Secret budgets! Minor medical services! Lousy fire fighters!
It's a wonder Mosier isn't a burned out ghost town!
The above are accusations and complaints hurled at two Mosier Fire Department board members. Two good men who have spent their adult lives volunteering! And not just with the fire department. They have been here and will continue to be here to support this community and it's residents.
Secret budgets? Have these people been going to budget meetings? They are open to the public. I understand the "chief" is responsible for setting the budget; and, as far as I know, the board has never rejected one.
Minor medical services? Many years ago, the fire department added First Responders and EMS volunteers.
As time went on, EMTs were added-8 or more over the years, one of whom could start fluids. The department kept up with the changing role of the firefighter. As a result of this ever expanding role, the smorgasbord was started about 50 years ago to raise money for medical supplies.
Lousy fire fighters? You want to compare records? In the nearly 50-year period prior to Chief Appleton, the volunteers lost seven structures and saved six. It's impossible to recount all the brush fires the volunteers have fought over the years. The operative word here is "volunteer.”
All of them had jobs! Yet, they gave their time, and sometimes money, to help this community and it's residents. In the six or seven years since Chief Appleton, four structures have been lost.
Plus, because the "chief" was involved in cutting trees on private property without obtaining the landowner's permission, the city's insurance company paid $18,000 and the fire department's insurance company paid $12,000 to settle a threatened lawsuit.
If I might leave you with a bit of advice? Hang on to your wallet!
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