It’s time to take back control of our fire departments

Mayor Charles Lombardi
Posted 7/7/15

As a mayor, public safety director, former volunteer firefighter and private sector business owner, I am not at all surprised by the objection of our state’s unionized firefighters over the …

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It’s time to take back control of our fire departments

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As a mayor, public safety director, former volunteer firefighter and private sector business owner, I am not at all surprised by the objection of our state’s unionized firefighters over the prospect of a municipality’s lawful managerial prerogative to convert its fire department to a three-platoon system.

Unquestionably, these unions have had a stranglehold on municipal officials and Rhode Island taxpayers ever since the advent of public sector collective bargaining.

While the original objectives of firefighter collective bargaining are noble and laudable, in Rhode Island, they have evolved from negotiating fair and affordable salaries and benefits to usurping and seizing complete control of local fire departments, driving the costs of fire suppression, fire prevention and emergency medical services to outlandish, unaffordable levels. For sure, we all respect and appreciate the vital services firefighters provide, but they are far from unique in confronting perils in their chosen work. Lest we forget, the men and women who valiantly serve our nation in combat zones around the world don’t earn anywhere near the total compensation of firefighters, nor do they receive the COLA-laden pensions that generate real wealth and a secure lifestyle for so many Rhode Island firefighters. The recently introduced overtime legislation is merely illustrative of the temerity of firefighter unions. It was obviously a union-driven, legislative end-around the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s sage ruling last January, when it held that the decision to implement a three-platoon structure is a municipality’s management right. Thumbing its nose to our high court’s wisdom, the firefighters pushed the overtime legislation to blunt the impact of that judicial precedent and impede municipalities from considering or implementing three-platoon structures.

It’s time to take back control of our fire departments. Those who know me would readily concur that I’m no stranger to the daunting challenges of asserting management rights to efficiently operate my town’s public safety agencies. For example, in 2009 after careful study and deliberation with a nationally recognized consultant, I opted to close North Providence’s Fire Station 3, as it was simply not needed. My decision was met with immediate court action by the firefighters’ union, seeking to enjoin what I considered to be prudent managerial discretion to downsize the infrastructure of the fire department. After a trial in Superior Court, Associate Justice Jeffrey Lanphear insightfully ruled with refreshing clarity that the town may make managerial decisions “which lie at the core of entrepreneurial control” without having to first “bargain” such decisions with a union. Our labor attorney, Vincent F. Ragosta, Jr., urged the court to consider established federal labor law addressing managerial control. Rightfully, the judge upheld the closure of Station 3, stating: “In the end, it is management who must make the critical, operational decisions characteristic of any organization with a quasi-military hierarchy”. In the end, North Providence now has the only ISO Class 1 Fire Department in Rhode Island, and one of only 64 nationwide; proving you can maintain managerial control while providing the highest quality services.

Unless beleaguered local taxpayers want to see their property taxes double or perhaps triple, we must keep our eye on the ball. Managerial decisions are not negotiable. Meanwhile, it is relieving to know that one of the overtime legislation’s proponents, Sen. Frank Lombardi, has put the brakes on it, calling for a statewide commission to study the issues. If the General Assembly intends to inject itself into the governance of local fire departments, such a study should not be limited to firefighter overtime or platoon structure. Rather, let the study encompass a full universe of topics designed to make Rhode Island fire protection sustainable and affordable. Consolidation of all local departments into a statewide fire department including training with less bureaucracy and chiefdoms, or regionalization to countywide fire departments, should be assessed. The study should also recommend legislation mandating that Rhode Island firefighters meet the minimum physical fitness standards promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association in order to curtail extended injury and illness. 

So let’s get the study underway, and give a thorough scrutiny of the fire service in Rhode Island so that it may be reinvented.

 

Charles Lombardi is Mayor of the Town of North Providence.

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