What the ....................???

Sorry I just could not come up with a more proper title for this post.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 Southern Shores Town Council meeting. The agenda can be viewed here.

Note the that in the agenda there was to be an awards presentation “to several SS firefighters, SS police, Duck firefighters, Duck Police, and Dare County EMS members.

Earlier, in preparation for the meeting, as I ran a lint roller over my SSVFD uniform, it dawned on me that there are so few occasions when volunteer firefighters have the privilege and opportunity to wear the official uniform. All too often it is worn ceremonially with a band of mourning across the badge. But for this night it was to be worn with honor by all, to celebrate the saving of lives.

As you may well know, there had been considerable rancor over the TOSS/SSVFD contract. But, it appeared that a negotiation session the previous Friday had resolved most of the primary issues and at this point had been approved by the SSVFD Board of Directors only lacking a formal vote of approval by the TOSS council.

Very few of those who attended this meeting could have anticipated what would transpire, I certainly did not!

After the Council voted to formally approve the agenda, Mayor Smith immediately diverted from the approved agenda by announcing that he had a statement to read. He then proceeded to present what I can only describe as mean-hearted, condescending diatribe, rife with (what I view) as erroneous and faulty information, delivered in the form of an angry rant. Included in his presentation was the threat of forcibly taking control of the department. I will attempt to obtain a copy of his statement to post here in it's entirety.

I truly do not know if his intent was to disrespect and demean those rescuers present, but that was the net effect.

Perhaps he carried it further than he intended, but he did go to far, which I base on the stunned and shocked reaction of the 90+ members of the public present.

At the end of this statement, as a whole, with hardly a word said, most all those in uniform arose as one and filed out of the building. You had to be there to understand, there was nothing else they could have done. They proceeded to the SSVFD South Station to perform the ceremonies. Even though I was one of those to receive a unit citation for participating in a technically challenging vehicle extrication, I chose to stay, feeling compelled to speak.

I may address what I had to say in some other post, more important, were the speeches of numerous others speaking in support of the SSVFD during the Town Budget Public Hearing. On conclusion of the hearing, council deferred until next Tuesday at 7:00 PM the final vote on the budget.

Under old business, Council Members discussed the SSVFD/TOSS contract. It became apparent as the discussion continued, that if the Mayor had ever had any support for his agenda of defeating the contract and dissolving the SSVFD, that support had been severely eroded. I don't believe he would have gone to the measures that he did, if he did not feel he could carry the vote. The result was a 4 – 1 vote in favor of signing the SSVFD contract as agreed upon and modified through the course of this proceeding I can only assume that this action precluded the possibility of the Mayor then proposing a take over the department, at least for another year (term of the contract).

Thank goodness! Common sense and reason prevailed. My faith in the ability of this Town Council has been greatly restored. My thanks go to Brian McDonald, Jody Hess, Jim Pfizenmayer , and Kevin Stroud for recognizing the seriousness and potential realty of their decision.

More to come.........................................................