Two vie for Fort Myers Fire Control board
The Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District’s Fire Commission is a board made up of five Fort Myers Beach residents. The role of the board is to set the millage for the fire control district and approve the budget, as well as manage the monies the district receives from ad valorem taxes. The board is advised by the fire chief, Matt Love, who acts as the district manager.
This year, two seats are up for re-election, but only one is contested. Fire Commissioner Larry Wood is running unopposed for his district seat; incumbent John Pohland will face Ron Fleming on the Nov. 8 ballot.
JOHN POHLAND – Incumbent
John Pohland has been on the board since April 2015 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. His platform through budget season has been consistent: he favors a lower millage rate and cost-saving measures. He became interested in the fire commission because of its higher tax rate, and likes being involved in what he called the more “serious” organization. When the 2016-2017 budget was passed, he was the dissenting vote as he did not agree with the increased millage rate. He has been an active volunteer in the community on several town and county advisory boards. He retired from owning and managing a machine shop business for 23 years.
What’s the biggest issue in the district?
Let’s backtrack two years ago, we had an ineffective chief. His contract was not renewed, but it put the burden on the commission to redefine the type of person we needed. We were definitive on the level of education required, and had a nation-wide search. It was one of the important things we accomplished. Now, we need to get the spending under control and find other ways to pay for things other than raising the millage. If we need a $500,000 fire truck, we can get a low-interest loan, available to fire departments who are doing well – Florida has a low-interest program. We could finance (a truck) over the next 10 years.
What is one of your goals if you were elected, and how would you accomplish it?
We need to be more frugal in spending. In maintenance it seems like we’re paying a lot. We can save more money. One way, we bought new ambulances that can go to any Ford dealership for maintenance. But when you buy speciality vehicles, like Mercedes, there is less selection for where you can get it maintained. I plan to talk one-on-one to the chief about it. (If he did not agree), he needs to come back to the board and say, I like my way better, and then ask the board which way he should go.
What kind of needs and challenges is the district facing in the future?
Right now, we’re fully funded, we have the stations and equipment, except one piece that’s too old. There’re not many things on the horizon. We need to be efficient, maintain excellent levels of training and personnel. The people in the fire district are really great, they’re doing a good job. They’re getting past a difficult situation we had with the previous chief, but they maintained the quality of service and we don’t ever want to disturb that. We want to improve our performance at a lower cost.
New development isn’t particularly on the island in the near horizon, but it’s near the island.
Our new fire chief is doing a good job of interacting with multiple municipalities and other fire districts and seeing to it that we’re all on the same page and cooperative. If a new development occurs, I hope he recognizes the need for inter-reaction so that we don’t have some kind of bottleneck situation in the service he provides.
RON FLEMING
Ron Fleming retired to Florida in 2011 after a 37-year career with the Dayton, Ohio, fire department, more than 20 of which were served in the role of commanding executive chief. He moved to Cape Coral with his wife, then to Fort Myers Beach in 2013. Both are active volunteers in the community and serve on the Citizens Emergency Response Team. Fleming said he began attending the Fort Myers Beach Fire Commission and saw areas he believed his experience could help improve, and decided to run for commissioner. He said he would not have supported the increased millage rate if he had been sitting on the board this year.
What’s the biggest issue?
The largest issue in the district is the excessive turnover rate. We have the authorized strength (number of entry-level fire fighter positions) of 21 firefighters. Since 2014, we’ve hired 21 firefighters and since then 14 have voluntarily resigned. My source for that information was from a contract discussion between the union and the fire chief last week – the union rep made that statement and Matt Love did not dispute it. Why is that happening? It’s a safety issue to be short-staffed and have mandatory overtime.
I’m not a rubber stamp for firefighters. But to work that much overtime, that’s inefficient. Management and labor need to sit down and discuss. Hiring one “rover” (firefighter who will be assigned to open shift when the need arises) will have minimal impact, because they can only fill one seat every third day of a rotation. I’m not sure how short-staffed we are, but the root cause of overtime is you don’t have enough people.
What is one of your goals, and how will you achieve it?
My primary goal is solving the turnover problem. You can’t have exhausted firefighters responding to calls. Overtime is expensive and inefficient – some is good, but excessive overtime is disruptive and costly. My management philosophy is inclusive leadership. I would work together with all the stakeholders, I would attempt to build relationships with the union, the department management team and the community stakeholders to identify the root cause of the turnover rate, then negotiations in the contracts could occur between the union and the department. A final agreement would go to the fire commission for approval or denial.
What kinds of needs and challenges will the district be facing in coming years?
Without the personnel, you can do nothing. Fort Myers Beach is receiving a bad reputation. During the race I’ve been meeting people. I spoke to a businesswoman on the beach whose son wants to be a firefighter – he’s training as a paramedic. But he doesn’t want to work here. Fort Myers Beach has been known as a place to come get your training and move on to Iona-McGregor, Cape Coral, and we’ve had people leave here after six months. It’s expensive to train someone, and something’s wrong here.
Change is a challenge, and change is coming, whether it’s the approval of a large development on San Carlos Island or whatever Tom Torgerson comes up with in Times Square, there is going to be large-scale development. Many of the structures on Fort Myers Beach are old and in disrepair. We have a low rate of fires but the conditions of the structures and the reputation of the beach for spring break increase the demands on EMS in season. We have to be prepared to handle what tax payers pay for and what visitors assume we have.