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Hernando Today

Spring Hill Fire Rescue Squanders Taxpayer Dollars, Puts Residents At Risk

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By HARRY CHAMBERLAIN, Guest Columnist

Hernando Today

Published: October 9, 2008

Updated: 10/09/2008 12:27 pm

Prior to my retirement in December 2005, for 21 years I was a communications officer for the U.S. Department of State. In that capacity I was responsible for all communications into and out of various embassies and consulates around the world. This has given me a broad understanding of communications, and in particular, emergency communications.
Earlier this year, I called 911 for a non-life-threatening emergency for my wife. The call was promptly answered and I was asked the nature of my emergency. I explained that my wife was experiencing severe abdominal cramps as a result of surgery and that I couldn't get her into my car to take her to the emergency room.
The person who initially answered 911 said to hold one moment and she would transfer me to Spring Hill. In a matter of 10 seconds or so another person answered, "Spring Hill, what is the nature of your emergency?" I repeated myself and was informed that an ambulance would be dispatched.
Since I live close to Spring Hill Station No. 2, the ambulance and fire truck arrived within a few minutes and my wife was taken to the Oak Hill emergency room. The EMTs were completely professional in all their actions, and I followed the ambulance to the hospital where the Oak Hill staff provided the necessary care.
The next day I had time to review the events of the previous night and wondered why I had to speak with two operators and not one. Research revealed that Spring Hill Fire Rescue does not directly receive 911 calls. They are first received by the Hernando County Emergency Operations Center, and it is necessary to determine if it is a police call or fire or EMS. If it is a police call, it stays with the EOC and is passed electronically to a dispatcher who does the actual dispatch of the police units.
However, if it is a fire or EMS call within the Spring Hill district, the call must be physically transferred by the EOC operator to a Spring Hill operator. This process puts another person in the dispatch of services. Further investigation showed that this system could, on rare occasions, miss connecting the call to Spring Hill. This happened once, which resulted in a death.
I went to the bi-weekly meeting of the Spring Hill Fire Rescue commission meeting and asked the question of why there were two dispatchers involved in answering my call, that it wasn't the process I have seen in other cities I have lived in the U.S. I was told that this was the normal process and that it was done everywhere.
A little checking told me this wasn't the case, that Spring Hill was the exception rather than the rule. Spring Hill Fire Rescue District spends almost $600,000 per year to maintain a separate dispatch system from the county. The county, at the time the new EOC was completed, envisioned that a single countywide dispatch system would be housed at the EOC and that a charge of $200,000 per year plus about $10,000 start-up costs would be involved. At that time, Spring Hill opted out of the countywide system.
I asked at a later meeting two questions: Can the county dispatch Spring Hill units directly if needed; and, if so, what is the advantage of having a separate dispatch system for Spring Hill? I received a yes answer to the first question. The second question remains unanswered to this day. The Spring Hill district employs 11 full- and part-time personnel to maintain this separate dispatch system. The fire commissioners are totally ignoring the savings to the taxpayer that would result in a unified dispatching system for the entire county so that 11 people can be employed.
The fire commissioners have made much of the recommendation in the study that was commissioned by the Hernando County Commission that a fifth fire station should be built on Spring Hill Drive. This same study stated that consolidation of the Spring Hill Fire District and EMS dispatch with the county was a critical issue to the safety of lives. So it would seem that the fire commissioners are putting employment of personnel above the safety of the residents of Spring Hill.
This fire commission is so focused on the question of independence of the district and the new powers it would bring to fire commissioners that they have ignored this one very obvious savings and safety issue. This fire commission shows distain for the voters of Spring Hill by blatantly supporting independence even though they were elected as a nonpartisan board.
Even at the last meeting of the board, an emergency meeting was held to extend a union contract that wasn't expiring to give new and, of course, increased benefits to the members of the district. The men and women who serve the citizens of Spring Hill deserve to be well paid, but there comes a point where the taxpayers can no longer afford the price.
The district, over the last two years, has amassed almost $4 million in their budget over and above the expenditures and required reserve. This is money taken from the taxpayers that wasn't needed for operating the department. At this emergency meeting, initially the chairman informed the public in attendance that no public comment would be allowed. After a member of the audience provided the chairman with a copy of the Florida Sunshine Law, he relented and the public was allowed to speak.
During the public comment it was brought out, and acknowledged as true by the board, that the commission did not advertise the negotiating session, as required by law. One commissioner at the end of the meeting complained about the public speaking out at these meetings.
I would remind that commissioner that this is democracy in action. If he has a problem with it, I can point him toward several countries where public opposition is usually expressed from those in the cemeteries and not from the podium. He might feel more at home in one of those countries.
I did not intend to become active in this issue, but seeing the pitfalls that independence would bring to the district forces me to speak out. Those of us who are in opposition to independence are facing a union-financed, pro-independence vote. We cannot match their signs in number, but our message is clear — one county, one fire service.
Vote "No!"

Harry Chamberlain has been a resident of Spring Hill since May 2004.

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