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Editor: I am an employee of the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District. I have been for more than 14 years. I am trying to save my career. There should be nothing wrong with that, since so many people are unjustly trying to destroy my career.
Working here is not just a job, it is my life. I started working here when I was 20. I have grown up in this department. I have seen several chiefs and fire commissioners come and go.
What most people in this community know about our department is what they read in the newspapers. Unfortunately, the antics that are committed by the past fire commission boards have been the only thing the newspapers like to write about. They like to write anything negative they can find about the people who work for the department. The problem is that none of the good accomplished by our fire department or the people working here is ever advertised.
It is as if no one in the community would care that there is good being done every day in Spring Hill. There are 95 people who work full time for Spring Hill Fire Rescue. In all the years, has nothing good ever been accomplished by this many people? Why do disgruntled former employees and commissioners get to destroy the lives of so many people who dedicate their lives to help improve and save the lives of Spring Hill residents?
Spring Hill Fire Rescue started almost 30 years ago. This community has gone through tremendous changes in that time. As such, it needs a fire department that can keep pace. Our department has been through many changes, as well. Fire commissions change every two years. In a matter of four years, five new people can be making decisions about the lives and safety of the department personnel and the community.
We have thrived despite the best efforts of some very politically motivated people to destroy us. Why? Because of the employees. The dedication of the employees is amazing. This has been a great community in which to live and work. When we run calls, the people we help are grateful and seem to have a lot of respect for what we are doing. Many people's lives have been saved because of this fire department. Having dedicated employees makes this department more familiar with, and better able to respond to the needs of, the community. Who would you rather have serving you: people who are dedicated and know the area, or people who are using this department as a spring board to greener pastures?
We have a low turnover rate because the department recognizes the need to maintain better standards than the surrounding areas. Maintaining better working conditions and benefits makes for a better department, which makes for a safer community.
We hire the best available and maintain a high level of education and training for all employees. Anyone hired the past three years either is a paramedic or will become a paramedic within three years of employment. The more paramedics we have, the better. The key in emergency services is early intervention. The faster help can get to you, the more likely your life will be saved. This holds true for medical calls, as well as fire calls.
Our department provides eight advanced life service trucks (four ambulances and four fire trucks) for approximately 45 square miles. The plan is to add another station within five years, providing at least an ambulance, with a fire truck to follow when the call load necessitates. This will, by far, provide our community with life safety protection unparalleled in any surrounding community.
Spring Hill should be proud of the fire department. We are fortunate, as a community, that the founders of Spring Hill recognized early the need for a healthy fire and emergency medical service. This service was created to serve the people better as the need for the service increased. This was done by establishing the fire district and funding it with ad valorem taxes.
Yes, the budget increases every year. Yes, taxes go up as property values rise. The reason property values are rising is because the community is growing. As the community grows, so do the demands on the services provided by the fire district. Rather than waiting for disaster to strike and find out the fire department is behind the times, isn't it nice to know we are prepared for the future thanks to the foresight of those who began this great community?
Don't let politically minded and revenge-oriented people destroy one of the greatest assets we own as a community.
Editor: Firefighters at the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District just do not understand the problem. The rank and file have allowed their union leadership, the current chief and three fire commissioners to let things get out of hand.
People are not saying they provide a bad service, and are not attacking the people who work very hard for the district. That misses the point.
The current administration has spent every dollar it can. With the growth the district has seen for the past couple of years the 2.75 millage rate could have been reduced, lessening our tax burden. The request of a 14-percent increase in pay from the union will end Spring Hill Fire Rescue. Couple this with a fifth fire house, which will increase our department by one-third by the year 2009, it could make consolidation a reality.
If someone can receive the same service - and it is the same service - from the county for half the price, why should we not look into consolidation? Seventy-two percent of the people pay more for their fire service in Spring Hill than in the county. This figure doesn't include all the new homes that were built in 2003 and 2004. By the end of 2004, close to 80 percent probably will pay more for their fire service in Spring Hill than in the county. Why do we need to pay so much extra for the same service?
The county has two fire houses that are on the border of Spring Hill, a point fire commission Chairman Jeffrey Hollander pointed out. With consolidation, we would have at least six fire houses serving our community, not four.
With our current mutual aid policy we help out in Hernando County and Pasco County anyway. Spring Hill Fire Rescue's union and administration have done a disservice to the people who work for them. They believe people only care about calling 911 and them showing up, not the cost for the service.
Fire Commissioner Richard Martin understands the people of Spring Hill better than his fellow commissioners and the fire district administration give him credit for.
Editor: A few of us veterans placed nearly 600 American flags Saturday at the grave sites of veterans at Brooksville Cemetery and the Spring Hill Cemetery, proud we could recognize one more year, in our memorial sets of ceremonies, veterans who served so faithfully and well and who should be honored forever.
Past commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 67, John Houyou, Angel Manuel Torres, John Bologa and I, as chapter service officer, prodded through the aisles of Brooksville's stately cemetery, where grave sites spell out the names of leaders and builders of Hernando County. We pulled up ragged flags and placed bright, new American flags in their place and we ferreted out every grave site that held a veteran to place a flag there. The ragged flags will be honored in special retirement ceremonies by Springstead High School ROTC students in cooperation with DAV of Brooksville.
We need to know that the Hernando County Veterans Council led the way in this memorial tribute to our departed veterans by placing flags in some 40 separate sites in Hernando County. Bob Gagner, Mike Baier, Cal Adams and John Houyou can tell anyone interested which cemeteries have veterans' grave sites, at which the Veterans' Council has placed flags for years and years. Now, most of those men are in their 80s and too disabled to meet the challenge of placing flags. For the most part, the DAV has taken up the duties during memorial remembrances and the DAV is proud to fulfill this obligation.
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