To The Editor:

The decisions makers in Lehigh Acres have conducted themselves in an unprofessional, reckless, and dishonorable fashion.

The reduction of the fire force is both a violation of the public trust and a sickening sign of absolute disregard for their oath of office, where they swore to protect the citizens from harm to the best of their ability.

Of course, budgets are important and in tough times, cuts need to be made in order to stay within bounds.

However, fire force reductions are the absolute last when considering budget balancing and they should only come to pass every every other department is eliminated.

By suspending maximum protection from certain areas, the bureaucrats have decided that some lives in Lehigh Acres are more important to protect than others. And, of course, it would be interesting to know how many of the decision makers live in the less protected areas.

Also, will those receiving the lesser services have their taxes adjusted, since surely they are deserving of some special considerations.

In any event, the decision is irresponsible and should be reversed immediately, before people get hurt.

If the Mayor and Council can’t come up with better ideas, resignations would be honorable.

Dick Kalfus

Cape Coral

Lehigh Acres is unincorporated and does not have a mayor and council. The fire board is operated by a five-member board of directors. The fire district must balance the budget by state law. It is a self taxing district and is not controlled by any city or county laws. – Ed.