Jersey Shore Business Journal

April 30, 2008

Are you willing to roll the dice and gamble on public safety?

It’s a big mess alright, a near-lethal bare-bones budget, city employees in the cross-fire, a community divided. Will a new council be the salve to heal the wounds, or does Fairness in Taxes truly have a stranglehold on our economy?
And we thought we had it bad last year. Is it so awful that our best days are behind us?
Facing the loss of three firefighters and one police officer, an outraged citizenry stormed city council chambers in the midst of last year’s budgetary crisis. The message was delivered loud and clear- a decrease of one penny was not enough to compromise public safety.
It was a wonderful moment in time, ordinary folks standing up for their local heroes – the brave men and women who run into, not away from burning buildings and frightening situations; our friends and neighbors, the proud and mighty firefighters and police.
Could anyone forget Paul Anselm’s powerful voice delivering an awesome fire safety lecture, the magnificence of Jack Neall holding up a penny, asking city council if it was worth the loss of a life, or Karen Heist’s emotional story about the loss of her brother in a raging house fire in a neighboring community, driving home the importance of a quick response time? In solidarity, fire survivors spilled their hearts and souls.
I wrote a column or two about how our community so memorably came together, about the importance of public safety and why we should never, ever give in to the temptation to save a few bucks on the backs of those who took an oath to protect and defend us.
Unbeknownst to me, the columns – and several accompanying blog entries - were submitted to the New Jersey State Fireman’s Mutual Benevolent Association, NJMBA for a 2008 Valor Award, ultimately winning the George Steele Award for Media. The award shines a spotlight on the Catamaran Media banner, the Gazette chain of newspapers, and more importantly, on the community.
I accepted the award on Saturday night in a banquet room filled with over 1,000 firefighters and a proud supporting cast from across the state. The message to these professionals was obvious: the residents - at least some of them - think very highly of Ocean City’s finest.
Those who stood with me last year should pat themselves on the back, it was a proud moment. Another group, and the politicians who pandered to them, ought to think about what it really means to stand up for, and not in the way of, public safety.
By approving a budget with an additional $409,000 cut, mostly in public safety, city council took the first step toward dismantling a stellar public safety machine. Its importance, and the potentially catastrophic effects of compromising it, cannot be underestimated.
The shameful and devastating loss of two firefighters and four police officers is nothing next to what’s coming. Unable to balance their own budget, state officials have decreed that municipalities operate under a four percent cap making it impossible to continue current levels of public safety. City officials have no choice but to go along, yet do you see anyone other than Councilman Greg Johnson and Mayor Sal Perillo standing up for public safety?
Despite a commissioned $50,000 professional study recommending anything but, city officials are looking to “consolidate” the 29th Street and 46th Street fire houses into one building at 35th Street. Ultimately, that could lead to the loss of a firefighting company or platoon, making this year’s loss seem inconsequential.
This bone-headed move would lead to longer than recommended response times to the entire Riviera and anywhere south of 52nd Street, including all of Ocean City Homes. It would mean higher fire insurance premiums for an untold number of residents as Ocean City would drop from a coveted, efficient Class Three community to a more costly Class Five.
Goodness knows what’s in store for the men and women in blue – they may be offering newly minted Chief Chad Callahan a few months to get his feet wet, but storm clouds are gathering at headquarters.
Meanwhile, the awards pile up. Frohmer’s named Ocean City one of the top ten places to travel; Moody’s Economy.com says markets that are a close drive to major cities are expected to see a strong summer rental business. Realty offices are reporting record numbers with many weeks sold out.
Turns out it’s not just the summer that’s popular. Ocean City’s whopping 13,000 second home owners lead the state. These people love us; they support our businesses, pay our taxes and spread goodwill across the Delaware Valley and beyond. The island is a lot busier year-round than some of our council members give credit.
They come here because of our quality of life, a clean, safe community. Safety is of utmost importance. Our survival depends on maintaining that magical mix, the powerful potion known as America’s Greatest Family Resort. Yes, we need tourists and second homeowners to maintain the status quo.
At the awards banquet, firefighters across the state were honored for bravery and dedication. Despite the “possibilities and probabilities” that 4th Ward councilman “Roy is Right” Wagner likes to throw about, devastating emergencies happen anywhere, anytime without warning. The stories were heart-wrenching: rescuing people from burning buildings and mangled automobiles, cardiac arrest in the grocery store, unpredictable, unplanned, potentially deadly emergencies.
Council members, successful in cutting the budget of the state’s seventh richest community, have an unmistakable swagger. FIT is alive and well, revived and rejuvenated.
“It’s disheartening,” said OCFD Capt. John Murphy, president of the local FMBA. “It takes the wind out of your sails. When is it going to stop? They cut the beach patrol for September; we’ll be doing the water rescues. We’ve taken on just about every aspect of public safety. If you gave us guns, we’d be cops. We do everything but make an arrest. They ask for more and more. We work 56-hour weeks, how much is enough?”
The reduction in staffing will create problems if someone is injured, Murphy said.
“They keep reducing personnel through attrition,” he said. “No one can tell us when enough is enough. Two this year, three next year, an entire company? At some point, there will not be enough of us to do what we do now.
“The morale of all city employees is bad, the worst I’ve seen,” he added. “We should be concerned about doing our jobs, not saving our jobs. We’re tired of getting up and defending our jobs, it’s discouraging. It took us eight years to get to a comfortable level and now we’re going backwards.”
“We go through this year after year,” said Capt. Jim Smith. “They’re trying to put a value on safety. This administration loves to hang their hat on how many people they’ve laid off. It’s a badge of honor. Public employees are used as pawns. We’ve been proactive in our approach to public safety. We’re at a point where the focus is going to be reactive. The city is rolling the dice.”
“It’s a shame, you won’t realize the effects of the cuts until something happens,” said Murphy. “These are not scare tactics, this is reality. There aren’t many devastating fires in Ocean City because we get there in time to stop a room fire from becoming a raging fire engulfing an entire house. We get there fast and get it out. If we can’t get there fast we can’t get it out.”
Chief Joseph Foglio has the models, what every reduction in manpower means to the OCFD. Surely those who voted to cut have sat down with OCFD officials.
“There’s been no need to understand on their part,” said Murphy. “The chief has put out an open door policy. They don’t want to know anything. They want to cut and have no concept of what it means. It’s cut and dry, at some point this community will not be the same. They don’t trust what the chief tells them. I believe he does a very good job. He has told them what he is comfortable with. The professionals say the chief is right, we need more manpower. Yet council wants to cut, and doesn’t listen to him?”
I have sat down with Foglio and I’ve never left a meeting feeling anything but impressed by his knowledge and experience. I could say the same for the rest of the fire and police contingency. Maybe councilmen and council candidates should take the time to get to know these fine people. They might learn something important about a sane approach to public safety.
Rumor has it that the mayor’s budget task force is looking at cuts that could mean a loss of 9 to 12 firefighters if the stations are consolidated.
“We’re fighting for our life,” said Murphy. “It’s discouraging. That could lead to stacking calls. We’d get to everyone eventually, not within four minutes. The most life-threatening would come first.”
Kudos to Johnson who voted no; he didn’t like the cuts in public safety. He was the thoughtful, progressive one in the bunch. Councilmen Wagner and Jody Alessandrine voted no because they wanted more cuts, as much as $1.6 million. Feeling safer on that note?
Council President Keith Hartzell, Scott Ping, Mike Allegretto and Jack Thomas voted yes to pass the budget.
“They listened to a vocal minority,” said Murphy. “It’s demoralizing.”
On May 13, voters will elect a new council.
“It will be up to a new council,” said Murphy. “We’ll have at least three new people. We’d like a new outlook, to sit down with the candidates and see where they stand. We’ve asked to meet with them, some have responded, some have not.”
Has it come to the point where council candidates are so afraid of public backlash that they would shy away from supporting public safety?
Meanwhile, through intense marketing efforts, we’ve invited tens of thousands of guests to the island for a seashore respite, and they’re going to start arriving in a few short weeks. Our second homeowners are already on the scene, sprucing up their island respite, relying on our services.
As firefighter Brad Wiltshire so eloquently put it, we have to look to the future, to do what we can to restore public safety.
“Everything you read says our community depends on a clean, safe image. Once you lose that you can never get it back,” he said.
No, you can’t. We know not what tomorrow brings. Is it worth risking everything we hold near and dear to save a few dollars? They roll the dice in Atlantic City every day, are you willing to gamble your safety?

Ann Richardson can be e-mailed at annrichardson@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.