Sunday, January 25, 2009

What's with these Broadcast Emails from the TOSS?

The TOSS has distributed two Broadcast emails regarding the SSVFD. The first was sent on Jan. 14 and the latest on the 23rd. For some reason the text of the email from the 14th is not available on the TOSS website, the notice from the 23rd can be seen here.

Broadcast Email from Jan.14th.

PROGRESS REPORT – FIRE DEPARTMENT CONTRACT
 
As many are aware, the Town Council has directed the Town Manager, in conjunction with the Town Attorney, to negotiate a new contract with the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. (SSVFD). It has taken some time to gather the necessary information and input from various sources, but the Town is hopeful that a long-term, multi-year, and mutually beneficial agreement will be reached in the near future.
 
Due to recent questions that have been posed to Town staff members and others, we would like to clarify a few items of information which may not be commonly known to the citizens of the Town:
 
1.The SSVFD is not a department of the Town. It is a separate, not-for-profit corporation.
 
2.Unlike a Town department, the relationship between the Town and the SSVFD relies on a contractual agreement under which the Town appropriates money to the SSVFD in exchange for the SSVFD providing fire services to the Town and its citizens.  Other than through the terms of this contractual relationship, the Town exercises no control over the SSVFD.
 
3.Similarly, the SSVFD is not a Dare County department, but contracts with Dare County to provide services to the residents of Martin’s Point.
 
4.The current Chief of the Fire Department, Chief Bob Harvey, is not an employee of the Town. Chief Harvey was a volunteer member of the SSVFD who the Board of Directors of the SSVFD selected and hired as their first full-time paid Chief.
 
Thank you for considering this information. If you have any further questions or concerns regarding the relationship between the Town and SSVFD please contact the Town’s staff for assistance.



The email above was sent out of cycle and seemingly out of the blue. When I saw it my first reaction was “Oh no, not again!”.

I'm still curious as to why this was sent and what was the reason for sending it at that time?

The bullet points are factually correct, but what is the point that the is TOSS trying to get across to the public?

One thing I did learn from discussion among Council members at the the Town Council meeting on the 20th was that first paragraph of the first notice was incorrect. Although Council had directed such, neither the Town Manager nor the Town Attorney had actually negotiated anything with the SSVFD. According to the SSVFD representatives at this meeting, the SSVFD had attempted to engage the Town Manager in negotiations multiple times in the course of the previous two months.

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