In between all of the heated debates on whether “Game of Thrones” ended properly, with a fire-breathing dragon scorching King's Landing, Carroll County Times readers might have taken note of recent opinion pieces and letters to the editor regarding the hot topic of the county’s fire and emergency medical services. Some have made the incendiary statement that the Board of County Commissioners is making a “power grab” and is planning to replace Carroll’s 14 volunteer fire companies. Rumors and misinformation such as this could not be further from the truth.
Currently, Carroll County’s volunteer fire companies, or VFCs, exist as individual nonprofit organizations. The VFCs’ primary revenue sources include money raised from donations and fundraising, such as bingos and carnivals, EMS services’ reimbursements from insurance companies, grants, and funding from the commissioners. In fiscal year 2019 alone, the 14 VFCs received a combined $13.3 million from the county. This money can be used for any or all operational expenses, including Band-Aids, vehicle maintenance, gear, or paying their paid employees.
Presently, all but one of Carroll’s VFCs have paid employees who work alongside their volunteers, in both full- and part-time capacities. These paid employees consist of emergency medical technicians, paramedics and firefighters. The number of paid employees varies for each individual VFC. Smaller companies such as Manchester might have fewer than 15 full and part-time employees on the payroll at any given time as compared to a larger company such as Westminster, which has about 30 full- and part-time employees on average.
Why do VFCs have paid employees? The answer is simple. Volunteers are becoming harder and harder to find. In the halcyon past, volunteers worked their normal day jobs in their hometown. When the fire alarm rang, volunteers dropped everything and ran to the station. After going on the call, the volunteer would return to his or her job. Unfortunately, that is no longer the situation. Today, most people commute great distances for work, especially Carroll County residents. Outside of work, potential volunteers are busy on the weekends and evenings with year-round sports and other activities, leaving very little time to volunteer. Many of the VFCs do not have a problem recruiting volunteers. Retaining volunteers is the real issue. VFCs are not the only nonprofit organizations experiencing this sad trend. Civic organizations such as Lions Clubs and Kiwanis are witnessing this first-hand as well.
What is the county trying to change? The 14 VFCs have come together, with one VFC opposed but still committed, and asked the commissioners to exercise authority over them in order to increase staffing and resource efficiencies — hardly a “power grab” considering the VFCs directly asked the commissioners. If the county moves forward with this idea, a county chief will be needed. Most importantly, the VFCs would like the county to become the employer of the paid employees, instead of each individual company. There are several reasons why this would benefit all parties, including Carroll taxpayers.
Now, each VFC has volunteers playing the role of a human resources department for their paid employees. These volunteers are in charge of paying, scheduling, hiring and firing their paid staff. The men and women who volunteer at their local fire station signed up to save lives and help their community, not to become de facto HR managers. If the county becomes the employer for all of the paid employees across the county, it would be more equipped to handle these duties — it already has a fully functional, full-time HR department.
Under the current setup, a paid employee at Gamber’s VFC cannot be moved to Reese’s VFC for a shift or several shifts, because each VFC is an independent organization. If the commissioners decide to take on this responsibility, then the county will be able to move paid employees around to different stations depending on availability and need. If the Sykesville-Freedom fire station has a paramedic call out sick but the new countywide chief knows that Lineboro has an extra paramedic on hand, that employee could be moved over to Sykesville-Freedom for that shift.
If the county adopts this plan, money that is normally allocated to the 14 VFCs for operational expenses will be saved. For example, if a paid employee works at Winfield’s fire station full- and part-time in New Windsor, both VFCs have to spend money to provide a uniform and gear for that one individual. This redundancy would be solved if the county was this individual’s sole employer.
The county could also help the VFCs by taking over purchasing. Currently, each VFC buys turnout gear for each paid employee (and volunteer) that costs at minimum $2,000. Instead of having each VFC buy this expensive gear in small quantities, the county’s purchasing department could issue a competitive solicitation for a large quantity of turnout gear, resulting in the county and VFCs receiving a much better deal. Some would put this idea to the torch by suggesting that that if our county heads down this road, it would be “financially irresponsible.” To hose down such rhetoric, one should point out that taxpayers should be more concerned about the $13.3 million that is already being handed to the individual VFCs that possess no buying power and provide duplicate services. If the commissioners take on this new role, the amount of funding allocated to the VFCs will decrease due to the county taking on some of their previous duties, and money will be saved by ending redundant purchases.
Some have also poured gasoline on this fiery debate by suggesting that the county commissioners would like to transition away from having a volunteer-centric system. The commissioners have no burning desire to do such a thing. In fact, if the county takes away the burden of managing paid employees, volunteers will have more time to raise funds, host community events and handle emergency calls. This move will allow the individual VFCs to operate more efficiently and provide superior service.