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The Klaxon
Take a look at what's going on within the Newport News Fire Department.
Chief's Corner: The number one topic on every agenda concerns the impact of a weak economy on all aspects of society. The City is feeling the effects of declining revenue and has made adjustments in the FY09 and proposed FY10 budgets that will enable essential services to continue to function, but with a constriction on available resources. In order for the City to maintain a balanced budget for the current fiscal year, all agencies were required to run back funding to insure budget equilibrium would be maintained. The Fire Department has turned back to the city approximately $600,000 from the FY09 current budget as its share of the budget balancing requirement. This recall of funding has enabled the City to avoid drastic reductions in City services including layoffs through June 30, 2009. The City Manager unveiled his recommended FY10 budget on March 24, 2009. The Fire Department is projected to reduce end personnel strength by a total of five positions. The vacant PIO position along with two civilian administrative and two civilian Emergency Management position are proposed for elimination. There are no projections to eliminate any occupied uniform positions in either the FY09 or project FY10 budget. The budget process will now move into the public hearing phase before it is scheduled for adoption in early May. Once the budget has been finalized, a Budget Status Update Report, similar to the March 3, 2009 document, will be sent out to all employees regarding any changes in operations that will be required due to the adopted budget document.
Following close in line with the development of the FY10 budget has been the discussion regarding the proposed changed in the City Pension and Other Post Retirement Benefits (OPED) that the City Manager has submitted to City Council for consideration. All City employees were provided with information on the proposed changes. The department will provide timely updates as information becomes available on the many decisions that City Council will have to make in order to continue to provide a fiscally sound retirement and competitive OPED benefit package.
Despite the above two major issues that seem to dominate the news, the Fire Department continues to respond to an increasing number of calls for emergency services from the public. During the first week of March, the Fire Department experienced two major fires during some of the most inclimate weather on record for the City. One Tuesday, March 2, in the early morning hours, apparatus responded to 6116 Jefferson Avenue for a working fire at the Loan Smart office building. First arriving units found a one-story former restaurant with fire showing on the D side of the structure. There was a strong and a record cold westerly wind blowing that contributed greatly to the difficulty in dealing with the fire. The fire went to a second alarm and then a defensive strategy was employed to extinguish the fire. The temperature was so cold that hose lines froze and were subsequently removed by the Logistics Bureau in their panel truck...
Klaxon - April 2009 (click to read the entire newsletter)
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