SAFER? Maybe?

Stafford County Supervisors deferred a vote on whether they will accept a federal grant that would pay for 14 new career firefighters for the next two years. The value of the grant is about $1 million per year.

There was no vote among the supervisors, but board Chairman Mark Dudenhefer promised to have the grant on the next board agenda for a vote on April 5.

In the meantime, supervisors will determine whether they want to support the grant, and the county attorney will review the grant to determine whether the county is required to pay for the positions for a third year. The county may only have to “commit” to funding the positions in the third year–they might not be “required” to do it.

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/staffordnews/2011/03/15/safer-maybe/

Dean Fetterolf

The BOS recently approved a new comp plan that calls for nearly 15000 new homes in the next 10 years. Should we not take advantage of these funds to hire and train new firefighters that will be needed in the future? Those resources can be moved where needed in year 3 and beyond.

Why can’t some members of this BOS look beyond the end of their fiscal year budget noses?

You all remember the 5 Ps. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Why can’t we PLAN for the future rather than waiting for it to pass us by? Like the $70M transportation bond and the $29M Parks and Rec bond that play catch up with poor planning from the past.
FreeFall

Wow… I sure hope my family’s home and my neighbors houses down Marlborough Point don’t catch on fire anytime soon. We’ve already seen what happens down there when you don’t have enough firefighters to staff a fully capable firehouse (Brooke). Houses just burn to the ground while home owners falsely believe there’ help near by! Such a shame, Stafford.
Anonymous

There is plenty of Fire & Rescue personnel, but they want you to believe there isn’t. Let’s look at what they get paid and how much overtime they get and how the volunteers do more than paid and other issues then talk about 14 more. Let’s have some consideration for the people forced out of their jobs only to listen to the County BOS say oh sure we will be able to continue paying these 14 after the grant money is gone. Continue paying for the people you already have. Put some “white shirts” to work and you won’t need the 14 new people. How many Assistant Chief’s do you need and where is Brown during all the fires that can’t be put out? Really Stafford, get a clue.
nobody

Plenty of Personnel?? Where? there is only two vol. stations in this county that is staffed nearly 100%, Go try telling citizens in Rockhill or widewater, or white oak that “hey yeah theres the fire station right up the street…..but hmm who’s getting the unit out?” The good ol days of stafford county is in the past, time is passing by, population is growing every day, and people expect service right away, not for the 2nd or 3rd or even 4th due on busy days to get there. So know what your talking about, get your facts straight, and then you will realize what reality is. I’m sure if your, or a family member’s house burned down, or even you or they needed medical help you want it fast so think about that.
B Shelton

I think the Board of Supervisors are not supportive of public safety at all. Stafford County needs a new set of Supervisors who are educated in how a County should be run. It is also time for a new Sheriff in this County. Sheriff Jet has served his purpose over the years but, his agenda is now personal and not in the interest of public safety and our County.

Copyright 2013, The Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. of Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Permissions - Privacy Policy - Send email to Support Staff - Send email to the News Team
To contact all other newspaper departments, please click here or call 540-374-5000.
If you have commercial printing or offset printing needs in Virginia or anywhere on the East Coast, visit our printing company, Print Innovators.
To contact the Free Lance–Star please use the following numbers:
Main Switchboard: 540-374-5000, Advertising: 540-374-5460, Classifieds: 540-374-5001, Subscriber Services: 540-374-5002, Toll-free: 800-877-0500

Archives

Tags

SAFER? Maybe?