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Friday, July 08, 2016

UPDATED: Ocean City Council, Firefighters Union Spar Over Petition

OCEAN CITY — The Mayor and Council on Tuesday fired off a lengthy statement of opposition to the ongoing petition drive by the Ocean City’s firefighter/paramedics union seeking to put a referendum for binding interest arbitration before voters this fall.

In late February, the clock expired on negotiations between the town and the Career Firefighter Paramedics Association of Ocean City, or IAFF Local 4269, on a new three-year contract, resulting in the town’s “last, best and final” offer essentially becoming the new contract by default. The negotiations broke down in late February over the town’s unwavering position on eliminating the paramedics’ long-standing 24-hour shifts.

Currently, most paramedics work in 24-hour shifts, followed by 72 hours off. However, citing a variety of reasons, including potential missed calls or delayed responses, the town remains adamant about eliminating the 24-72 shift rotation in favor of an alternative 12-hour shift or some hybrid of the two. Eliminating the 24-hour shift became a point of contention in the negotiations for a new contract for the IAFF 4269, forcing the union to walk away from the bargaining table.

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Editor's note: the update can be found at the end of the article 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I won't repeat the earlier comments. Whittington is singlehandedly taken the Division backwards 25 years. He tells lies, goes to war with the M&CC etc. Ryan, go back to Parsonsburg you idiot!, some of us actually appreciate what we have.

Anonymous said...

Not sure where the update was? It all looked the same to me?

Doesn't the Dispatch allow comments anymore?

Anonymous said...

Ryan was just saying he had Matt James and Wayne Hartman in his pocket, sure doesn't look like it

Anonymous said...

Breaking News!!

HaHaHa!! A Salisbury Fire Department ambulance involved in accident at Rt. 13 and Naylor Mill Road. That is a freaking brand new ambulance just put in service and it is already involved in an accident. I'm sure it was the ambulances fault but they won't get charged. They never do.

Paramedic B-2 says they found the car that hit them behind Panera Bread complaining of neck pain.


Originally they dispatched Station 16, 2 and 5 on a reported house fire and Truck 1 responded without being dispatched. Then they requested Engine Tanker 1-1 and no response because the paid duty crew responded in Truck 1. They were supposed to respond with the engine/tanker but they decided to respond in the trunk without being dispatched. Now they have to dispatch a tanker from Delmar to the scene. Truck 1's crew should be disciplined for that stupid move.

Fire crew found a dog and taking to the front yard.

Command asked for an EMS unit to be dispatched to the scene and Wicomico 911 said no more available units were in the city. Hey Dummy that is not what he asked. Dispatch the next due EMS unit. Wicomico County 911 and the Salisbury Fire Department are an embarrassment to the fire service.

Now Darrin Scott, paid assistant chief, is telling command they are going to transport a dog to the Pets ER via a $150,000 ambulance while tax payers have to wait for and ambulance come from out of town.

Darrin Scott says now they need animal control because the dog is coming around. Now 911 asks command if Pets ER will still be needed and he says go to Darrin Scott for that answer. Darrin Scott is saying that would be a good idea because the dog is coming around and the ambulance crew is saying they still need the Pets ER. Now 911 is getting frustrated.

Now 120 is asking Central to dispatch Station 1 for a stand by crew at Station 1 since all crews are tied up already. Um... I think they would have already been at the station by now Mr. Elliott since their pagers went off a couple of times already.

Usually one of the paid fire chiefs gets on the radio and says they are "City Wide" meaning Central is supposed to run all calls through them for his decision on who to send so it's not all 120's stupidity. At least he is thinking about the betterment of the citizens.

Now Central is asking for Paramedic B-2's exact location because the city police need to know? Shouldn't that have been established in the beginning when they were first involved in that accident.

The Salisbury Fire Department and those clowns at Wicomico Central 911 are an embarrassment to the fire service.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Ryan was just saying he had Matt James and Wayne Hartman in his pocket, sure doesn't look like it

July 8, 2016 at 2:17 PM

So are you trying to say that Matt James is... you know.... a switch hitter like Ryan is?

Anonymous said...

4:03PM
After reading your comment, I can only feel sorry for you.
It is a shame that you have nothing better to do, than to trash others. I am sure that you could have done a better job....right?

Anonymous said...

2:09....With the web page update to the Dispatch, I guess Steve decided the comments section was outdated and focus on facebook. Sad, I liked the comment section...however NOTHING compares/beats our wonderful SBYNEWS site.

Keep on keepin on Joe and happy TGIF to everyone!

Anonymous said...

We have a winner!!!!!