Livetwittering the Fire Dept. meeting & strategic plan

Here's my livetwittering record from the fire department meeting. I also got a full copy of the fire department's plan, and it makes for some good reading. My general take is, we should absoultely keep our paid firefighting force (random aside: I note that most of the people who are saying we should switch over to an all-volunteer force still would like to get paid to do their jobs. Huh, how about that.) Volunteers could be a valuable addition to the force however, especially in times of critical need. Check out the action plan, look up stats, decide for yourselves.

• At the fire dept meeting and online! Wooo! 5:53 PM Jun 14th


• Starting with the overview of the Merrill fire departments services 6:08 PM Jun 14th


• 23 professional firefighters/rescue workers/paramedics Monday, June 14, 2010 6:10:04 PM


• They really do it all for us Monday, June 14, 2010 6:12:01 PM


• The tanker at station 1 is old, & depended on by surrounding area as well. Monday, June 14, 2010 6:17:03 PM


• 1976 pumper is the backup rural pumper. Pretty but... Yikes Monday, June 14, 2010 6:20:00 PM


• Getting rid of it might negatively effect the iso number tho Monday, June 14, 2010 6:21:13 PM


• Iso is insurance rating for the area. Bad iso means higher insurance for everyone Monday, June 14, 2010 6:22:25 PM


• Right now manpower is the biggest problem with our iso. We are at a 3, danger of falling to a 4 Monday, June 14, 2010 6:23:47 PM


• Our 6 wheeler was purchased by fundraising by the fd only Monday, June 14, 2010 6:24:43 PM


• Merrill fd is fd, rescue, ems, rural fire. 6 man crew doing all that. Covers Merrill and three townships Monday, June 14, 2010 6:26:43 PM


• 3emts 3firefighters at a given time, but any could do either job at any time Monday, June 14, 2010 6:28:03 PM


• They are also our hazmat team. O_o Monday, June 14, 2010 6:28:52 PM


• And... Water rescue. Man, our firefighters are hard core and awesome. Monday, June 14, 2010 6:30:31 PM


• Other: carbon monoxide response, remote rescue, accident response, high level rescue, confined space rescue, odor investigations, (cont) Monday, June 14, 2010 6:34:45 PM


• Wildland firefighting. Ems covers Merrill, townships of birch, corning, Harding, Merrill, pine river, rock falls, Monday, June 14, 2010 6:36:48 PM


• Dnr fire fighting unit critical for wildland firefighting Monday, June 14, 2010 6:37:28 PM


• Townships cont Russell schley part of Harrison Monday, June 14, 2010 6:38:10 PM


• Non-emergent services: fire inspections, fire prevention, home inspections, smoke detector, blood pressure, CPR classes, Monday, June 14, 2010 6:40:28 PM


• Cont christmas party for pine crest :), mock DUI, adopt a highway Monday, June 14, 2010 6:41:36 PM


• Advantages of a full time dept: response times & reliability, daily training, cross trained personnel, equipment maintenence Monday, June 14, 2010 6:50:21 PM


• Prevention and education services, rescue services Monday, June 14, 2010 6:51:08 PM


• Question: we have hazerdous waste coming thru merrill? Ans: yes, sulphourous compounds Monday, June 14, 2010 6:52:33 PM


• Question: beehives. Won't bother writing the answer. Monday, June 14, 2010 6:54:10 PM


• Q: do surrounding communities equipment and personal affect our iso (asked by the mayor) a: no Monday, June 14, 2010 6:55:24 PM


• Strategic plan time! Monday, June 14, 2010 6:56:51 PM


• This is not going to be a fast process. Budgeting is the last step. Monday, June 14, 2010 6:58:45 PM


• Wish I had actually gotten a copy of the strategic plan. Unfortunetly I don't see any extra copies around. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:02:28 PM


• Yay, i can get a copy of the slides. I'll post that on facebook, Twitter, and my blog of this. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:05:05 PM


• Someone trying to make a point about private sector taking transfer revenue Monday, June 14, 2010 7:11:01 PM


• A lot of hatin' for ministry health goin on. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:17:13 PM


• Going thru the goals, right talking about paid on call, right now we've got the minimum going on. Now a question of compensation. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:26:17 PM


• 70-80k? Fine by me. They are highly trained pros. I want someone who really knows what they are doing. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:27:34 PM


• Why do people hate taxes so much, even when it's an essential service like this? Arg. Render unto caeser!?! Monday, June 14, 2010 7:30:36 PM


• No capitol funds for fd at all. Hmm. Mayor behind me: there used to be. Man across: there wasn't any money anymore Monday, June 14, 2010 7:33:40 PM


• indicators of sucess... All look achived... More hmmm Monday, June 14, 2010 7:34:41 PM


• I really need an actual copy of this plan. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:36:52 PM


• Done. I'll be posting any materials later. Monday, June 14, 2010 7:43:15 PM

Then, after responding to the Daily Herald article about the meeting and being misconstrued, lambasted, and generally beat up over my support for our paid firefighters, I tweeted this:

• it feels like we are slowly dismantling our most important public services in the name of lower taxes & fiscal responsibility about 21 hours ago via web