Please read first two recent Letters to the Editor upon which the following commentary is based:
Letter from Mr. Hubert Smith regarding funding for the Jacksonville Fire Department
Letter from Mr. Dick Ames regarding funding for the Jacksonville Fire department

My Fellow Residents and Neighbors:

A casual reading of Mr. Smith’s letter might lead one to conclude that Jacksonville’s Fire Department is over-staffed and that returning to a volunteer department is a reasonable and viable option. His letter improperly cites data when it suits his interests, much of which does not apply to Jacksonville, Oregon.

For example, Mr. Smith cites a “projected 11-person department by FY 2013-2014,” taking the current $541,000 budget to $1.4M by FY 2012-2013. These cited lines were plucked out of context from a memo contained in the 1/5/10 Jacksonville City Council packet. Had Mr. Smith attended the 1/5/10 Council meeting, or a single Public Safety Committee meeting for that matter, he’d understand that the memo was used to demonstrate a “what-if” projection only. The Council never entertained employing an 11 man department – the numbers were used for staffing and budgetary comparison purposes only.

The very nature of comparison studies necessitated Council analysis of an 11 man department at the same time it examined staffing and material requirements for a 6- and 8- man department. While Jacksonville’s Public Safety Committee and City Council looked at several options for proper staffing, no plans for expanding the fire department beyond the current 6 were approved by the Council.

It is worth noting that the failed May, 2010 ballot measure 15-98 called for employing an 8 man department, funded by a combined levy-surcharge with a budget totaling $784,000. After 15-98 failed, rather than draining Jacksonville’s $200,000 fire department reserve fund, the City Council made a tough compromise to staff-up from a 4.5 man department to a 6 man department, funding the increase by upping the surcharge from $20 to $31. The Council made it clear prior to the 15-98 vote, that, in order to provide 24/7 protection services, the measure needed to pass or the surcharge be increased. The $31 per month service charge provides professional, full-time firefighting and basic level EMT services to 2700-3000 citizens within the city’s 2.2 square mile border and to residents within a 260 square mile mutual aid area, equivalent to 1 paid firefighter per 450 to 500 residents. During summer months, when Jacksonville’s population swells with hundreds of visitors, demands on the fire department are even greater.

Mr. Smith’s letter refers to practices of several volunteer fire departments outside of Jackson County, arguing that what works elsewhere will work in Jacksonville. The Review contacted all but the Amity department and offers the following analysis:

  1. NFPA figures are not applicable to Jacksonville’s smaller population. What does “1.27 persons” mean? According to the NFPA Survey, it turns out it is a median rate/thousand “population protected.” The same table in the Survey also points out that, while the median is 1.27, the rate/thousand “population protected” ranges from 0-3.32. Applying this range to Jacksonville’s population of 3000 results somewhere between 0 and 10 paid firefighters. The Survey also points out that it takes a minimum number of firefighters to staff a department regardless of community size, and rates for a particular size community may vary widely because departments face great variation in their specific circumstances and policies, including length of work week, unusual structural conditions, types of services provided, geographical dispersion, and other factors. Therefore, Jacksonville’s 6 full-time equivalent (FTE) paid firefighters is “in the range” and consistent with these findings.
  2. Crescent City provides 1 volunteer per 250 population, many of whom work or are retired employees of the Pelican Bay Prison and other public safety entities with public safety backgrounds. CC also receives mutual aid from 3 nearby fire stations.
  3. Brookings uses 2 paid staff and 23 volunteers – 1 firefighter per 240 residents, and receives mutual aid from 3 nearby fire stations. Brookings FD does not handle medical calls. They contract out for paramedic medical responders. Employment markets are forcing volunteers to move away, making it tougher to maintain a volunteer force.
  4. Molalla has 3 fire stations, 1 in-city and 2 rural. The in-city station serves 7300 residents with 7 full-time (6 paid) firefighters, all of whom are Paramedics with a $940,000 budget, funded by a property tax levy, way more than Jacksonville’s surcharge will generate for a department with similar full-time staff. The Chief says up to 9 more full-time crew members are required to meet service demands because volunteers are becoming less reliable. 70 volunteers, most of whom have full-time jobs, provide backup firefighting and EMT services. Department stats show that less than 10% of volunteers are willing or able to answer emergency calls at night and less than 5% can respond during daytime hours. Today’s economic, family and workplace pressures make volunteers less reliable.
  5. Bandon has 4 fire stations, 23 volunteers and 2 full-time Maintenance Tech/Chiefs with approximately 5.75 firemen or 1 firefighter per 304 residents and does not handle medical calls. Citizens pay fees to support a private ambulance firm. The volunteer operations budget is upwards of $300,000. The average age of a Bandon volunteer is 35, the vast majority of whom live and/or work within 5 minutes of one of 4 fire stations.

Jacksonville lacks the larger population bases from which to draw volunteers. The majority of Jacksonville’s able-bodied population work too far away to make a volunteer program practical here. 65% of Jacksonville’s population is over the age of 65. Of potential volunteers under age 65, only a small fraction possess the desire, aptitude or physical ability to perform fire and medical response services. Jacksonville is the only city in Jackson County which is not part of a Fire Protection District with a dedicated property tax allocation. Jacksonville is a fairly well-to-do town with an older population; yet, in the Rogue Valley area, it has a low property-tax equivalent (combination of City property tax and Surcharge). Of 11 Rogue Valley communities, Jacksonville’s property-tax equivalent for the average assessed value home is the 4th lowest, even with the $31/ month surcharge. The larger cities of Ashland and Medford operate their own fire departments with a significantly higher city property tax rate than Jacksonville.

Conclusion: The arguments sited in Mr. Smith’s letter as comparative reasons to recall the Jacksonville City Councilors and Mayor have little or no logical application to Jacksonville’s budget or available volunteer pool.

The Jacksonville Review notes that Mr. Smith is currently circulating a petition to recall Councilor Donna Schatz, Councilor Paul Becker and Mayor Bruce Garrett because Mr. Smith does not agree with their action to raise the Surcharge from $20 to $31/month to support the increased staffing from 4.5 fire fighters to 6. The Jacksonville Review strongly opposes this recall attempt and encourages Mr. Smith to abandon the recall effort. Like all citizens, Mr. Smith is encouraged and invited to attend the Public Safety Committee meetings to offer his analysis, expertise and recommendations for the Committee’s and the City Council’s consideration. That is how a democracy works – residents and elected officials working together to find solutions to community needs and services.

Respectfully,
Whitman Parker
Publisher and Jacksonville Resident