Oversight of district at issue in vote

The Spring Hill Fire Rescue District has grown throughout the decades into a respected unit. But can its leaders be trusted on their own?

By ROBERT KING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 29, 2002

SPRING HILL -- It has been 30 years, but Pat Fleck remembers her first encounter with the volunteer Spring Hill fire department and its first ambulance -- a converted hearse donated by a local funeral home.

Her husband, Bill, was having a heart attack. He was determined to be treated at a hospital in Dunedin, not Brooksville. But the ambulance crew didn't know the way to Dunedin. Even when Fleck offered to lead them, the ambulance ran out of gas.

Fleck's husband survived the trip. And despite the misadventure, Fleck has come to respect the once ragtag outfit that evolved into Spring Hill Fire Rescue.

"They grew into a great department," said Fleck, a real estate broker and Spring Hill resident since 1968.

Now, the issue facing Spring Hill residents as they head into the voting booth next Tuesday is whether they feel their fire department is ready to stand on its own -- to be independent.

Since 1974, when Spring Hill voters created their own fire district and approved an extra tax to pay for it, the Hernando County Commission has acted as sort of a big brother, watching over the fire district's shoulder. It has the ultimate authority to approve the fire district's budget. If the referendum passes, that relationship would end.

Fire officials say independence will ensure that good fire service continues and that the county doesn't completely take over the department.

Others, even those neutral about independence, say the current setup with county oversight offers extra accountability that would be lost with independence. They say a county takeover is unlikely.

The issue at hand is unique in that the fire department's skill at putting out fires and saving lives is not questioned. In fact, other fire departments in the county respect the professionalism in Spring Hill. County commissioners say complaints are rare.

But the same cannot be said for the fire commission -- the five-member board responsible for governing the fire district. Its history has at times been comical; at times much worse.

It is a board that tried to oust one of its own members for sleeping through meetings.

It is a board that once added two water scooters to its arsenal of rescue equipment only to be embarrassed when, a year later, the only service call it had to show for the flashy amenity was the rescue of a pair of goats.

It is a board so rife with infighting and pettiness in 1993 that Spring Hill residents compared its antics to Abbott and Costello sketches, comic strips and the circus. There was one request that the County Commission disband the fire board -- from a fire commissioner.

And it is a board that, as recently as this summer, was decried as a group of insensitive "Neanderthals" for its response to allegations that three of its firefighters raped a woman in a hotel room just north of Orlando.

No arrests have been made and the criminal investigation continues. But when the matter became public, some fire board members immediately questioned the woman's credibility. One referred to her as a "groupie firefighter girl."

Women's activists lambasted them. County commissioners chided them. They were skewered on newspaper opinion pages. And some said the response showed that the fire commission wasn't ready for self-governance.

"Independence implies that the district will make mature, professional judgments that can be trusted and relied upon by residents," local activist Janey Baldwin wrote in a letter to the Hernando Times. "The recent behavior of firefighters and fire commissioners has revealed major deficiencies in their thinking and actions."

The fire board's greatest obstacle may be itself.

On one hand, it can claim some credit for the respect its fire department has earned in the community. Compared to other fire departments in Hernando, its emergency response times are faster and its firefighters better paid. Its budget is basically sound.

On the other, the board has well-known tendencies of bickering and causing controversy. It has flirted with Sunshine Law violations by calling emergency meetings with little notice. Some say it needs watching over.

Spring Hill voters have previously defeated a referendum on independence -- in 1992. A decade later, fire commissioners say the issue needs another look because a new threat looms.

Fire commissioners say the County Commission's effort to absorb the Township 22 fire district outside Brooksville was a wakeup call. They fear the County Commission could try to make Spring Hill's fire department part of theirs.

That would dilute service to Spring Hill, fire commissioners warn, lengthening response times and spreading firefighters and engine units thinner.

But the reality of that threat is questionable.

Fire district officials acknowledge that current members of the County Commission have shown no interest in consolidation. The County Commission even sang the fire district's praises when it passed the resolution needed to put this independence vote on the ballot.

Yet fire chief J.J. Morrison is concerned that it might not always be so, particularly as new commissioners are elected. Fire board chairman Bob Kanner warned a small crowd at a voter forum last week that county commissioners could gobble up the Spring Hill fire district "with the stroke of a pen."

But Bruce Snow, the longtime county attorney who wrote the fire district's charter, said the matter is much more murky from a legal standpoint. He's not sure it would be so easy.

Township 22 was created to be overseen solely by the County Commission. It had no elected governing board. The county took back fire protection in Township 22 when its contract with the city of Brooksville expired. Still, the change is being fought in court.

A takeover of the Spring Hill fire district would seem more complicated, largely because of Spring Hill's elected fire board.

It would be tougher politically, too. Spring Hill has close to 70,000 people -- about half the county's population -- and dwarfs Township 22. County commissioners, particularly those from Spring Hill, might force a takeover at their own political peril.

County Commissioner Diane Rowden, who is neutral on the Spring Hill independence issue, said comparisons with Township 22 are not fair. "They're playing on the emotions of the people, because it isn't the same," she said. "They are trying to scare the people."

Aside from consolidation, the other major issue is whether independence would give Spring Hill residents more say in their fire district's governance -- or less.

Fire district officials say independence will bring governance closer to home. Instead of the County Commission in Brooksville having the final say, the buck would stop in Spring Hill, with fire commissioners who live in Spring Hill.

They note that county commissioners may live in far-flung corners of the county and that they must represent the needs of the whole county. Fire commissioners thus argue that independence would make the fire district more accountable to the people it serves.

Pat Fleck is one of them.

"They do a good job and I think they should be independent. I think the county gets too much from Spring Hill right now," said Fleck, who also thinks Spring Hill should incorporate as a city.

The flip side is that, if independence passes, Spring Hill residents dissatisfied with a fire commission decision must take appeals to state legislators in Tallahassee, rather than county commissioners who may live just down the street. Some say loss of the county's involvement would mean less local accountability.

In any case, independence would greatly change how the fire district's books are kept and monitored.

Currently, the county Clerk of Court's office reviews a wide range of fire district business. It ensures that purchases are made properly, payrolls handled accurately and investments managed wisely. Each year, it ensures that the fire district's books are audited along with the rest of the county government's operations.

But if independence passes, the fire district alone will be responsible for such duties.

Morrison says that won't be a problem. Already, he says, his staff performs some of the same work as the clerk's office. For things it can't do -- such as audits -- it can hire outside firms. When everything is added up, Morrison said independence could save about $30,000 a year. In an $8-million annual budget, it's a small savings, he said, but a savings nonetheless.

But county Clerk of Court Karen Nicolai is skeptical.

She says her department has four certified public accountants to oversee things. The fire district has none. She says the county's investment pool is bigger and thus gets better interest rates than Spring Hill would alone.

Where the fire district sees redundancies, Nicolai sees oversight. "I question why they have a real problem with oversight," she said. "They don't have very good policies and procedures. They have gotten a little bit better because we have made a big deal out of them. There have been problems in the past because they weren't following policies and procedures. They were too generic or too vague.

"It is a check and balance in the system and they are going to lose a check and balance."

So far, tax rates have been mostly a nonissue in the independence debate.

Currently, Spring Hill taxpayers pay $2.75 for every $1,000 of their nonexempt taxable property. The way the ballot question is worded, an independent fire district could increase that tax rate only by going to the voters in another referendum. Morrison said his current 5-year budget projections show no need for a tax increase.

Snow, the former county attorney, said he sees little wiggle room around the 2.75-mill cap. But he notes that independence would give the fire district sole control of other revenue sources, such as ambulance fees.

But former County Commissioner Tony Mosca, an avid critic of fire independence now and in 1992, says wiggle room may exist.

If voters approve independence next week, the state Legislature will have to pass a new law in the spring setting ground rules for the independent fire district.

Mosca says that if fire commissioners want higher taxes in the future, all they must do is convince lawmakers in Tallahassee to go along with it. That, of course, would require the complicity of lawmakers with constituents in Spring Hill.

Mosca shares the same concern about the commissioners setting themselves a salary. They now work as volunteers and have pledged to continue to do so. But he says if they change their minds, they could get the Legislature to approve pay.

Keeping control closer to home, with County Commission oversight, is the best accountability, Mosca said.

"I know (independence) is a bad idea. I've been down this road before," he said. "They do not have an argument and they know it. There was no argument 10 years ago and there's no argument today."

Morrison, the Spring Hill fire chief, likes to talk about the fire district that residents "know and love" or that they "bought and paid for themselves." He casts independence in terms of protecting family property.

"I think we've grown up," Morrison said. "It's time for us to cut the apron strings."

From a more neutral perch, Hernando County Fire Rescue director Mike Nickerson says Spring Hill runs a good agency now and will continue to do so if independent. He says Spring Hill's citylike structure might best be served by a stand-alone fire district, though some economies of scale could be achieved in a consolidated approach.

In any case, Nickerson said, fire service must stay the same or improve for consolidation to be considered. Other districts in the county have never seen a firefighter laid off or station shut down due to consolidation. That said, the county's current plans call for leaving Spring Hill alone. Nickerson says the vote will mean little in the end.

"My father asked me about independence and he lives in Spring Hill," Nickerson said. "I really have no feeling on it. It would never have any effect either way."

-- Robert King covers Spring Hill and can be reached at 848-1432. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com.

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