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Hernando Today

Fire Boss: Report 'Shoved Under The Rug'

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By TONY HOLT

Published: December 20, 2007

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - The chief thought an accident last September was a fender bender that should have been addressed internally and without the input of the fire board.

A fire commissioner disagreed and accused the chief of "sweeping it under the rug" and conducting a covert "cover up."

That combustible exchange was merely one highlight of several during a four-hour Spring Hill Fire Rescue Board meeting Wednesday night. The topics that went before the commissioners ranged from ambulance donations to the local college to policies on nonemployees riding inside district-owned vehicles.

On Sept. 10, two district vehicles — a fire engine and a rescue vehicle — arrived at 4164 Arrowhead Ave., according to a report. The latter backed up and "scraped against" the engine, resulting in more than $3,100 in damage.

Fire commissioner Robert Giammarco said he received the report Dec. 6, one week after Chief J.J. Morrison promised to give it to him.

The papers were signed the day they were sent to the commissioner, a fact he pointed out during Wednesday's meeting.

Calling the report "disgraceful," he complained there were too many details left out, including the time of the accident and whether the vehicles had responded to a traffic collision or medical call.

"The day I asked for the information was the day the chief signed it," Giammarco said. "Why is that?"

That's when he accused the chief of shoving the matter "under the rug," to which Morrison replied in a loud tone, "Sir, what was shoved under the rug?"

During a phone conversation Thursday, Giammarco said "maybe that wasn't the right term to use," but followed that by accusing the chief of consciously covering up details of the accident.

"I'm implying not the whole truth is being told here," he said. "It makes it look like a cover up. I hate to use that (phrase), but that's what it looks like."

When contacted for a rebuttal, Morrison said he was disappointed by Giammarco's remarks.

"For an elected official to tell a reporter I'm being less than honest … the only term I can come up with is cheap shot," he said. "He can challenge my work ethic or how I do my job, but challenging my honesty? That's a cheap shot."

Morrison defended his initial decision to not bring it before the board. He said the accident "did not rise to that level" and said the firefighter who drove the rescue vehicle was properly disciplined two months ago.

"Goodness, why would I or anyone in the organization do something like that?" he said, referring again to the charges of a cover up.

Giammarco accused the chief of changing his stories whenever he submitted reports pertaining to the incident. Morrison notified the insurance companies the fender bender occurred during a response to a vehicle accident, but the commissioner said he later told him it occurred during a medical call.

Giammarco also recalled hearing the chief say the rescue vehicle struck the engine while it was "backing into the station." A station does not exist on Arrowhead Avenue.

One fire commissioner, Leo Jacobs, came to Morrison's defense Wednesday. He said Giammarco was "making a mountain out of a molehill" and that he was "completely out of line" to suggest the chief was sweeping the issue under the rug.

Another hot-button issue discussed during the meeting was the policy for nondistrict employees in district vehicles. Morrison said there was no written policy, but Chairman Charles Raborn said at the start of the discussion one would be required.

"I think we're going to need to move forward with a (policy) that only department and volunteers should be in our vehicles."

Assistant Chief Bill Davies quickly responded and asked about patients who require medical care and need to be transported to a hospital.

The district's attorney Andrew Salzman suggested the board and chief define who would be an "unauthorized" passenger and devise a policy from there.

The controversy was ignited last month when local activist and district supporter Rachel Rodriguez called the office and requested a ride to a public meeting at Bob Hartung Court.

Rodriguez said she owns a valid driver's license, but has difficulty seeing at night. Morrison authorized one of his officers to pick her up at her Spring Hill Drive home and drive her to the meeting.

At the end of that meeting, Rodriguez gave a scathing speech directed at Giammarco.

Morrison conceded he made a "bad decision," but told commissioners that firefighters should be allowed to let civilians ride in their vehicles on certain occasions, like if they encountered an elderly lady stranded along the side of the road. The chief would expect them to pull over and assist the woman, even if it means giving her a ride home.

Commissioner George Biro agreed with Morrison.

"Don't let one bad decision affect our service to the public," he told Raborn.

Biro also said the Hernando Today article that exposed the issue was "outrageous" and its perceived implications of sneaky tactics on the part of the district were "uncalled for."

Morrison was asked by the board to draft a new policy.

In other district news:

• Commissioners debated with Morrison over the issue of donating an old ambulance to Pasco-Hernando Community College.

Raborn and Giammarco suggested it was bad business to give away a vehicle they could just as easily sell for thousands of dollars.

The chief said while PHCC charges tuition and makes an annual profit, it is still a "public entity in need."

"The school district tried to do this with their old school buses and there was a big to-do about it," Giammarco warned.

The commissioners reached a consensus to try to sell the ambulance in either a trade magazine or through the Web. If the district can earn $10,000 or so for the ambulance, then commissioners would agree to follow that process more often in the future with the fleet's older vehicles.

• There was a brief discussion Wednesday about the proposed referendum expected to go before Spring Hill voters in November 2008. The district is seeking its independence from the county, but the wording on the referendum has to be agreed upon by both the county commission and the district.

Biro complained, as he has done several times before, that the process was taking too long.

The county commission has opted to wait for an out-of-state comprehensive study to be submitted that will offer recommendations on what it should do with its fire departments. Critics are expecting the results will give the county more reason to merge all of the county's departments into one, which would dissolve the district and all of the local volunteer departments. The study is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

If the county's recommendation on the referendum's wording is unsatisfactory, then Salzman would respond appropriately, he said.

"I will come to the board and discuss what options are available," he told the fire bosses. He would not go into detail about those options, saying it was too early to do so.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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