Letter from Concerned Citizen to Bill Ganz...

This letter was sent to CODB City Commissioner, Bill Ganz and others.  There are some valid points and Deerfield Beach I believe the main theme here and in many other instances.  Is that our city government has taken the "We the People" out of our Constitution and replaced it with "We the People up here on the DIAS". 

Hello Bill,

At you District 4 meeting you went over the crime report, and code enforcement. I asked a question of how many fires you had in District 4 and neither you or Burgess knew or thought it was relevant. I guess a stolen car takes precedence over a fire in a home with lives at stake. I wonder why? I also do not understand why one minute the Fire and Safety is so important to you and then the next minute, you both do not see the relevancy, interesting. 

At yout meeting you clearly indicated that you would be looking into all options with regard to the Fire/Ems Department, and briefly you both clearly indicated that only a presentation was going to be given at last nights meeting. That was a lie and very deceitful to the people of District 4 as well as others in Deerfield Beach. You both show such little respect for us.

You have not looked at all the options - you mentioned that some people came in about privatizing but then said that was not an option, and then because of what you indicated to be your expertise - which was that, your uncle and grandfather being volunteer fireman you would not even look at the option that included volunteers, as you indicated this would more or less give us a second rate fire department, and you do not want this for the people of Deerfield Beach.

Burgess stood by you on this as well. As you both selectively rifled through my information making excuses. All expected.

So one thing you all left in my mind after you knew from the information that I sent you, that 3 out of 4 fireman today in the United States is a volunteer fireman. I want you to both know if you should read and really look into the Fire Departments around the country, incidentally I learned much of these facts in 30 minutes googling. You will see that Volunteer firemen risk their lives everyday just like career fireman, and they are well trained individuals and have a passion for their job whether they are paid or not - WOW - WHERE DO WE FIND THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE - ALL OVER AMERICA. 

For you BOTH to indicate that Volunteers are not good enough  is outrageous. These people put their lives on the lines in cities around the US and around the World  every day. These are cities that have major high-rises that were built 100 years ago and when you step in at the 60th floor you might find yourself falling to the 30th floor. And densities that make it nearly impossible to get to some of these locations.

How dare you both state that you have been researching the different options and make a statement - that would clearly indicate that 3 out of 4 fireman are not good enough for you and the people of Deerfield Beach! As that is what you indicated.  THESE 3 OUT OF 4 INDIVIDUALS RISK THEIR LIVES EVERYDAY AROUND OUR COUNTRY.

I asked that you do a comparative study of some type for all of us to see, you have not, but will you? I do not think so but I am hopeful.

If you are responsible and  look at our actual needs from independent views as well as just common sense and no ignorance. You will see that we basically need a strong EMS and a smaller Fire Department. You seem to mention that affordability is an issue when you want it to be but the opposite when it is in your interest. 

I had spoken to many about regionalism over 10 years ago. However before making what is basically a parallel move. It would have been smart to do the job that we expected of you all and that is what is good for Deerfield Beach, and clearly evaluating ALL the different options, and then letting us decide. What are you doing? YOU ARE GIVING US A HORSE AND PONY SHOW. And you will not even let us ask questions, sounds like Al telling us we are too stupid to know whats good for us, you are no different. WHO MADE YOU KING?

Obviously with Peggy Noland as Major, we will not get a proper study done. Remember she is the one we asked back in the ninety's not to sit in on the firemens Pension plan and vote as we all knew it was not ethical, she did to but she did anyways. Well here we go again. And not one of you have stood up, Joe's trying but he has not been upfront with us as well. He confirmed that last night, after many of us learned that Lamberti has been working on this with the City for many months, as you all have known. SO OBVIOUSLY AS HOPEFUL AS I WAS THAT MAYBE JOE WOULD BE MORE TRANSPARENT WITH US, ITS OBVIOUS HE WAS NOT.

Let me take aim at  Peggy for a minute, AS SHE DOES A GREAT JOB AGAINST EVERYBODY ELSE. In the paper this past year, you all made a statement asking for money back from employees. I do not know what it was all about and will not pretend that I do as you all do when you do not look into things. But this is something I heard and that was spoken about around the city. Again I do not know if this was fact or fiction.  I seem to remember somebody showing me this in the paper. Well we also learned during City Manager Mahaney's days that Peggy's Husband was being paid for something that he was not certified to do. Did you ever ask him for the money back that he was paid, he knew he was not certified. I do not think so, do you know why? Because he was a fireman and he was Peggy Noland's Husband - simple truth.

EMS: EMS should be considered, our major need here in Deerfield. When looking at the real needs of the people. Here are the options.

1.) Leaving it as it is

2.) Parallel move to County.

3.) Privatization

4.) Volunteer

5.) Combination of some of the above.

Fire Department:  We all know that we are a pretty safe city with newer homes and know  high-rises to speak of, further all or most of the buildings have many safety features. We all know this! We also know that there are very few fires. And that we have more then double the amount of firemen that Plantation has. Please look at the amount that the city of Plantation needs to cover and compare that to Deerfield. Again we know that there are very few real fires in Deerfield, that most of our needs are EMS. We the people are not ignorant to this, the officials representing us may be, or maybe it something else. So back to what options are there.

Fire Department:

1.) Leaving it as it is

2.) Parallel move to County.

3.) Privatization

4.) Volunteer

5.) Combination of some of the above.

A GOOD RULE OF THUMB TO REMEMBER IS THAT 3 OUT OF EVERY 4 FIREMEN ARE VOLUNTEERS 

ALSO THERE ARE JUST OVER 30,000 FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN THE US AND OF THOSE IN THE AREA OF 7% ARE CAREER AND IN THE AREA OF 88% HAVE VOLUNTEERS. IS THAT NOT INTERESTING?

My recommendation, though I am not COMMENTING ON the salaries, pensions, benefits, etc., would probablyif NEGOTIATED PROPERLY,  also do away with the UTILITY TAX and lower everyones MILLAGE RATE. How about that?

Maybe the Sun-sentinel or the Miami Herald would even publish this!! 

HERE IS MY RECOMMENDATION:

EMS - First looking at the logistics of where most these calls are coming from. Setting up a small operation in those areas so that we can fill the needs of those residents as quickly as possible. Whether this is done by being mobile in those areas to start and then setting up a small location, during this time evaluating what is the best situation for us by talking to the residents as well as the people staffing these positions.

Staffing these positions - I would suggest that we look at either Private or a Career and Volunteer combination. Volunteers could be interns possibly. 

FIRE DEPARTMENTt: Scaling it down a lot, and then going with a mix of Career and Volunteer. Then we could look at moving it down to county, but then Al Lamberti would not have smile on his face, because we would have cut all the fat.

IS THE REAL ECONOMY GETTING BETTER, last night Broward County laid off 1,400 teachers, has the City of Deerfield laid off any firemen????? 

John Grassi

Please look at page 29 in Plantations  Budget.

Also look at what Plantations fire Department has to take care of.