Representatives of The Brigantine Fire Department say that starting January 1st, their FD will no longer be at full staff. The City of Brigantine reportedly will not be hiring full timers, but there could be part-time hires.
In a recent NBC TV 40 interview, President of the Brigantine Professional Fire Fighters; Tiger Platt said: “Currently the fire department is looking at the staffing shortage of 20% since our retirements and the passing away of our late chief”. “I think the residents need to speak up. They need to contact their council people. They need to contact the city manager and tell them we want our public safety. We want our firefighters staffed.”
All of this comes at a time when Brigantine officials are getting ready to enter contract negations with the fire department.
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Blumenthal will probably find another consultant to waste tax money on instead of keeping the people of Brigantine safe. The sad part is public safety seems to take a backseat to other important topics like dog parks and dolphin sculptures.
Our town will continue to be safe with the changes that are proposed. Towns with Volunteer Departments are safe. Please stop your scare tactics. It is your personal pocket $$$$ talking, not your fear of the safety of the Brigantine citizen. I like other town programs (like dog parks and sculptures) in lieu of BLOATED salaries, over-staffed departments and an over-equipped, costly Fire Department. Administrators also need salary cuts. Ms. Blumenthal is working to keep our town from going bankrupt. That work IS keeping us all safe- If the town goes under, so does your job & your pension. Again STOP Fear Mongering…
We all wish we could have a Lexus and mansion on the beach, but with unemployment at 8%,low paying service jobs and 30 years of wasteful Republican spending,we cant afford it. Ms Blumenthal is doing the best she or anyone can under the cicumstances.
Some people just cant let go of power,,let it go guys,you lost because you became arrogant and unwilling to listen to your constituents.
Just fill the ranks with volunteers and transition the department through attrition from retirements ect… to an all volunteer department. I have the utmost respect for the Brigantine fire department and their work during Hurricane Sandy but no one is being fired here.
Please abolish all pensions for all newly hired public workers and just offer a 401K program like the rest of the economy.
Now will someone please do something about the bloated school spending with $90,000 a year kindergarten teachers. You do not need graduate degrees to teach elementary school. How can private Catholic schools educate kids for $7000 a year but we can’t?
How can the City abolish pensions for all newly hired public workers when it is a STATE program? The governor has already made adjustments to the pension system. And WHERE are the volunteers going to come from? Brigantine’s declining population? And the declining number of volunteer Firefighters and EMTs throughout this area? The training to get certified is too expensive for many and with more people working 2 or 3 jobs, they do not have time for training or to be available for a run during their off hours. Why do you think most of Atlantic County has gone to paid EMS services? Because a 15-20 minute response time for an ambulance was unacceptable
Well then…. DON’t replace the FF with Volunteers if the population is declining…. … FF/EMS-volunteers- there are PLENTY of people that would do that- don’t kid yourself Sir. Let the City supplement the training cost. If you aren’t looking for a solution, you are part of the problem. The City cannot continue with the costs incurred by the current staffing. PLUS, it is OVER-STAFFED. Do some research and comparisons. The Administration should look at larger towns and compare. Comparisons with shore towns will not draw the proper corrective information, as they are all suffering the same problems of over-staffing and over-compensation. We need to step back, assess and correct. That means making the HARD decisions… sorry :{
I’ll have to do some more research on the pension program but ALL public pensions should be abolished and replaced with a 401K program like everyone in the private sector.
NJDFS Firefighter Level I Certification is FREE for Atlantic County residents with a $40 cost to get CPR certified. So spare me the expensive certification cost nonsense. Advanced courses cost any where between $20-$275 a piece with most being around $50-$100. The city can easily reimburse a volunteer after say a year of completed service for any courses.
http://www.atlanticcountyfireassoc.org/FireAcademy/Training/2013/ACFFA-FireAcademy-Fall2013.pdf
Obviously people who cannot volunteer will not but there are still plenty of people available. 69% of the firefighters in the U.S. are volunteer with 95% of these departments in locations with fewer than 25,000 people like Brigantine.
Thank you for your post Andrew… (and Blessed in Brigantine too). It seems as though there are many avenues available to correct the problematic fiscal condition of Brigantine. Unfortunately the changes that ultimately must happen will be uncomfortable for the current Brigantine City employee base.
I’m with Andrew K. There are plenty of areas for savings in the Brigantine budget. Additionally, 10% across the Board is doable for any business. Heck, the Federal government is even doing that. I’m doing it too! And school budget reduction is definitely in play. There is no reason for us to be having fiscal issues…. Somebody said~ I can’t means I won’t.~ I agree. BTW, wasn’t today just BEAUTIFUL. Thank you God for Blessing us all.
I’m with Andrew K. There are plenty of areas for savings in the Brigantine budget. Additionally, 10% across the Board is doable for any business. Heck, the Federal government is even doing that. I’m doing it too! And school budget reduction is definitely in play. There is no reason for us to be having fiscal issues…. Somebody said~ I can’t means I won’t.~ I agree. BTW, wasn’t today just BEAUTIFUL. Thank you God for Blessing us all.
on another subject, when are the lights going to be fixed/replaced on the sea walk on the north end? The North end is really devestated.Will we see 3 $1,000,000 homes (that won`t sell) where the Rod and Reel was or a nice resturant ?