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Inexperienced Administrators
Do any of you have commissioners or trustees who get appointed or elected and have no realistic idea of what they are doing which ends up becomming a disruption to department operations and morale? if so how do your department manage the situation?
i know of a depatment that had a commissioner(s) who wanted to cut costs. he had us recording our milage on every call and when we went out for inspections and the like. we tried to tell him that milage recording was not a good way to measure because in the case of pumpers, the speedometer turns when the truck is in pump so the numbers are going to be somewhat flawed...he didn't buy it and complained every month about excessive mileage. his second "good idea" was "we should be building our own fire trucks" we responded, sure as soon as the cops start building their own cars. one of the final straws was him stopping us from stopping at the store to pickup food if we happened to be out NOT making a specific trip. He did think it was OK for the commissioners to bring their personal vehicles to the firehouse for the on duty crew to wash and detail. this situation no longer exists but i do know that some departments have similar problems like this. how do (did) you cope?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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See it all the time with politicians. They think the FD is just like a business etc, they think their idea is the best and most cost effective, despite the fact they have no clue. Yeah, it sucks to put up with such things and you hope that the chief is savvy enough and knowledgable in their job enough, and has the fortitude enough, to stand up and state what is being mentioned is wrong. I have seen where it was offered to the politicians to do a shift to get a better understanding. On the union side of things, many have put on a Fire Ops 101 class to inform such folks why we do what we do, the reasons for staffing, why some ideas don't work etc. It comes down to education, but coping can take awhile, if the person refuses to accept the issues, then work on the other commissioners or politicians. A good administrator, etc are those who listen to their managers (IE chief) for the best input rather than dictating policy in a subject they have no clue about.
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Permalink Reply by Rusty Mancini on
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We have one trustee that doesn't always understand the reasoning on certain issues. The good thing is, that he always has an open mind that makes it easier for us! Educating and communicating is one key factor that might help in justifying your cause or needs.
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