Record Turnout At Hartsdale Commisioner Election Because Of 60 Control

[Viper 139]

In a blow to his ego if nothing else, Town Supervisor Paul Feiner failed today to elect his own candidate as fire commissioner in Hartsdale.

Incumbent commissioner Tony Fraska was re-elected to a five-year term by a margin of 309 to 279 over Mr. Feiner’s choice, Guy Nova, a local lawyer.

The turnout was a record for a fire district election in Hartsdale.

Both Hartsdale and Fairview employ local dispatchers who receive emergency calls; Greenville uses a Westchester-county side dispatch system known as “60 control.”

Critics of Hartsdale and Fairview said the districts would save money by doing what Greenville does, but fire officials there, who already work closely together, maintain that they’ve had problems with county dispatch not knowing the local roads which they feel could delay sending emergency units to the scene of a fire.

In addition, they said that switching wouldn’t save any money anyway because the individual responsible for dispatch would simply be assigned to a fire apparatus.

http://edgemontecc.com/2015/12/08/feiner-fire-commissioner-candidate-defeated-in-hartsdale/

[SilentShadow 32]

And the other side of the story posted by the Greenburgh Uniformed Firefighters Association

HARTSDALE RESIDENTS,

We are reaching out to all Hartsdale residents regarding the Hartsdale Fire District elections this Tuesday December 8th from 3pm to 9pm at Station 2, 300 West Hartsdale Ave. We are asking for your support for current Commissioner Anthony Frasca. We really need everyone that can to come out and vote.

Another Hartsdale resident, Mr. Guy Novo, is also running for the position and for the following reasons we are very concerned about his effect on the Public served by the Hartsdale Fire District.

1) The Union invited and met with Mr. Novo in November. At that meeting the executive Board asked Mr. Novo about his background and we were impressed. Then we asked Mr. Novo if he had an agenda, he said no. We asked Mr. Novo about his experience with the Fire service, he said he had none. We asked him about his knowledge of the Hartsdale Fire Department, he said he had none. We asked him about his knowledge of labor law, civil service law and State and Federal laws governing Fire districts and the Fire service in general, he said he had none. When asked about contract negotiations he said he did have knowledge and experience with contracts, we said that was a plus. We asked him about NFPA, 1710, 1720, the differences between Volunteer Firefighters and Career, he had no knowledge of any of these things. Then we asked if he had any questions for us, about operations of the District, about the fire service in general, he said he had none. At the conclusion of the meeting the Union told him that we would not back him because of his lack of knowledge about the fire service but he should learn about everything we mentioned first before he ran for a position that effects the lives and safety of the public and its members and once he did that he may be a good candidate for the position of Fire Commissioner.

The next we hear from Mr. Novo is in a Scarsdale Inquirer article and his intention to eliminate the Dispatch position in Hartsdale to save the taxpayers money. Mr. Novo admitted to us that he had no knowledge of the fire District or its operations and he had no agenda, yet he has an agenda to remove the Dispatcher position which has a DIRECT NEGATIVE effect on the response times of the Fire District and increasing the safety risk to the Taxpayers and the Members.

The members of our community have directly benefited from the quick and professional response times of the Hartsdale Firefighters. (Structure fires Frost, Hood Court, Chaucer, Highpoint, 177 E Hartsdale Ave, Marian Ave etc..)

2) Mr. Novo in his flyer says he will save the taxpayers money by eliminating the Dispatch position BUT even the committee that conducted the Consolidation study sanctioned by Paul Feiner said that IF the Dispatch were to be eliminated, the Firefighter in that position would be moved to the apparatus. The funding would just move to the added position. So there would be no cost savings, it would actually cost more.

3) The Emergency services rely on trust. There may be disagreement about policy and tactics etc…and these can be debated or negotiated but we cannot have a Commissioner that will sit across from us and intentionally mislead those whose lives depend on him/her. The families of Emergency service workers MORE IMPORTANTLY depend on that trust.So Please come out and vote on Tuesday for the incumbent Anthony Frasca. The high quality of Fire service will be negatively affected with the election of Mr. Novo.

Thank you so much.

[CaptainCharisma 34]

Why fix what isn't broken? Hartsdale guys know what's best for Hartsdale. This isn't a simple decision or something that can be simply and quickly implemented, it takes a lot of work and a lot of trial and error that can cost lives and property. And obviously, they make good stops in part because of great response times. Just look at the photos posted here of their most recent fires and the quick stops that were made.

[Remember585 815]

60 Control is incompetent. They could never handle Fairview or Hartsdale....

#givemeaf***ingbreak

[STAT213 332]

I would rather have the "extra" guy on the floor. All day, everyday. Having a trained firefighter stuck in a room answering a phone and yapping on a radio instead of pulling hose is a waste of resources. Especially considering 60 control is there AND available to do the job FOR you.

Can you really look me in the face and say "I'd rather have firefighter Joe in the radio room and not helping us make the stretch down a smoke filled hallway because he really is more helpful to me on the radio than on the line." If so, you are whacked.

[CaptainCharisma 34]

Nobody is saying that 60 Control can't handle it. Hartsdale can just do it better. Why take a very big chance with peoples lives when you have something proven that works excellent?

[GreatPlains588 131]

Not knowing about the situation, If you wanted to dispatch and not go to 60.....

Wouldn't it be cheaper to hire civilian dispatchers and train them?

Seems to be a waste of a FF position when the departments are constantly runnning short on manpower.

Maybe its time for Greenville, Fairview and Harstdale merge dispatch since you respond together all the time.

My 2 cents

[CaptainCharisma 34]

I think a lot of the people are missing the point here. Read the Unions response above. The people who would be directly affected by this former candidate for Commissioner do not trust his motives, and don't feel he's knowledgeable enough to be a Fire Commissioner. How can he say he knows nothing about the fire service, then an article pops up that he wants to eliminate the dispatch position? How can he do that when he knows nothing about how that works, and nothing about past history with 60 not knowing the district? That lack of education by that candidate puts the public in danger. The union is made of guys who work there. They know best. They need to be listened to with things like this. And the other major concern is what other life threatening decisions would he make that he would keep secret?

[engine968 8]

As an outside observer from another county, it sounds to me like the real issue here is the union is worried that the position will be lost if they go with county-dispatch.

Has anyone considered a compromise solution? The Town of Greenburgh could run its own dispatch center (with civilian dispatchers) that would dispatch all companies in the Township, eliminating the positions at each fire company. This would provide the cost efficiency of some degree of centralized dispatching but keep a reasonable amount of local control.

Similar dispatching centers exist on Long Island that include Babylon Town Central Fire Alarm in Suffolk County, and in Nassau County the North Bellmore FD dispatches for themselves and several other neighboring depts. Before I retired, I dispatched for 30 years at every level, my own dept, the North Bellmore FD, and Nassau County Firecom. And the best operation, the "happy medium" was the North Bellmore FD which is similar to what a Town dispatch center in Greenburgh might look like.

[Avon Rob 40]

Engine 969, GREAT IDEA!! Greenburgh PD could do the job. Only problem is GPD building is antiquated and space would be a major issue.

[engine968 8]

Thanks Avon Rob, but you don't want a police dept. dispatching fire depts. It's two different worlds and police depts. just don't understand fire dispatching. The fire dispatch office should be run by the fire service and be staffed by fire dispatchers. Ideally it should also be physically separate from police dispatch, though it could be located in the same building.

[AFS1970 504]

Thanks Avon Rob, but you don't want a police dept. dispatching fire depts. It's two different worlds and police depts. just don't understand fire dispatching. The fire dispatch office should be run by the fire service and be staffed by fire dispatchers. Ideally it should also be physically separate from police dispatch, though it could be located in the same building.

I could not disagree more. After 26 years dispatching both Police & Fire I can tell you that it is absolutely possible to do both with a reasonable level of competence. They key I have found is not to have a background in either service, so you come in as a blank slate. I was a dispatcher for several years and already a dispatch Instructor when I first thought of becoming a Volunteer Firefighter, recruited by a fellow (now former) dispatcher. Now I am still a dispatcher, an ex-firefighter and he is an ex-dispatcher and now a career firefighter.

I did seek out some additional fire dispatch training, but that instructor despite being a career lieutenant had only rarely worked in dispatch. He was also too young to know who Johnny & Roy were (and that did come up in class).

[Using_All_Hands 140]

This whole thread makes me want to chop up Excedrin and snort it...

The issue is a commissioner candidate who is looking at it from a financial standpoint and not a service one.

The issue isn't 60 Control. The issue is cost savings which ultimately would mean a drop in manpower.

Dispatch might be the only place a brother on light duty can go until they're fit for full duty.

Could 60 handle Hartsdale, yup - 100%. One day that time will come but if it does, it should be at the decision of the HFD Chief and Officers and not the commissioners. The men doing the job are the ones that should decide on what's best for that job.

[somebuffyguy 190]

In these departments that self-dispatch yet regularly need to request mutual aid for basic incidents, whats the protocol? I'd imagine the dispatcher still needs to contract 60 to request mutual aid. Is this assumption incorrect? If its not, what's the point of self-dispatch if you need to contact 60 for anything of substance?

Edited December 14, 2015 by somebuffyguy

[Oaks 18]

When did saving taxpayers money by eliminating redundancies become a bad thing?