GAW6

Unfortunately, this goes on with a lot of charities and non-profits. Much of the donation money goes to the hefty salaries and lavish lifestyles of the CEOs.

Presently not billing; in the process of setting up a billing system. What bid are you referring to?

I am sure whomever you are, you have started this post to "stir the pot". Yes, Hawthorne FD has been doing numerous mutual aid calls for Pleasantville VAC. Again, since I do not know who you are or where you are from (profile is very vague), perhaps you do not know a lot of history. I can fill you in: 1. Pleasantville is currently taking steps to cover costs to pay for per diem EMTs. The annual budget for PVAC is $169k - to cover costs to run (3) ambulances and a rehab unit - not to mention equipment, insurance, etc. Not to mention, PVAC covers (2) Fire Districts - Thornwood and Pleasantville - who have a combined annual budget of almost $2 million. 2. For many years, Hawthorne had problems covering calls to which PVAC covered many and a couple of PVAC members (one being myself) were made "mutual aid members" of Hawthorne FD ambulance and would cover their calls. 3. When Hawthorne FD had a handful of interior firefighters, Thornwood FD was on automatic mutual aid. No one complained about the taxpayers covering this. 4. If Hawthorne is worried about paying for their EMTs out of taxpayer money, are they doing anything to recruit new members? I will be more than glad to answer any further questions you may have.

I really don't think this statement was necessary.

Glad to see there will be a Westchester County Convention again. Unfortunately, be prepared for all the negative comments about parades and social events.......

They are not franchises; they are run by a corporation out of Massachusetts. There are Regional Managers, Area Managers, and the General Manager is the one in charge of each store.

They are not franchises; they are run by a corporation. There is are Regional Managers, Area Managers, and General Managers.

Since Armonk is a Fire District, I would think that they would have sent out an RFP.

I was the bookkeeper at the Thornwood Friendly's for 12 years. For me, it was a great job while I was raising kids because I was able to make my own hours for the most part. It closed a few years after I stopped working there. Like the New Rochelle store, it also was one of the highest grossing locations. Yes, Friendly's was always famous for their slow service. Unfortunately, as they say in life, you get what you pay for. The pay sucked there. The only ones making decent money were the waitresses. Corporate put a lot of pressure on the Managers to "make money", therefore they were always cutting staff and were unable to pay good people what they deserved. It really is a shame to see them all close. I can tell you first-hand, the food was always fresh, and their ice cream was always one of the best. Sad....

Your profile states you are from Pleasantville. Is this the area you are speaking about? If so, where did you get your information / documentation from?

I do not appreciate your sarcasm. Nor do I think your comment "opportunities for all the posers out there to don there (should be their - learn some grammar) costume and play pretend firemen" was appropriate. As I said, it's comments like these that turn people away from this site.

This is the stuff that turns people away from this site. Many people in the Community enjoy coming out and watch the parades. Sorry you are such "sour grapes" on the subject. That's right, because EVERYONE gets drunk, and it's a waste of money, and blah, blah, blah......

My husband is a member of the Westchester County Parade Judges and there is no County Parade this year.

On a working fire, there should always be at a minimum (2) ambulances; (1) to treat and (1) to transport.

I don't think this statement was necessary.......

I am willing to bet this person was on their way to the NYS Association of Fire Districts Fall Workshop at Honor's Haven in Ellenville, which started Thursday morning. Woodbury Commons is right off of the Thruway, on the way to Honor's Haven. As a Commissioner, if in fact he/she was on their way to the Conference, there is nothing wrong with using the District vehicle. Most Commissioner's will put in a requisition for their mileage to attend, so what is the difference if a District vehicle is being used? In case anyone is wondering, the Workshop is very informative for Commissioners/Chiefs. Travel Policy is something that is always discussed and every District should have one in place.

As a "civilian" fire commissioner, I feel I must respond to this post. Although I have 25 years experience in emergency services, I am not a firefighter and know nothing regarding trucks or firefighting. I rely heavily on my fellow commissioners who are firefighters/Ex-Chiefs/Ex-FDNY. You are probably asking, "what purpose do you serve then"? In my position on the Board, I handle the insurance and I am the LOSAP Administrator. As a former Treasurer of the District, I also help out with the fiscal responsibilities. As said previously, we not only have to answer to the tax payers, we have to answer to NYS. We have an outside professional audit done every year which is forwarded to the State Comptroller's office. To have a Board the consists of all "civilians" would be ridiculous. I know of a neighboring District that has a majority of "civilians" on their Board and they have been spending more money on "consultants" than anything else. The "consultants" should be your experienced members, not some "white collar" person who knows nothing about the fire service. I am very glad that I have four very experienced members of our department sitting beside me.

I would have to guess that the "Crown Vic" probably belonged to the Elmsford PD Detective whose house was ON FIRE! Don't think it was funny at all...

My husband is a "Tier 2" and it changed a few years back to "55 with at least 30 years". Fire Commissioners control the LOSAP program. The State DOES have some say in it - the now required yearly audit MUST contain an audit of the LOSAP program also. I happen to be the LOSAP administrator for our Fire District - and if any District is "under-funded", then shame on them. Everyone should be receiving annual reports from the company who handles their program.

Although I agree that the elections are not "well publicized", I am not getting your REAL point here. If you are aware that there are elections, and you are so concerned with who is running, then why don't you 1). Run for the position; or 2). Put someone up that you think would do a better job. You can easily go to the NYS Association of Fire Districts website and you can get all the information and timeline as to when petitions have to be filed, etc. What I am also not getting from reading many of the previous posts, is why would you not want an experienced person, i.e. Ex-Chief as a Commissioner? Would you rather see five John Q. Publics in there that have no knowledge of the fire service and will just nickel and dime everything? I know that I am very grateful to have Ex-Chiefs on our Board since I have never been affiliated with the fire service. Yes, I have been involved in EMS for 23 years, so I have knowledge of "emergency services", but I know nothing about fighting a fire. Do I bring anything to the table? Yes, I feel I do, having a bookkeeping/construction/administrative background, I am not "just a body" sitting on the Board. As far as adding the election of Fire Commissioners to the General Election in November, would be fine with me, but will probably never happen. I am sure you would be pretty hard pressed to find Mr. John Q. Public, "businessman", who gets on the train at 7 a.m., returns home at 7 p.m., who wants to be a Fire Commissioner. If they volunteer for anything, it is usually to coach soccer or Little League for their little "Johnny". I feel this post is going nowhere. I think it just comes down to someone who, for whatever reason, has it out for Commissioners due to a past incident. Sorry.

I happen to be a Fire Commissioner, who as you can see from my profile, is a female, and NEVER been a MEMBER of the Fire Department, much less a Chief. Two of my fellow Commissioners were Chiefs, the other two were never even Officers, one of which was an FDNY Lieutenant. Needless to say, as you can see, it is a fairly good balance. By the way, I am up for re-election on Tuesday, and I would WELCOME a challenge!!!

Emergency services in Mount Pleasant are screwed with John Nonna losing the election for County Legislator. John was a huge support to the FDs and VACs, not to mention an all around great guy!

Really can't understand why you couldn't just leave it at your first paragraph. Who, may I ask, are you referring to as the "powers that be"?????

I have said right from the beginning that the Town of Mount Pleasant should run their own ALS system - but no one would listen and a certain person told me "I was crazy to think it would ever work". Hopefully our new town Supervisor is willing to sit down and listen to the options.

And I guess the criminals in the jail and the "model citizens" of Operations Drive are taxpayers too????