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19790731 r-79-11 RESOLUTION NO. R-79-11 RESOLUTION REAFFIRMING SUPPORT OF THE CITY'S INTE~p~TED FIRE AND RESCUE SER- VICES ESTABLISHED UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1978-9. BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Fairfax Virginia, that (1) we reaffirm our support for the City's integrated Fire and Rescue Services, established under Ordinance No. 1978-9; and, (2) we direct the City Manager to continue his efforts, working with the Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department and the Director of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services, to make Administrative Regulation No. 5-4 of April 25, 1979 work effective- ly; and (3) we direct the City Manager to communicate this resolu- tion to all members of the Fairfax Volunteer Fire Department and the City Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Adopted: July 31, 1979. Attest: Cit~ CIerk Mayor R-79-11 -Al VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF THE REMARKS BY COUNCILMAN HEMMER AT THE COUNCIL MEETING ON JULY 31, 1979, INTRODUCING RESOLUTION NO. R-79-11 REAFFIRMING SUPPORT OF THE CITY'S INTEGRATED FIRE AND RESC! SERVICES ESTABLISHED UNDER ORDINANCE NO. 1978-9. COUNCILMAN HEMMER: I asked that Item No. 6A be introduced into the agenda as an opportunity to consider a resolution regarding the Cit fire ._and rescue services. As the earlier discussion indicated during "Presentations by the Public", clearly there has been in City in recent weeks and months a certain amount of upset, of dis- agreement, of very disturbing signs of disunity and in general, signs that have led the general public, I think, to have some doubt about the City's capacity to provide fire and rescue service with- out disruption, without a threat of a cutoff and so on, and as you know, Mrs. Max and I and then later Mr. Scott were asked by the Council to work with the City Manager, the Director of the Depart- ment of Fire and Rescue Services and the Volunteer Fire Department to seek some resolution of these problems. What I would like to d( this evening is suggest that there are a number of things we all agree on ought not to be matters of contention. I think first of all, we all agree that the City needs the best fire and rescue service that it can provide for itself. We want that. We want to encourage all those engaged in fire and rescue service to provide the best service possible, to make improvements where necessary anl to serve the public as well as they can. And secondly, I think we want to encourage all of the members of the Volunteer Fire Depart- ment and all the paid members of the City's Department of Fire and Rescue Services to work together to work for this better department this continually improving department, and to do so in that spirit of professional dedication that they have shown in the past. Mr. Scott tonight was citing members of the Volunteer Department and members of the paid service, all of whom have this spirit of dedi- R-79-11 -A2 cation and who have won our gratitude and our confidence, and we want to indicate that the Council stands very clearly behind them. Thirdly, over the past weeks and months there have been a continu- ing series of rumors and allegations of what one can call pranks, harassments, all kinds of actions that are unbecoming professional fire fighters and members of the rescue service. I think the City Council, the citizens and I am sure the Chief of the Volunteer Fire Department and the Director of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services join in decrying all such actions. They have no place in a serious fire and rescue service and any men in the Volunteer De- partment or the Department of Fire and Rescue Services--paid or volunteers--who have or who continue to engage in any of these pranks are on notice, I think, that the citizens and Council have no room for this kind of behavior and we encourage the Chief and the Director to take very serious disciplinary action against any- one who engages in such pranks because clearly, as Mr. Scott said, when someone is on a fire line he wants to be able to trust the behind him, and we want each member of the service to work togethe: in this integrated Fire and Rescue Department. Consequently, is one other point on which we have to agree. The City's fire and rescue services today have a legal base. They exist. There is no way one can wipe away history however one interprets that history, whether it was arrived at properly, improperly, whatever, we could do better if we could do it again. It exists. We have an ordinan~ that has established the Department of Fire and Rescue Services. We have a Volunteer Fire Department that is an integral part of thl City's fire and rescue service. We want to support what we have and we want to work from there to an improved fire and rescue ser- vice, but we must begin there. We can't go into a legal limbo where there is no ordinance, no administrative regulation, no chail of command, no understanding as to how things work. What we have R-79-11 -A3 may be imperfect. It is the point of departure for the future, but it is the place where we begin in improving things. With all that in mind, what I would like to move is that City Council adopt this following resolution.