In 2007 then Fire Chief Ken Zuber received  a Grant well in excess of $300,000 to help jump start a Quartermaster system. This grant was not even close to the money needed for this program.  Since Chief Zuber wasn’t able to get any extra funding from the city he chose to buy turn out gear for most of the fire departments suppression firefighters.
In 2012 newly elected City Councilman and City Fireman Al Lindsey approached the local Fire Fighters Union #357 Executive Board about funding new Extractors and Dryers for the fire stations that didn’t have these machines. The Board approached Chief Connelly with a request for a funding of new Extractors and Dryers. The Board came back with an amount of $155,000.00 amount given them by Fire Chief Mike Connelly.
Mr. Lindsey took this figure to members of the City Council for funding. The Fire Department main selling point for this equipment was to protect the future health of Firefighters by decreasing the possibility contracting cancer due to the carcinogens in their fire gear after each fire. The City Council voted to give the money to the Chief Connelly and he agreed to comply with Council’s request.
After several months of no activity Councilman Adams was informed that there was no movement by the Fire Chief  to the installed machines at the Fire Stations. Adams contacted the Chief and ask him to come to Council and update them. Chief Connelly informed Council that he underestimated the costs of the Extractors and Dryers and that the he guesstimated that the new cost was now over $300,000. He told Council they he has come up with an alternate plan to purchase the Extractors and Dryers within the original $155,000 budget.
The new plan was to put machines in the Administration Building and he claimed this would handle all cleaning of the Fire Fighters gear and would conform with OSHA reporting standards. Fire Fighters Local Union #357 President Larry Zuber and a small group of supporters from the Fire Department rank and file also came and supported Chief Connelly’s new plan.
The Administration effectively lobbied City Councilman Dr, Dan Adams  and Dan McGinn which turned out to be the key votes needed to approve the Fire Chief plan.  We now hear that around $30,000 to $40,000 of the money was spent on actual purchase of machines but about $75,000 was spent for a storage room built inside the Administration Building.  We also hear that now every firefighter turn out gear are cleaned professionally.
We now hear that Chief Connelly has another idea for City Council to consider. Connelly is asking Council for about $600,000 plus to implement a Quartermaster program. We hear that the startup costs associated with the Quartermaster program is extremely expensive and never ending. Whats interesting about Connelly’s new proposal concerning the Quartermaster program is now a contract issue with Fire Fighters local #357 and the City. Â Some Fire Fighters are telling us that the money for this system could have been used for badly needed equipment and Fire Trucks.
Bottom line, if the majority of the City Council members would had heeded Councilman Al Lindsey advice and warnings this wouldn’t be an expensive 2016 Budget issue. Â It looks like City Council now has a new $600,000 plus budgetary elephant in the room to deal with.
