Harby appointed to FMB Fire Commission
Now that Florida Governor Charlie Crist has appointed Gordon “Flip” Harby to fill the vacant seat left by the suspended Commissioner John Scanlon on the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District’s Board of Fire Commissioners, it is time for the fire district to begin the process of creating and finalizing an operating budget for fiscal year 2010.
Harby is unsure which of the five fire board members will act as chairman.
“I will be taking the seat that John Scanlon had held prior to his (suspension),” said Harby. “Does that come with the chairmanship attached to it? I don’t know. Attorney Richard Pringle is getting all that worked out. We should get an answer pretty quick.”
Harby mentioned two different scenarios that might play out.
“It could go two ways,” he said. “I could take over the seat and take the responsibility of chairman, or the existing board -including myself- will pick a commissioner to be a chair.”
If Harby is appointed as chairman, he looks forward to getting the board -which has been lacking a vote-splitter with only four commissioners- back on track.
“There are many things that I see that have not been done,” said Harby. “Time’s running out; budget needs to be made and done. There are several things that are on the dinner plate for the board of fire commissioners.”
Commissioner Harby previously served two terms on the FMBFCD board from 1998 through 2006, assuming many roles including chairman multiple times.
Harby, whose family has lived on the Beach since 1946, received the call from the governor’s office on Tuesday, June 26.
Harby said he spoke to Fire Chief Mike Becker about the personnel layoffs that occurred in LeHigh Acres, Punta Gorda and Cape Coral.
“We not going to lay anybody off, and we’re not going to close stations,” said Harby. “I had a meeting with the chief and we talked about that. That’s just not going to happen. That’s not what the taxpayers want.”
Harby wouldn’t mind having the temporary position turn to a permanent one.
“I’d put my name on the block,” he said. “You better believe it.”
The next meeting for the FMB Board of Fire Commissioners is June 16 at 1 p.m. at Fire Station 31.
“At that time, Commissioner Harby will be sworn in,” said FMB Public Information and Education Officer Ramon Looby. “There is a good chance the board will elect its new chair at that point. The citizens of the district should be happy that once again they have a complete board to do their work to ensure that they’re getting the best emergency medical, fire and personnel and resources possible for their district. There is no problem too big that these five minds can’t handle.”
Both Looby and Harby echoed the same sentiment about community involvement.
“We are in the customer service business,” said Looby. “Come to the meetings; ask questions; give us calls; send us emails; visit our Web site. We work for the people. There is no question that’s too big that we won’t track down and answer. This is all about participation.”
“I’d like to invite everybody to come to each and every one of the commission meetings,” said Harby. “It’s important we get citizen participation.”