Two months after being the target of a "no confidence" vote by a group of volunteer fire chiefs, Carroll's director of public safety says he is making changes in the county's emergency dispatch office, and he apparently will keep his job.
Howard S. "Buddy" Redman Jr., who has been criticized for the dispatch center's operation and for the pace of at least two important projects, will be given a chance to address concerns raised by groups representing county fire chiefs and volunteer firefighters, two county commissioners said last week.
"My read is that we have some bad blood between the firemen's association and the County Office Building, and we all don't want to see an employee sacrificed because of that bad blood," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said Thursday.
But Jeffrey R. Alexander, president of the Carroll County Fire Chiefs' Association, remains adamant that the county must replace Redman.
"Buddy's never done a good job of running the 911 center," Alexander said. "We've never advocated the firing of Mr. Redman, but the county needs to find a place for him that's better suited to what talents he may have to provide. We don't feel he possesses the knowledge and ability to continue his position, based on his past record."
The fire chiefs, with the Carroll County Volunteer Firemen's Association and Carroll County Ambulance Association, have complained about a lack of communication between firefighters and Redman.
The firefighters also have noted problems at the 911 center, and have said that Redman's office has made little progress on two projects started four years ago: the construction of a communications tower in the Lineboro area to allow signals to carry to low-lying areas, and a comprehensive countywide computer mapping system.
Firefighters worry that failing to address these problems could lead to serious injury or death.
The fire chiefs' unanimous "no confidence" vote occurred in October. The firemen's association issued a similar vote a week later, as did the ambulance association Nov. 21.
The fire chiefs are the line officers responsible for handling fire and rescue calls, while the Carroll County Ambulance Association represents paramedics. The firemen's association handles the administrative duties for all three groups.
Redman, 55, was hired in 1983 to be the county's administrator for emergency communications and civil defense. Over the years, his title has changed, and his duties now include overseeing his office's budget, compiling reports to county, state and federal agencies, and developing and implementing public safety programs.
"I thoroughly believe that we're not as bad as the fire service would have people believe," Redman said. "Can we improve? Yes. Things are changing in the 911 community, and there's always room for improvement."
Although critics acknowledge that the 911 center is much busier than it was years ago, they say Redman has been slow to respond to such complaints as dispatchers making repeated - and potentially dangerous - errors.
Redman says he has begun working with shift supervisors to hold dispatchers accountable. He says he now requires supervisors to file written reports of all complaints from firefighters. He also is looking into a better way of handling discipline and remedial training.
"Our downfall is continuing to try to train people and give them a chance," he said. "They have 100 hours training at a station, and if they get an unsatisfactory review, they go back for 50 more hours. If they haven't gotten it by the extra 50 hours, then they're not going to."
This year, he received five written complaints from firefighters, including concerns about pagers not working and about a dispatcher who was unaware of a policy on rotating equipment into stations that are left empty while firefighters are on a call.
The Maryland Emergency Number Systems Board, a state agency that oversees the operation of local 911 centers, issued a review of the Carroll County 911 center two months ago that found that equipment and training met state standards, said J. Scott Whitney, state coordinator.
Receiving five complaints in a year, as Redman says he did, "doesn't sound like an inordinate amount," Whitney said. But, Whitney said, he is aware of the fire chiefs' complaints and has asked Alexander for a letter detailing his concerns about Carroll's 911 center.
As for the Lineboro communications tower and the countywide mapping project, Redman has said progress has been slowed because several county departments and contractors are involved. He said he hopes the county's land acquisition office will soon purchase land for the Lineboro tower. He has set a date of March 9 for the mapping project contractor to demonstrate its proposed system.
At a meeting Monday with Redman and representatives of the three groups, the county commissioners encouraged better communication among the parties. The commissioners assigned Steven D. Powell, the commissioners' chief of staff, the job of setting up meetings and working with Redman and the firefighters to sort through complaints.
"We need to do whatever we can to make sure firemen are from now on represented at the discussion table by one of their people," Minnich said. "We need to get rid of the confusion about who's speaking for whom."
Alexander and firemen's association president C. Douglas Bostian said they left the meeting encouraged that progress would be made in opening the lines of communication with Redman and resolving issues.
Minnich said he thinks that Redman did his best to follow orders from the previous commissioners but had too many responsibilities added to his job over the years. Some of those duties should be reassigned, he and Commissioner Perry L. Jones Jr. said.
Sun staff writer Childs Walker contributed to this article.