Comments on: Burien/Normandy Park Fire Dept. Seeking Donations To “Light Up The Holidays” For Needy Families http://www.b-townblog.com/2009/11/25/buriennormandy-park-fire-dept-seeking-donations-to-light-up-the-holidays-for-needy-families/ Local Burien News, Events, Entertainment, Listings, Music, Videos & More Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:13:55 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ralph Nichols http://www.b-townblog.com/2009/11/25/buriennormandy-park-fire-dept-seeking-donations-to-light-up-the-holidays-for-needy-families/comment-page-1/#comment-19122 Ralph Nichols Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:26:20 +0000 http://www.b-townblog.com/?p=12885#comment-19122 I spoke today (Dec. 3) with Chief Mike Marrs of the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Dept. (Fire District 2). Chief Marrs emphasized that the comment by Dub C ff is directed at the North Highline Fire Department (Fire District 11) and its commission - NOT the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Dept. These are issues involving the North Highline Fire Department and have nothing to do with Burien/Normandy Park, Chief Marrs said - adding that the story above is about the Burien/Normandy Park Dept's holiday program for needy families. Speaking for myself, I consider the responding comments, no matter how legitimate they may be, to be ill-timed and inappropriate in reference to a promotional article to encourage the support of many generous people in the greater Highline area, during a major recession, to help make this a merrier Christmas for the less fortunate among us. An appropriate way to make these concerns public would be to contact B-Town Blog in confidence and provide the information and discuss these concerns. I will be happy to meet and talk with Dub C ff at any time, should he be interested. Ralph Nichols B-Town Blog I spoke today (Dec. 3) with Chief Mike Marrs of the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Dept. (Fire District 2). Chief Marrs emphasized that the comment by Dub C ff is directed at the North Highline Fire Department (Fire District 11) and its commission – NOT the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Dept.

These are issues involving the North Highline Fire Department and have nothing to do with Burien/Normandy Park, Chief Marrs said – adding that the story above is about the Burien/Normandy Park Dept’s holiday program for needy families.

Speaking for myself, I consider the responding comments, no matter how legitimate they may be, to be ill-timed and inappropriate in reference to a promotional article to encourage the support of many generous people in the greater Highline area, during a major recession, to help make this a merrier Christmas for the less fortunate among us.

An appropriate way to make these concerns public would be to contact B-Town Blog in confidence and provide the information and discuss these concerns. I will be happy to meet and talk with Dub C ff at any time, should he be interested.

Ralph Nichols
B-Town Blog

]]> By: Dub C ff http://www.b-townblog.com/2009/11/25/buriennormandy-park-fire-dept-seeking-donations-to-light-up-the-holidays-for-needy-families/comment-page-1/#comment-18998 Dub C ff Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:56:06 +0000 http://www.b-townblog.com/?p=12885#comment-18998 One change the citizens would like to see regarding their fire department is the time of the commissioner meetings, and I tend to agree with them. Because then, more people would see the mismanagement spewing from the commissioners and the Chief. They have obviously changed the meeting times so the public can’t hear Commissioner Alishokis actually say that he wanted to take away funding from the fire district (not an exact quote, but that was the gist of it). (This is a great concept, but really doesn’t work in these economic times) You missed the fact that the commissioners appointed a commissioner to fill the empty spot that no one knows anything about and passed up the opportunity to appoint Dave Lawson, the man that ran against Ray Austin. Dave received 40-something percent of the votes. Wouldn’t it have made sense to appoint Dave since he obviously had an interest in a position and has experience on this board of commissioners? You are also missing the fact that none of the commissioners will give us a straight answer when asked questions about our future. Oh! Did I mention that Local 1810 and 3780 (Firefighters and Battalion Chiefs) proposed a balanced budget that would actually put NHFD $140k in the black? This budget eliminates the Chief’s position and the training secretary (Which we don’t need either, let’s contract that out to Burien!) and actually puts another firefighter on the street. Both locals did a tremendous job on this budget. Did you all know that the district has been minus a firefighter because of retirement and the district hasn’t replaced him, yet, the Chief is still making close to $200k per year? Isn’t that backwards? It appears they don’t want to, either. Also, funny thing is, the training secretary happens to be married to Commissioner Alishokis. I smell a slight conflict of interest there. No wonder he doesn’t like this budget. Hey, there is a mountain of information I could give you, but I don’t have that kind of time. How do I know all of this in the first place? I am a firefighter for NHFD and I am slowly watching this top-heavy ship sink and being held under water by the Board of Commissioners. As I said in the beginning, I completely understand the angst regarding Commissioner Meeting times. I strongly urge you to make the next few if at all possible. I have never seen so many people at the last bunch of meetings. Union members (from all different fire departments), citizens, business owners, and families are just some of the groups attending. I also urge you to tell everyone you know about these meetings and encourage them to attend. The more community solidarity, the better. If you want the real story about what is happening and what could happen to the future of your fire department, ask a firefighter or Battalion Chief. Feel free to email me at anytime. dub.c.firefighter@gmail.com For now, I must remain anonymous, I’m sure you all understand. One change the citizens would like to see regarding their fire department is the time of the commissioner meetings, and I tend to agree with them. Because then, more people would see the mismanagement spewing from the commissioners and the Chief. They have obviously changed the meeting times so the public can’t hear Commissioner Alishokis actually say that he wanted to take away funding from the fire district (not an exact quote, but that was the gist of it). (This is a great concept, but really doesn’t work in these economic times) You missed the fact that the commissioners appointed a commissioner to fill the empty spot that no one knows anything about and passed up the opportunity to appoint Dave Lawson, the man that ran against Ray Austin. Dave received 40-something percent of the votes. Wouldn’t it have made sense to appoint Dave since he obviously had an interest in a position and has experience on this board of commissioners? You are also missing the fact that none of the commissioners will give us a straight answer when asked questions about our future.

Oh! Did I mention that Local 1810 and 3780 (Firefighters and Battalion Chiefs) proposed a balanced budget that would actually put NHFD $140k in the black? This budget eliminates the Chief’s position and the training secretary (Which we don’t need either, let’s contract that out to Burien!) and actually puts another firefighter on the street. Both locals did a tremendous job on this budget. Did you all know that the district has been minus a firefighter because of retirement and the district hasn’t replaced him, yet, the Chief is still making close to $200k per year? Isn’t that backwards? It appears they don’t want to, either. Also, funny thing is, the training secretary happens to be married to Commissioner Alishokis. I smell a slight conflict of interest there. No wonder he doesn’t like this budget.

Hey, there is a mountain of information I could give you, but I don’t have that kind of time. How do I know all of this in the first place? I am a firefighter for NHFD and I am slowly watching this top-heavy ship sink and being held under water by the Board of Commissioners.

As I said in the beginning, I completely understand the angst regarding Commissioner Meeting times. I strongly urge you to make the next few if at all possible. I have never seen so many people at the last bunch of meetings. Union members (from all different fire departments), citizens, business owners, and families are just some of the groups attending. I also urge you to tell everyone you know about these meetings and encourage them to attend. The more community solidarity, the better. If you want the real story about what is happening and what could happen to the future of your fire department, ask a firefighter or Battalion Chief. Feel free to email me at anytime. dub.c.firefighter@gmail.com

For now, I must remain anonymous, I’m sure you all understand.

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