Interesting how the "paid folks" like to attack someone anonymously. Nobody said you all had to stay.
Remember your leader "Maykrantz" ratified an agreement on your behalf. Supposedly had your best interests at heart. You agreed to live by that contract. We all told you to be careful what you asked for; you may just get it. Now that you have it, you no longer want it? Sorry guys, real life jobs don’t work that way. You don’t have a say in the matter as to “who” you report to. Remember, you’re an employee. Just show up and do your job that you promised to do.
However that too is also a double edged sword. Nobody is keeping you here either. Leave when you wish. Trust me, we’ll find replacements for you. Everyone is replaceable.
Perhaps you guys should reread your own website:
Town of Ocean City
Department of Emergency Services
Fire/EMS Division
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Ocean City Fire/EMS Division is to provide emergency life safety service, which will protect and enhance the quality of life for the residents and visitors of our community.
Town of Ocean City
Department of Emergency Services
Fire/EMS Division
Core Values
We Value:
TRUST – Trust is the cornerstone of all relationships and we will continuously strive to build and earn trust both within the department and community we serve.
COMMITMENT – Committed to the community we serve. In all things, we do what we say we are going to do.
INTEGRITY – Adherence to high principles and professional standards. We do what we say we will do, the right thing, not the easy thing.
PARTNERSHIP – Teamwork is of the utmost importance in all that we do, in both our interaction with the community and with each other.
COURAGE – Having the courage to do what is right, even in the face of personal or professional adversity.
ACCOUNTABILITY – Being responsible for our actions.
QUALITY – Commitment to provide quality services through positive change and continuous improvement.
PROFESSIONALISM - Following the highest standards of ethical conduct.
TEAMWORK – Achieving more by working together than we can achieve as individuals.
COMMUNICATION – Communicating expectations to employees and providing honest and timely feedback on performance.
EMPOWERMENT – Developing and retaining individuals who continually excel in their performance; we will empower people to successfully accomplish goals.
COMMUNITY – To be caring and compassionate to those who we serve and to strive to make the place we live and work better for all.
RESPECT – To respect each other and those we serve.
STAFF - The members of our organization are valued as our most vital asset.
………I believe that you have tossed all of this out the window. It truly is a sad day in Ocean City, Maryland.
--- Concerned Ocean City Taxpayer & Resident
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
10 comments:
As a citizen, not an employee (or a volunteer), I feel that it's the right of the employee, when their life is on the line, to have a say on matters. Especially when their lives are literally at stake.
That said, I can't imagine the paid employees refusing to work. No where I have read has there been any alluding to strike, or quitting. They do the job because they love what they do, not because of who they report to.
From the viewpoint of a citizen, work together. And stop writing these personal attacks against people (both sides).
I'd be pissed too if someone who wasn't qualified became my boss.
I wouldn't quit, but I'd certainly not be happy.
I'd take bets that no one can find a chief from any city in the U.S. that would agree with this appointment.
Maybe it's just an ass-backwards way of trend-setting.
Sounds like that was Jay Jesters Post... ROTFLMAO
Maybe the paid guys are actually afraid of not being able to watch soap's all day and go to sleep at 7.
As union members, the career staff are forbidden to strike. The career staff cannot "strong arm" the city government when things happen that they do not like, they have to report to work and do their jobs day in and day out. Folks remember, this is their job, their way of putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads. How would you like it is some one who does the job for a hobby that is no where qualified tries to affect what provides for the employees family!
It is amusing how you comdemn an entire group for allegedly attacking anonymosly, yet I don't see your name anywhere! While we are dicussing your blog, maybe you should read the OCVFC mission statement-- It says OCEAN CITY, not WEST Ocean City!
"Maybe the paid guys are actually afraid of not being able to watch soap's all day and go to sleep at 7."
I forgot, they don't run any of those 5000 EMS calls, or the 1000 or so fire calls.
And I guess the volunteers were what, afraid of not being able to sleep through the majority of their fire related calls? Give me a break.
Please don't let the comments of a few ruin the working relationship between the two organizations.
Found on the Watchdesk. This guy nails "What's in it for me" Jester to the WALL:
The “brotherhood” issue is not valid.
I care about everyone involved in fire and rescue. As a retired career firefighter/paramedic from a right-to-work state, I consider my “brothers and sisters” the ones who make a living as a public safety employee. There is a profoundly different perspective of “the job” when you do it 56 hours a week so you can pay your mortgage and feed your kids.
The OCVFC president/SFD employee is a dedicated practitioner of the firemantic trade. I met him at SFD training, where it seemed like he was doing the work of a company officer for the pay of a firefighter. He is always working to make a difference and has achieved an impressive training portfolio, including Fire Officer III.
One of the chronic problems of firefighters is that we will make every effort to make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear and rarely require that we be given the proper resources to accomplish the task. It is a commendable trait, but it is one reason it seems like cops get more when it comes to municipal resources.
Career firefighters were the only municipal employees on “continuous duty” 100 years ago. Firefighters lived in the fire station because they were on duty 20 hours a day, with just one or two days off a month. This staffing practice was a carry-over from the volunteer companies that were absorbed or abolished by the cities in the 1860s. It required the creation of a national labor organization in 1918 to provide the political power to compel New York, Philadelphia and other cities to establish a two-platoon, 84 hour work week system in the early 1920s. Establishing the two-platoon system was a founding goal of the IAFF.
Establishing or protecting workplace issues of pay, health and safety requires advocacy. For example, the Virginia Professional Firefighters need to maintain a presence when the state lawmakers are in session to preserve the hard fought cancer, stroke and cardiovascular presumptive provisions of the Workman’s Compensation Act.
Every year there is an effort to eliminate, dilute or dismantle this provision. It requires vigilance and active participation in the democratic process of state government. This participation is called “politics” and, in my state, that means sweat equity and campaign donations to assist the elected officials that support the goals of unionized firefighters. Without that effort, the presumptive provisions of the Workman’s Compensation Act will be repealed. That is why I still pay dues to my local and donate to IAFF FirePac.
A second founding goal of the IAFF is to ensure that appointments and promotions were based on individual merit. It appears that the Ocean City VFC chief is in the middle of Fire Officer I training. Both the NFPA and the IAFC identify those who complete Fire Officer 1 training as ready to function as first-line fire company commanders, not as the chief of a fire and rescue agency.
It would be inappropriate to allow a person to function as the combined fire/ems chief who is less qualified than the career first line supervisors.
I am disappointed that, in his role as the President of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company, he can support this scheme to allow a volunteer fire chief with just Firefighter II certification to supervise the members of Local 4269, the Career Firefighter Paramedics Association of Ocean City.
In considering issues at Salisbury Fire: the volunteers at Station 2, the mayor and Local 4246, it seems strange that he would not be as aware of the impact of his actions as a VFC president.
Maybe he thinks that the career Ocean City staff are less important that the career Salisbury staff. The F.O.O.L.S. might consider a person making such an assumption a mutt.
Mike
Ancient seasonal EMT/firefighter – Town of Ocean City Maryland
http://home.gwu.edu/~mikeward/
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