01/06/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 1/6/2009 ~;,,, Fire Dept. was still operating at the pre-layoff staffing numbers. He could only wonder, if this accident had happened after the layoffs, would the department have been available or would he have had to wait for a from a neighboring community. No one can be certain if he would have had the same level of service. He suffered a severely broken left hip and a displaced femur. He thanked the three fire fighters who saved him: Tim Gut, Jerry Cifranic, and Adam Hudak. Mutual aid between communities is a good thing; however, when you are the person desperately waiting for help, every minute seems like an eternity. He doesn't want any resident of the city to ever have to wait even one extra minute for help because our limited number of fire fighters are unavailable. Please try to find a way to bring these five laid off firemen back and please don't consider more layoffs. He was advised by his surgeon not to go out in slippery conditions, but he came out tonight because this issue is too important. The health and well being of every resident in North Olmsted and the firemen of this city is at stake. Find a way to maintain adequate levels of firemen. Negotiate honestly and fairly. Set aside previous differences and look to the greater good of the community. On behalf of Council, President Kennedy wished Patrick a speed recovery. Mayor O'Grady thanked him for his comments and agreed that, in the professional performance of their duty, he doesn't think there's any better than our police and fire fighters. He is constantly impressed with how they conduct themselves. 5) Anthony Havel, 1738 Mayfair Blvd., Mayfield Hts., wanted to say how the layoffs affected the lives of those employees and those who may potentially be laid off. He wants to get this off his chest in case he is in the next group to be laid off. Currently, five fire fighter/paramedics have been laid off and potentially 10. Six of those ten have wives and children. Five of the 10 are over the age of 31 and ineligible to apply to most fire departments including North Olmsted. He will be 31 this year making him ineligible also. He has a wife and baby, and his wife is teaching pre-K in a Catholic school with no benefits. She is required to work toward her Masters Degree to keep her teaching certification. Fire/medic and elementary education jobs are hard to find in northeast Ohio. Few in these fields can afford to retire. The competitive nature makes it even more difficult to find work. After high school, he earned a degree in fire science, went to EMT school, then fire academy and finally paramedic school, which he paid for himself. Now that schooling will be useless due to his age and these layoffs. He has attended many college classes, received numerous certifications specific to this field of work: fire safety inspector, work rescue technician, tower rescue, ice rescue, swift water, structural collapse to name a few. He has also received a few awards for his performance. As a career fire fighter/paramedic, after numerous applications, Civil Service exams, competing with hundreds of applicants for each job for the chance at a position, he thought he had found the job he had been working toward for the previous eight years. On his fourth day on the job, the Assistant Chief asked if he would like to know his salary and benefits. He never thought to ask-it didn't matter because he had a career job. After coming to North Olmsted, he turned down jobs in other communities because he felt he would not want to leave North Olmsted as it was a community with a history of good city services. Those other communities have had budget shortages but have made cuts elsewhere and maintained their safety forces. He made what he thought was the best choice and remained loyal to the job that gave him a chance first. He will never get those 16 ~,~~~