12/16/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/16/2408 of the fire fighters that the majority of fires that occur are kept small and with a very little dollar loss to our residents. It is because of these fire fighters that we do not see many burned down and gutted homes each yeaz. Residents do need to be concerned because, if these layoffs proceed, the safety of our community will be compromised. With the layoffs, we will have periods when an ambulance, fire truck, and sometimes a fire station will be closed. This has been stated by the Fire Chief. Currently, we have five fire fighters on duty at Station 2. When an emergency call is received and a fire truck or ambulance responds to an emergency, another vehicle remains with the fire fighters or paramedics available to respond to another emergency. After these layoffs take effect, however, many and most times, no fire fighters or paramedics will remain available to respond to the next emergency, resulting in a closing of a fire truck or an ambulance and, at times, a fire station. According to run statistics gathered by the fire fighters regarding only medical emergencies, after the layoffs take affect, approximately 900 times per year an ambulance or fire truck would be left unmanned with no one available to respond to an emergency. It has been stated that the city would rely on mutual aid, but mutual aid is a courtesy and not mandatory. Mutual aid is only available when the neighboring city is not busy with emergency runs themselves. Mutual aid also takes longer to respond to an emergency as it comes from a farther away distance. Recently it has been reported about the need of victims of heart attacks to have quick diagnosis and treatment in cardiac cath labs at the hospitals, which has proven to increase the survivability of a heart attack victim. With an ambulance or a fire truck sitting idle as a result of these layoffs, response times will increase. According to Dr. Kish, medical director of many west side communities including North Olmsted, minutes count. The quicker an ambulance is able to respond to a heart attack, treat, and transport to the cardiac cath lab, the greater the chance of survival. Dr. Kish stated that too many times patients have died in the emergency room because they could not get to the cath lab quick enough. But with the technology now available and used by the paramedics, quicker diagnosis can be obtained and quicker definitive care can be given. This technology will sometimes sit idle and go to waste with these layoffs. He asks Council, for the safety of our citizens and our families, to work together to provide the security to our residents and the families they deserve. The fire fighters are willing to sit down with the city and discuss concessions to help balance the budget and prevent layoffs. But they cannot do it alone. He asks the Mayor to temporarily halt these layoffs and allow the time to work through the financial issues, and hopefully no one else will suffer as a result of the layoffs. Councilman Gareau explained that there currently is no presentation or proposal from the Mayor to this Council to avoid layoffs. Adjusting the tax credit will not avoid the layoffs. To explain the tax credit issue: The current tax rate is 2%; so, if you live and work in North Olmsted, you pay 2% tax to the city. If you live in North Olmsted and work elsewhere and that community taxes you at 2%, you get a full credit from North Olmsted and do not pay any taxes here. The proposal is to decrease the credit by half. For example, if you earn $50,000 a year and you work in another community, your taxes would go up $500. City Council has been given the option of addressing the tax credit or not. The layoffs have already moved forward. Council really doesn't have the power to be able to avoid a layoff unless it was to fully implement the tax credit and waive it completely, which has never been suggested as a viable option. 8