Lehigh Fire Board members at last meeting

Firefigher Nick Ladue is leaving the Lehigh Acres Fire Department because he says he has a family to look after and he doesn’t want to lose his home. He knows he is on the list to be laid off probably by the end of September and he’s not waiting.

He notified Chief Don Adams last week and said he was resigning and was taking a job in Iraq working as a firefighter for a private civilian firm.

Ladue leaves Aug 3.

Chief Adams said he understood because nobody yet knows what is going to happen to the fire department which is facing a budget crisis.

Meanwhile, Adams, firefighters, the union and the public are invited to another special budget meeting on August 6 and instead of East Lee County High School, the meeting will be held at the meeting room of the East County Regional Library from 6 to 8 p.m.

And the next special budget meeting will be Aug. 27 from 4 to 7 p.m. also at the East County Regional Library on Gunnery Rd.

The last two special meeting or workshops are on Sept. 9 and Sept. 24, according to Chief Adams.

“We’ll be meeting at 5:01 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“On Sept. 24, the commissioners must pass a budget and the meeting has to start at 5:01 p.m. and conclude at 7 p.m.

“Those times are according to Florida statutes,” Adams said.

Adams has said he would have to lay off 37 firefighters and staff members to stay within the budget this fiscal year, but board members at the past couple of budget hearings have asked the chief to not lay off any personnel until the end of September. The new fiscal year is Oct. 1.

Adams told The Citizen that it will cost in the neighborhood of $700,000 which would most likely dip into the fire district’s surplus fund, which will have to be used in next year’s budget because of the lack of tax revenue in ad valorem taxes coming into the District.

Attorney Richard Pringle is expected to ask for another resolution at the the Aug. 6 meeting to get the ball rolling for a special election. The election to tax each parcel $100 would go on the ballot sometime in December, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Meanwhile, members of the board may have comments on the budget presented to the commissioners a few weeks ago. At the last meeting two weeks ago, they said they had not had time to read it. The blue ribbon panel presented a Power Point presentation and said it would take a layoff of 17 firefighters, not 37 as the chief has said.

Chief Adams has the responsibility to keep or lay off firefighters, according to Florida statues. However, the board of commissioners made up of David Adams, Joel Guzman, Jeff Berndt, Julie Barrett and Ralph Hemingway can ask the chief to consider laying off or urging him not to lay off personnel in the fire department.

During the last two public hearings, mostly attended by firefighters who shouted to keep their jobs, plus the urging of the local union, Adams said he would hold back on laying off until the end of September. He had asked the board for direction and they made their thoughts known following outbursts and pleas at the open microphone for the fire department to hold back on laying off firefighters.

Adams says he can’t sleep at night, thinking of the problems facing the fire department and also because of his wife’s illness.

“I understand what it means to a firefighter to lose his or her job. I know they have mortgage payments and children to support. It is not an easy decision and one I take very seriously,” Adams said.

Adams said the union has given concessions, freezing their wages and doing away with overtime, among other things.

“But we are getting close to the September budget hearing where we have to make a final decision. I hope the decision will be to not have to lay off personnel,” he said. Already, he said a few people have left their jobs in anticipation of being laid off. Several weeks ago, he informed firefighters, EMTs and staff members that they would be on the list for possible layoffs. The department is receiving as much as 49 percent less in ad valorem taxes because of the downturn in the economy which has caused homes to lose 49 percent in value.

The commissioners have tentative set the millage rate at 3 mills but even with rising that tax, every homeowner will have less pax to pay due to the lowering of the home’s evaluation. And even if Lehigh Acres voters approved to tax themselves $100 a parcel, the money would not come into the fire department coffers for at least a year.

“We’re just taking it day by day right now and hoping for the best,” Adams said.

He said he didn’t understand why more of the “general public” doesn’t attend the budget meetings such they are open to the public. He said that where he had worked before, the people of the fire district turned out in big number whenever the budget was being considered.

“It’s not that way here. I don’t know why,” he said.

Regularly scheduled monthly meetings also draw few people.

Included here is a list of salaries at the Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue District which was released Monday. Also included is a letter from the union listing consessions addressed to the Fire Board.