Fire Chief Referendum Petition

[FRCBlog3]

Those who are promoting the petition drive seek to use the referendum process to reverse the Mayor and City Council position by giving the Council the option to either rescind their vote or to present the question to the people of Fall River through a referendum question.

Those who are interested in keeping the Fire Chief position within the process of Civil Service, lessening the political influence that would be brought upon a Chief who is a contract employee with primary allegiance to his appointing authority. In the time of increased pressure on budgets it is particularly important to have a Fire Chief who will be independent enough to speak out if he feels that his department is jeopardized by budget cuts that may be forthcoming.

Basic to saving neighborhoods and protecting public safety is having a Fire Chief who is independent enough to advocate for the needs of his department without undue political influence.

A copy of the Referendum Petition can be found here (http://frc-fallrivercommunity.blogspot.com/2008/05/rebirth-of-democracy_21.html).

The petition is very user-friendly so that you can acquire the signatures of your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.


To a Mayor and City Council that want to change in 40 days what has been in place for nearly 70 years....


To the City Council that unnecessarily scheduled a Special Meeting on 1pm on a Friday....


To the City Council that refused to reschedule as a courtesy to a colleague that suffered the loss of a family member....


To the City Council that refused to recess for 30 minutes so that the colleague could have more time to attend the meeting....


To the City Council that refused to allow for citizen input ...

[FRT]

If this is a cause you believe in, you should help out. These people are working hard on this issue for the people of Fall River. Go to their site, print the simple form, and get it signed by registered voters in Fall River. They've made it really easy for citizens to speak out. Please click on the link below::)

http://frc-fallrivercommunity.blogspot.com/2008/05/rebirth-of-democracy_21.html (http://frc-fallrivercommunity.blogspot.com/2008/05/rebirth-of-democracy_21.html)

[Medicswife]

My hubby and I signed this petition yesterday...

[union man]

Tuesday's furlough memo approved by Silva and written by Bruce Larkin, administrative services director, clarifies "in anticipation of possible layoffs," that "any employee that is laid off will not be required to take any furlough days."

Silva also discussed an "overtime reduction plan" created by Fire Chief Otis Latin that would cut severely into fire-rescue service and beach lifeguarding. Police and fire overtime helped sink the city budget last year.

On top of cuts, Latin already plans for general budget reduction, his strategy to keep overtime costs down involves reducing daily staff from 82 to 79 or 75 personnel, shutting down some engines or ambulances if there's not enough staff for them. He also plans to send six managers back to operations work, eliminate a battalion, and reduce beach lifeguard staff, which also is within his department. Furloughs will require additional trucks to be taken out of service, he noted.

It wasn't a ploy to get more money, he said. Rather, Latin pleaded with commissioners to approve it.

"If I don't implement something right now," Latin told commissioners, "I'm going to overshoot my overtime budget. And you've already said you'd fire me if I overspend my overtime budget." :mad: