough for you when Rodney gets the money he his sending me to school to help out with my little problem, but I do appreciate your concern.
sounds like a long way around just to say "we don’t want our guys at home to fill the job that are available we need to get the man with credentials and lots of paper that says he is good " and then go even further around the bush to find some kind of sink hole to hide some of the so call benefits money for them selves a lot like the council when we got a few "out of towners" to help run the county, and before you knew it we had all these new "sit their and let me pay you" jobs........*sighs* I’d like to hear from some of the guys that work the fire houses and has to work in the new conditions set in place. As willietellu has said their not making since in the way they are setting it up now and this is the beginning of it so my hopes are that we dont end up wasteing alot of money when their are alot of REAL NEEDS " in this county!
Willietellu, I'm glad you see you have a problem and are going to get help. So, Rodney is going to send you to school when he gets the money. Why do you talk so bad about him?
Maybe he will replace that Jeep Cherokee too.
The more personnel and apparatus you can show on an incident the more ISO credit you get.
From what I see most of the turmoil between stations is being stirred up by you. If you're not part of the solution, you are definitely part of the problem.
Who needs enemies when you have employees like you?
was it really necessary to post his cell and pager #'s why don't you post yours
"Mr. Surrett said that he has seen a _lessoning_ of the “angst” about the county fire service."
Is that a pun?
Hopefully the DJM will do some journalistic work and determine the line between fiction and truth in these matters, especially the ISO issue. True journalism would require making contacts to folks outside the county system to find fact and not self-serving tainted half-truths. An ISO Mitigation Specialist will gladly talk to you if you just dial 1-800-444-4554. A lot of fact can be gleaned from their web site at http://www.isomitigation.com
Harder work will be required to determine if "Station 21" is a true waste of tax money, or not. Simply stating that they have helped is not satisfactory. When they have to cross multiple boundaries you have to also evaluate whether those other districts/resources would have been equally or even more effective. Another example would be to determine how many calls they actually make it to and truly make a difference in the outcome of the emergency. Are they rolling to false alarms on a frequent basis? And so on...
Unfortunately the turmoil and uncertainty of what the future holds is adversely affecting the volunteer ranks and morale. Look for several departments/squads to fold in the next 18 months due to the problems that are obviously abundant as voiced in the calls in this Willie session.
Hopefully the county staff will learn that most problems from the past (and present) would have been averted had there been open and honest communication. It does not seem that the staff is listening to the volunteers otherwise this list of complaints would not exist.
Further, if staff is wise, they will perform a formal evaluation of existing services and make a well informed decision as to whether the "Station 21" concept is working in the best interest of the taxpayers. Alternatives should be considered and possibly pursued for a trial period. This might entail seeding these folks around the county as discussed, adding or reassigning duties to these folks, altering work schedules (all 9 on day shift), etc.
The only person who should drive a vehicle home is the one who will be called to respond to events 24/7. Empirical data seems to indicate that only one of the paid staff does this on a consistent basis. If the entire staff is rotating call duty, then a full time vehicle probably is not warranted for anyone, except the current duty person. Perhaps staff should evaluate the facts in this matter and make adjustments accordingly.
Defending ones position against evidence indicating a change is warranted is asinine and frustrating for everyone involved.
Wow Willie!
Just bombarded with questions by soooo many people (Sarcasm, if you can't tell). It seems to mee that if they were written by different people, then you would have more than 4 negative comments. What a way to RALLY THE TROOPS! This just proves what some of us have said all along. All of your supposed questions are from the same FEW over and over. You should have known that from the personal attacks that they launch when their OPINION is shot down by facts. It is quite obvious that WILLIETELLU has a personal issue with Mr. Burdette, by the way he still wasn't satisfied by the answers from the top dog (Mr. Surrett). Maybe people will now understand that this system is being accepted by the volunteers. All of the volunteers are supposed to have a voice at the Chief's meetings. Can Mr. Burdette help it if some of those Volunteer Chief's are not taking information back to their stations? Can Mr. Burdette help it if some of those Volunteer Chief's are not stating concerns of their members at the Chief's meetings? The answer is NO. Sorry, but Communications often fail when a middle-man is involved. I am not saying that it is intentional by any means, but it is something that should be considered. Now maybe certain people can get over their own PERSONAL problems and let this system keep moving forward to give the citizens the quality protection that we all deserve by working TOGETHER!
4GETABOUTIT and UGOTTOBEKIDN yall think you know who I am? Well I now know who yall are. You guys are the whole problem. Yall are the reason that Rodney cant do anyting for his self. If yall would get out from under his desk maybe he could get more done. (Need any knee pads?) So before you go pointing fingers at somone maybe you should see if you are the problem keeping a man tied down to his desk all the time and not letting him get anything done. Oh yeah tell your new chief we said hello. You think that one of you guys could see about getting me a new jeep?
There you go again, you have NO LEGITIMATE argument, so once again you try to insult people and launch into personal attacks. You my friend just validated every comment that has been made regarding you and your one man war. Do you think that anyone takes you seriously? If you do, please take the time to read your own comments. You will never intimidate me, for I will simply sit back and watch you expose your ignorance to the world. The more you talk, the less weight your words carry.
I for one am glad to have Station 21 here in the county. It's nice to know that when the call comes in that you are guaranteed that help is coming. A lot of the comments I have read smell of either someone who is disgruntled about not getting a job or a member of the public that is misinformed.
As far as volunteers go, it is becoming increasingly harder for individuals to afford to volunteer. With fuel, food, and other costs rising to record highs, people just can't afford to run as many calls as they once could. Yes I am a paid firefighter, but I have spent the vast majority of the last 12 years as a volunteer, so I hold any volunteer in high regards.
I guess it all boils down to people always complain about the Fire/EMS service, about how we just run up and down the road or we do nothing but sit around waiting for a call to come in, and how much it costs them on their taxes, and as a tax payer I feel the bite too, but these same people are the ones yelling the loudest " What took you so long to get here ."
Instead of complaining about Station 21, step up and volunteer your time and services to the community in which you live. No I don't work FOR Station 21, but I do work WITH Station 21 and I'm darned proud to do so.
And one more thing willietellu, you shouldn't even try to act like you are the guy that drives the Jeep. He lives in Oakway, not off of Burnt Tanyard like you. Let it go brother.
Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics: you might win, but you're still retarded.
I'd like to start off by saying thank you to all who volunteer and to all who are involved in the fire and rescue.Any time the facts are presented with out pointing fingers is always helpful for the locals to decide "whats what " around here because their has been alot of crap being slung around here. i might of even thrown a handful myself once. if the men getting paid and the one s who are volunteering are happy and think what is being done is for the good I'd have to believe that telluwilliedose have personal issues and needs to stop putting down the few who truly protect and serve this county , again thanks guys for all u do!
JohnBirch i can't believe you would say somthing like that not only did I have a aunt of mine that attened tribble but was also apart of the Special Olympics and I now vounteer my time their in her memory!WoW I have never heard anyone put down the people who cant take up for themselves til now! THAT WAS LOW EVEN FOR YOU!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I would like to say thanks to all the volunteers that has kept our county safe.I am not a member of any fire or rescue, but I was at one time a volunteer in rescue. I have saw a lot over the years in this county but now I have seen it all. If I was a volunteer fireman now I would turn in my gear and say kiss my *** as if we have to go out of the county to hire fire fighters for newly made jobs in the fire district it is a slap on the face to the volunteers that have dedicated time to saving lives and property for years . These people aren't good enough to pick and send for training and give jobs to then go get the volunteers from Greenville and Anderson to do the Volunteering for the county as well. I know first hand that this county has always worked together, with people volunteering ,putting their lives on the line and their families, and sometimes their jobs second to running calls to save property or lives of others in this county. I would think that if I was going to start a new district I could have found three people from the county to fill these jobs. Sounds like the county is so ignorant that no one from this county could have filled and run these 3 jobs. I hope that every volunteer turns in his or her equipment and has a sit in strike at these fire departments ,just like the chiefs did at a county meeting ,they drove the county fire trucks to the meeting and was ready to leave them there,but not enough backbone to stand up for what is right in this county. We do not have the road structure in place in this county to send these big fire trucks down the road every time someone calls 911 for a heart attack,or a broken bone that is what EMS is for at the hospital and now putting ambulances in Walhalla and soon to be Westminster ,no need to see a fire truck at a heart attack or broken bone scene. this is not TV where we see fire and rescue in one big fire truck, this area has no road structure fo this to work efficently.
JOHNBIRCH-- Your comment was so uncalled for! If you have a snap comment that's fine, but yours was totally out of line. Yes, you really touched a nerve. I agree about these people arguing on here, but come on,some slings just go too far. Your really stepped way over the line. If you were trying to throw some humor in, you failed miserably. You only showed just how ignorant and childish you really are. I used to respect some of your opinions but you just blew that slap out of the water with your flippant remark.
I am a Special Education , and yes, that remark cuts deeper than you could ever know. I have worked many years with Special Olympics. God only places these children with very special people. It is very obvious you are not one of those special people or you would not have made this unthinkable remark.
JOHNBIRCH-- Your comment was so uncalled for! If you have a snap comment that's fine, but yours was totally out of line. Yes, you really touched a nerve. I agree about these people arguing on here, but come on,some slings just go too far. Your really stepped way over the line. If you were trying to throw some humor in, you failed miserably. You only showed just how ignorant and childish you really are. I used to respect some of your opinions but you just blew that slap out of the water with your flippant remark.
I am a Special Education teacher, and yes, that remark cuts deeper than you could ever know. I have worked many years with Special Olympics. God only places these children with very special people. It is very obvious you are not one of those special people or you would not have made this unthinkable remark.
4GETABOUTIT do you belive everthing that you read on here? Do you not think that people have nothing better to do than just sit here and make up BS? Like were you live or work? You people are so STUPID to belive anything that anyone puts in the comments or the questions. So while yall sit and watch your blood pressure go up ever time you read something about your HERO I will sit and laugh at how you guys try to figure out who someone is. I would like to think you guys for my new hobby of making yall have heart trouble. HA HA I THINK YALL NEED A LIFE. Oh yeah did you tell the chief I said hello?
willietellu, I thank you for showing me some people have nothing better to do than show how small their IQ's are
Why do these county officials need F-250 trucks in the first place It seems that they are in offices all day and I see no resuce gear that they could carry that couldn't be carried in a car. Maybe driving their personal cars would help them move to the county a little faster. I can understand that the county Chief would need a car but a brand a new Tahoe. I hate to see my tax money go to waste but I'm afraid to say I think it is. I don't see how the county can justify building a new fire department for the City of Westminster. How is that going to benifit the taxpayers on the other sides of the county? Why not split the difference in an area that has limited coverage. You say that station 21 is based between Walhalla and Westminster FDs why not any other stations? I wonder if any of the other fire chiefs have been ask if they would like to have station 21 come and stay at their stations? Management can make or break the system and It seems to me that somewhere the communication is breaking down. Maybe Mr. Burdette needs to go and visit all the departments for their monthly meetings and communicate with these volunteers on what is expected and what they expect from him. I bet he doesn't know many of the people that volunteer for him. Or maybe he just don't care. People don't quit the job they love people quit other people.
1BLUERIDGEBOY you ask abut the trucks. I could understand one of the F-250 trucks they need one to pull the fire safety house. The rest I don't understand. I think the new station should be between Westminster and Seneca or between Walhalla and Seneca that is two spots that lack coverage. Maybe Station 21 should stay at Stations 3,12,or ever 2. That would make more scenes to me. Oh yeah why has Station 21 been to Seneca or Keowee? They have staff there full time. Some of the people on here praise Station 21 but none of them can say that it is right for the to run all over he county.
Wow, there sure is a lot of concern over Station 21. I'm a vol. firefighter with St3 and I think having paid people in Oconee County is a good idea. I may not agree with Station 21's location or operation. We have to look at the bigger picture; Station 21 is not the problem. Stations 21 are firefighters who have been hired to run fire and rescue calls. The problem lies within the leadership at the county level. The main problem that I see is the communication from the top down. There seems to be a plan out there, but no one knows the plan. I've been at many Chiefs meetings, but I'm not a Chief. Up until I read in Tell Willie, I had no idea that the county has plans for 3 fire station hubs (main, northern and southern). County leadership, POST YOUR PLAN!
Who knows, if you do that, you might get some good/positive feedback. County, you have to get the volunteers to support a plan or it will fail. We don't need all the day to day details, just the big picture.
My biggest issue however is why are Seneca, Westminster and Walhalla receiving 4 mils out of the 6 mils collected, but not the other fire stations? Every fire department was told that 4 mils out of the 6 that is collected will go back to that primary fire department. Why is this not happening for the other departments?
We volunteers have to spend many more hours fundraising this year instead of fire and rescue training, hydrant testing, hose testing, yearly fire inspections, and run fire calls. As a volunteer, I would much rather just worry about my required 240 hours of training every year and running calls, then fund raise. I'm tired of it, it takes more energy to fund raise then it does to fight a fire!
To the residence in the Corinth-Shiloh community, your annual fund raising letter will be going out in about 3 weeks.
NASA306, I am not completely certain about the numbers, but I believe you may be a bit off on the funding in numbers, but not your concern.
There appear to be three buckets of money. Surrett gave a nice dissertation to Council about one bucket a few weeks back and was covered by the DJM.
The original funding still exists in the current budget year. This is where the two new trucks will come from as does about 8 or nine salaries, quarterly money for (17?) departments, $10k for departments (all 17?) and so on.
The new money was to be 4 + 2 mils, but this was limited by State Law which limited Council ability to raise taxes such that the new tax was only 2.9 mils.
Of these 2.9 mils (bucket 2), a full 4 mil equivalent is being provided to the three cities to use as they please. The contract for Seneca was linked in the on-line DJM and it did not prevent Seneca from lowering their obligation for fire service by an equivalent amount plus other atrocities such as any equipment purchased does not belong to Oconee County, but to the municipality! From the remaining monies some extra funding is being provided to each department to cover base expenses, such as fuel, heat, power, water, etc.: certainly no where near the 2.9 mils that comes from that district. Apparently this 2.9 mils will also pay the debt on the new gear and air packs, which essentially encumbers your money for several (5?) years to come. Unless Council chooses to provide further funding, (full 4 mils) you are pretty well locked into what you have until the loan/bond is paid. It appears this is the money bucket reported by the Administrator.
Bucket 3 appears to be a million or so dollars Council appropriated from the General Fund for Emergency Services to use as it sees fit. Not sure if this is correct of where the money is used.
I’ve studied the old budget, the new budget, and asked questions. I am not sure where things are being paid from. All I do know is that the volunteers are not apparently smart enough to handle the money themselves. This is based on the fact that the municipalities got their full amount with essentially no strings attached and the volunteers have essentially no discretion as to how their piece of the pie is spent.
As for station 21, I do not believe anyone disputes the fact that they are needed, but the differences of opinion appear to be whether they are being used to best help the volunteers and citizens who are paying their salaries.
Where is the money going, why are stations not being treated equally, and what are the plans to replace the volunteers?
Bitter and trying to stir up trouble? No. Just want to know the truth as a taxpayer.
"Mr. Burdette needs to go and visit all the departments for their monthly meetings and communicate with these volunteers on what is expected and what they expect from him."
I believe this would solve a large number of questions and concerns that the firefighters in this county have. But Mr. Burdette would rather make the volunteers drive up to Walhalla to ask him questions, than for him to visit the individual stations himself, which is what he did to the station I'm apart of.
The problem with Station 21 isn't the firefighters themselves, because they are just following the policies and procedures that Mr. Burdette gave them. The problem is that a fire engine and two people are running calls from Westminster or Walhalla and cutting accross fire districts of stations who are closer to the call than they are. If additional manpower is needed on a call, would it not make sense to call the next CLOSEST station, instead of Station 21 self-dispatching all over the county regardless of where the call is located?
Please, will others reading the crude and mean comment JohnBirch made about winning in Special Olympics- click on "suggest for removal" .
His Mother sure did fail him.
Isn't it great that we live in a country where we have the right to free speech no matter how "retarded" it makes us look. I can't believe that anyone would advocate censuring that.
like i said ealier .........sounds like a long way around just to say "we don’t want our guys at home to fill the job that are available we need to get the man with credentials and lots of paper that says he is good " and then go even further around the bush to find some kind of sink hole to hide some of the so call benefits money for them selves a lot like the council when we got a few "out of towners" to help run the county, and before you knew it we had all these new "sit their and let me pay you" jobs........*
people i got to say that i cant believe that the these people in charge of our money for the county can't communicate with the people that they work with.I really cant believe that the citizens of oconee county are letting the powers that be run all over them, its not like their useing big words or talking over your heads, or hiding anything in paper work they do it right in front of our face's,and all who are able are not willing to do anything about it (eeeeeerrrrrrrrr).Like BOB said if i was volunteer i to would say i'd quit and tell them to shove that @#!% up their #@$ and see how far they get with a ridiculous rules they have come up with.
and as far as john's comment gose let him hang out their with his stupid comment so everyone will know the real johnbirch. WHAT A JERK
Folks, I have sat back for a while and watched all this County vs. Vollys, County vs. Cities and so on. The only honest thing that you can say out of all of it is one simple thing. The Chief of OCES and his top level management our soley out for themselves and the employees of the County. The talk the talk about caring about the vollys and so on. This is total and complete Bovine Fecal Material. When the Ops Chief sneaks down to Anderson to get his Basic Fire Fighting, the "Training Officer/Assistant Chief (god knows what his job is) does not even meet with Rural Training Officers and has his BIG Brother teach all his classes because he can't. The Deputy Director walk into a room and sarcastically attack members of a department that he has never met or spoke with and finally be told to call Rodney if you have any questions (which I have with no reply 4 times) about the "PLAN" and not get one bit of support or guidance or usefull information. What do you do? Keep calling? Not me! They should be at Departmental meetings every month but, NOOOOO. How can Mr. Surrett keep covering up for this? The volunteers of Oconee County are very knowledgable folk. Mr. Burdette came from a Municipal Agency. He started there and ended there. Where the Daily Journal gets he qualified to lead vollys is another steaming pile. The 21 folks are people doing a job. Don't blame them for the poor management they work for. I hope the vollys of the County will unite and cause County Council to take notice of the pee poor way OCES is being run. It was done before. Finally, I hope Station 6 survives, my bet is they are out in a year after the new building opens and the county has another deputy chief.
Has anyone looked at how many responses this willie section got? That should be some type of "Red Flag" for our county fire system. It sounds like to me there is a massive communication breakdown from the top down. There is a lot of finger pointing, he said/she said, and in the end this could be handled by a simple conversation. I asked my local station when was the last time they sat down and talked with Mr Burdette, and the response I received was incredible. I was told that most of the members of my community station have never even seen Mr Burdette. I asked if he has ever been invited down, and the response was that Mr Burdette seems to be a busy man.
As an employee of a local industry I found it very appalling that Mr Burdette did not take the time to introduce himself to these volunteer fireman and ask what they need to help run their station. The first thing I do when I come into a new setting is introduce myself and ask what can I do for them.
In the grand scheme of things, from what I have read and see, we have 13 volunteer stations in this county. Mr Burdette, they work for free. I learned a long time ago, if you have free help you might want to keep them happy. (Basic Management Skills; they have books on this stuff). This county cannot afford to pay for 13 stations, it will bankrupt the county. If you (Mr. Burdette) cannot sit down and speak with these volunteers and help guide them along, then you need to leave. We did not have this problem until you showed up. I have seen my volunteer station's moral drop since you came to town. As a taxpayer, I think you owe it to us to fix this problem before it gets out of control.
4GETAOUTIT I am glad to see that I am not the only one with a problem why don’t you show how childish you are to the rest of these people and take up for your HERO. I guess you see now that it's not just one person.
Jeff, you are no Brunacini, that's for certain!
To the folks who think tht I have posted on this site, your mistaken. I for one do not have to hide behind a screen name. Say what you want. If you have any questions or doubts please, call me my contact numbers are as follows: Cell 864-324-2807 and pager 864-827-2604 and my e-mail is jheaton604@gmail.com. Any questions/comments please feel free to contact me!
Maybe you are mistaken, no one uttered any last name.
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