Oakland Township Fire Department (OTFD) Report to Come in February

After pressure from three Board members at  the 1/23/18 Board of Trustees Meeting, Township Manager Dale Stuart committed to February for delivering “…a  report to the subcommittee  and then the entire Board for our analysis of the current status of the fire department and short-term, medium term and long term potential actions that the Board could take”.  Mr. Stuart is referring to the subcommittee formed by Board action 29 months ago on as shown in this excerpt from those minutes

 

Board Minutes 8/25/15 –

“1. Chief Strelchuk – 10-Year Strategic Operating Plan

 MOTION by Langlois, supported by Reilly to form a subcommittee regarding a 10-Year Strategic Operating Plan for the Fire Department consisting of Trustees Ferriolo, Giannangeli and Buxar.

 Motion carried unanimously.”

 

It is not clear if this report will contain all the elements of a 10-Year Strategic Operating Plan. There was no formal board action outlining what was required.

The discussions on 1/23/18 that led to this February commitment can be seen by watching about 11 minutes of meeting video starting at Chapter 9. Supervisor Michael Bailey summarized comments by Trustees Ferriolo and Buxar, when he said, “We are all getting somewhat impatient.” Mr. Stuart had made no mention of the status of this fire department report in his Township Manager Report, which preceded the Board member comments on the agenda.

Fire Chief Paul Strelchuk reports to Township Manager Dale Stuart. Mr. Stuart, hired in September 2015, is a professional manager. He runs the day-to-day operations of the Township according to policies set by our seven member elected Board of Trustees and Township Ordinance #97 which outlines his duties broadly. I am unaware of any policies that the Board has set for the Fire Department.

I was glad to see the subcommittee members and Supervisor pressing for a time commitment. The situation has urgency. In my opinion, we are exposing residents and our dual paramedic / firefighters to unacceptable risk as long as we fail to comply with commonly accepted or legally required response time and minimum manpower at the scene in our responses to medical, fire and other emergencies.

When the report is presented, you can be assured that Oakland Township Sentinel will be interviewing qualified residents with extensive business planning, Paramedic and/or Firefighter experience for their detailed opinion of its adequacy. We will also evaluate if the plans –

 

• Will likely lead to compliance with applicable NFPA and OCMCA standards
• Contains all the necessary categories of a typical 10-year Strategic Operating Plan, as suggested by retired Dupont Executive and Township resident Marty McQuade in this 2015 work with OTFD.