The risk of understaffing and fire apparatus shutdown.
We Are Not Against Business!
The fact is that if you took the title, and all of the ”union” attributes and trimmings away from the Lacey Fire Fighters, you wouldn’t see an ounce of difference in current events. It would still be a group of men and women who work daily as service professionals, significantly upset about being lied to and stood up by the status quo. So the big political push or “Jihad” (remember, directly translated means effort) would still exist with or without the term of “union”.
We’re ok with the mud slinging and name calling that brands our “union” with a label that is designed to trigger political stereotypes and feelings, because we expected it. The real question comes is not whether you hear the “union label” rhetoric but do you have the wisdom and wherewithal to see beyond the label and draw a conclusion that is free from propaganda and inoculation to give you an honest impression of current events in Lacey. Judging by the donations, the positive comments, the support to the candidates, and even (gasp!) media attention, it must be working!
The important message that we want to get out however is not a “union bashing” alert, but rather to address a stereotype attached to it. Be it known that it is absolutely false that the Lacey Fire Fighters are against business and especially in the city of Lacey. If you hear this immediately question the accuser on their integrity and the validity of the story. Ask why they believe this and then follow that up with “prove it.”
The Fire Fighters of Lacey are clearly grateful for the role of business and especially small business in our community because it fuels growth. In many cases, our member’s existence is derived directly from the business presence and indirectly because our spouse and children are provided from the taxes and payroll from small business. Further, we recognize that as service providers and not directly tied to economic production, that the most important role we can provide is to protect business and further insure that it recovers quickly and with as little downtime as possible in the event of an emergency.
The United State Chamber of Commerce even recognizes (especially in economic times like these) that the majority of small businesses that suffer significant fire damage do not rebuild. And beyond that, the role of Lacey Fire Fighters in providing a significantly low fire insurance rating has undoubtedly helped attract new business. Example? Look at the Georgia Pacific Fire on Fones Road where “GP” admits had the business suffered significant fire damage, it never would have rebuilt. What’s sad is that the shut down of Lacey’s ladder truck essentially due to low staffing potentially prevents a repeat of that success! Further, the city of Lacey in their professional combat fire fighting opinion (or gross lack of) sees no value to a ladder truck!
What about taxes? In light of the current fiasco with the City of Lacey and the quality of some of the decisions being made, it’s completely understandable why many of you will be voting yes on I-1033. Did you know, that the annexation of the City of Lacey’s for fire service would immediately pocket money into the City of Lacey coffers without a tax raise? Did you know that if the city of Lacey does not provide for the same level of existing fire protection and resource capability (if not more due to insurance and state law revisions) that your fire insurance will go up? And disproportionately so against business, remember the addition of the Ladder truck to the City of Lacey alone was worth thousands of dollars in insurance cost reductions to some businesses, but the city criticizes it! How’s that for service? You will pay more for less if the Lacey City Council gets its wish! Even the Olympian identifies this and its in the City’s own fire department consulting report!
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The Fire Fighters of Lacey will always be there, regardless of the city’s intentions, to protect and serve. If you are a business owner, we are not present to beat you up on fire inspections, not there to harass you about permits, not there to reach into your pocket to pay more for less. We want to be able to say that the customers of local businesses, and the buyers of homes, that you are in our service area and a businesses environment exists that exceeds in quality and safety beyond anything comparable. Welcome home.
Darby’s Campaign Website Is Inaccurate.
Hmmm. Too bad that fire engine in the background is unstaffed.
The Day Lacey Shook: February 28, 2001
The Nisqually earthquake of February 28, 2001, was a remarkable day in Lacey, Washington especially for local fire fighters. At the time, Lacey Fire District had more staffing than we do today but ran only about 4000 a year and a busy day was a 12 to 16 calls a day; all of which are more than half of today’s call volume. We had a good relationship with the city, and for the most part we never really thought about the particulars of the city, the contract, the city manager, or any of that stuff that seems to overshadow most of our past today. In many ways, that historical day is really overshadowed by one more day’s events that would occur in mid-September of that year.
Recently, a local publication reported that fire fighters abandoned their posts on that crisp February morning and so did many police officers. I am here to say having worked that day as a fire fighter and remembering it vividly, that none of that crap happened and I am left wondering if the intent was really to discredit us as cops, fire fighters, or emergency workers, or just to add interesting material to the publication. Who cares, bottom line: It never happened.
When you put on a uniform at the start of shift and look in the mirror to make sure your badge and brass are straight and to confirm mentally that you’re ready for “the morning hitch”, there exists a quiet thought that this could be it. I know down deep that I could put my ass on the line or order the same from a fire-fighting brother and that I or we will go into a building and never see the light of day. I have not met a cop who wouldn’t do the same thing. So when I hear that we “bugged” out on February 28, just after the earthquake to check on ‘personal interests or family’, is wrong and ultimately says more about the accuser than the fire fighter.
When the Nisqually earthquake hit, our first order after we took cover and waited for the shaking to stop was to roll the apparatus out of our then aging masonry structures in case the aftershocks caused them to fail. As some areas had lost power, it took a few moments to get this done by manually opening doors at some stations. By the time the apparatus had been rolled out, the first off duty responders started coming in. Unlike many areas, many Lacey Fire District #3 employees live in their city of employment. Within 45 minutes, every single apparatus the department owned was staffed or being moved into position to offset response in areas of heavy call volume. This all went down as the City of Olympia had significant areas of road failures, elevator collapse downtown, and people stuck in elevators throughout the Capitol Campus. Lacey also had multiple gas leaks, a trailer fire in the Nisqually Valley and well over 100 calls by 3pm that day including treating sick and injured children from the local schools.
Off duty Lacey Fire District fire fighters, both volunteer and paid, came in as far away as Lewis and Pierce County to respond to calls. NO ONE abandoned their posts that day and to do so would have meant immediate termination with the union demanding it and definitely not defending it.
Just because you read something in the mailbox or on the Internet, just remember it doesn’t mean that you no longer need to use a little common sense when evaluating its accuracy or content.
For those who want to privatize the fire department
This is for those who think privatization is the best possible concept…And if you still doubt it, please go to Arizona where many departments that used to be private when back to public for a multitude of reasons. Most notably…Cost.
Engineers: Most people don’t care about fire safety.
A recent survey and accompanying article by the Society for Fire Protection Engineers recently found that most Americans do not consider fire a threat when considering their overall risk. Even though fire risk in America far exceeds that of other disasters and also costs the most financial loss and lives, most Americans are oblivious to their every day danger in comparison.
Check out this brief article that sheds light on American’s misconceptions on fire risk and the need for fire safety planning and engineering.
Its about character and integrity.
Elections clearly bring out several sides to a person or a candidate…That is if you’re close enough and looking. The following letter is in addition to an up coming “Letter to the Editor” in The Olympian and is from a fire fighter who just happened to get “close enough”.
Some quick background is that all of the fire fighters/EMT’s at Lacey Fire District #3 would all give you a different response to the question of why the city council is upset with the fire district because “we don’t know”. Everything was fine for over 40 years and then one day we are accused of things that vary day to day and are clearly unsubstantiated. What is it? Why? What is the real issue? If you don’t like our chief or our commissioners, then we understand the politics, but when you lash out at fire fighters and public servants who are doing nothing wrong other than wear a uniform of service, then that speaks volumes about character and integrity.
I have attended dozen’s of meetings at the Lacey City Council and in other public venues, and I’ve always kept my mouth shut and listened. I’ve never challenged directly a council member or said anything personal or attacking to any of them. But after arriving at a public debate at Panorama City with city council members and challengers, I experience first hand that John Darby ignored me while I stood in front of him, greeted him, and then watched as he actively reached around me to shake someone else’s hand . My crime? I am a fire fighter, and how dare I belong to a group that doesn’t agree with him. Even though our group is predominantly Republican (nationally, this is true) and endorsed him in the past, speaks volumes about his character and integrity. We don’t have to like each other but as both being public servants, decorum, etiquette, and discipline should make the simple act of a hand shake and returning a greeting an automatic response. After that event, I now fully believe the following account of John Darby’s interaction with other fire fighters.
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At the recent Thurston County Fair while on duty and in uniform I and another Lacey Fire Fighter were publicly ridiculed by notable local political figures Scott Roberts and John Darby. Mr. Roberts is the head of the TCRP (Thurston County Republican Party). Mr. Darby is on the board of the TCRP, the Deputy Mayor of Lacey and running for re-election for Lacey City Council this fall. Lacey Professional Fire Fighters endorsed Darby a few years back, though are endorsing his opponent Andy Ryder this year due to Darby and the current city council’s complete lack of support for adequate public safety.
Roberts and Darby were working the TCRP food booth when we stopped by to order a meal. Roberts proceeded to taunt us by stating “Hey I bet Lacey will have a better fire department when you guys get a new city council!” Darby followed up by informing us that we were opposing him, stating “The Democrats booth is down there (finger pointing included).” We responded with no retaliatory comments only expressing that we hoped some sort of solution will be worked out. We then proceeded to leave.
It must be stated though that the level of hostility that we received from Scott Roberts and John Darby was unexpected, unacceptable, and unprofessional. About half of our members vote Republican and on a national scale nearly 60% of union fire fighters vote Republican. The IAFF makes more political contributions to Republican candidates than any other union in the country!
One would think that Roberts and Darby would take these facts into consideration and exhibit a high level of tact, customer service, maturity and professionalism when dealing with the public at TCRP events. Instead these two have sunken in joint political grandstanding against uniformed professionals and citizens a like. Such actions only alienate those who have supported them in the past and exhibits poor leadership and representation of the Republican Party.
I-1033. LFD3 Could Save the City.
If you happened to watch or attend the last Lacey City Council meeting, you would have heard Mayor Graeme Sackrison give a report on several issues. Some of these issues were quickly covered, such as Cynthia Pratt’s letter to the council rejecting the justification to “revitalize” the Lacey Gateway project, the 2010 Lacey city budget, or the impacts of citizen initiative I-1033. Graeme would not discuss the specific impacts, but he did say if you would like, please give the city a call and they’ll tell you what I-1033 means to Lacey.
Initiative 1033 is a Tim Eyeman initiative that says its intentions are to limit the growth and expenditures of state, county, and city governments. It does this by essentially taking the 2009 budget revenues and tying their increase to population growth and inflation. The desired outcome is that property taxes would drop when general fund revenues exceed this revenue limit, proportionally. So for example if the City of Lacey made a killing on local sales tax then property taxes for their residents would drop once the I-1033 formula revenue limit was hit. The idea is that simply most forms of government could not expand unless their voters approve it or that the size of government would be tied to consistent revenue performance.
I-1033 is going to pass. While some Western Washington County’s will not approve it, the statewide initiative will pass as it has traction with many voters who are landowner’s and have had enough of property tax volatility and perceived government waste. Especially as our population (voters) ages and the recent reduction of services is felt, the perception among many is that taxes are not being effectively spent on priorities. As fire fighters, we’ve seen this especially among these voters during the last election who have fixed budgets and are simply working at avoiding being taxed out of their homes; they can’t afford new taxes in any form.
Mayor Sackrison didn’t discuss I-1033 because the city of Lacey if going to take it in the shorts. The Mayor did offer that sales taxes are still down by an excess of 10% over last year during the meeting, but when you consider that the amount of growth the city has planned and the expanding needs of some of their programs, it paints a strong picture or question is how will they pay for growth of city government at past levels if the revenue values are limited? They won’t. Even Graeme warned that they are working at not laying people off in 2010.
Enter Lacey Fire District #3 into the equation that remains a separate entity from the city (god willing, forever) and happens to be exempt from I-1033. What? That’s a right, I-1033 exempt “junior taxing districts” such as county fire departments, medic one, and the Timberland Library. If the City of Lacey were to offer the voters a regional fire authority or especially annexation, it would nearly immediately resolve (at least for the short term) a lot of their budget issues. Further, it would help guarantee fire and life safety for the city residents for a long time to come because Lacey Fire District #3 would not be effected by I-1033 and is already limited to 1% annual growth plus new construction (with a limit there too). The city could immediately pocket funds that they would not have to pay fire protection for.
Fire district annexation is an immediate solution for the city’s budget woes without directly having to go to the voters for more taxes. Its also a strong reason that once all of the legal challenges are ironed out against I-1033 that you will see all sorts of municipalities unload their fire departments into direct voter managed entities such as fire districts and regional fire authority. I also would suggest that it’s a matter of time when you will see other entities such as police and other emergency management agencies work for legislative changes to become “junior taxing districts” where by their fate and function would not be tied to large scale bureaucracies that city governments have become.
As a parting thought when it comes to city budgets, lets also consider closed business tax revenue, decreases in assessed value of residential property, and the tax losses of all the foreclosed homes. Its not just about dropping sales tax; we’re on the cusp of some real serious budget issues in the city and the county.
Ron Lawson Campaign Kick Off on August 17th!
Lacey City Council Candidate Ron Lawson will be having a campaign kick off on August 17th at the Mayan Restaurant at 4520 Pacific Ave SE between 530pm and 7pm…Come hungry and bring a check book or three.