Administration Change! Other Junk

:confused:So here recently we had our chief up and quit. This was due to the assitant chief stabbing the chief in the back. The assitant chief was a total pain. Unable to get anything accomplished because of him. The system was completely bucking the chief. Here are the issues at hand. They are not wanting to follow the bylaws. Everyone on the department is throwing fits when things are brought up about the bylaws. :mad: Its all a crock of bull. The bylaws are there for a reason. Well amongst other things. There are lot sof other issues at hand. Trying to point other things out that we have state guidlines and federal mandates and such to follow. Everyone is like we don't have to follow anything it is volunteer we do what we can do. We have guys that have no training at all that have gear, pagers, radios, that are going on calls. Records for stuff are very minimal if any. IF we would get a ISO review would fail it bigger then crap they are worried about nothing. The place is spiraling out of control. Afraid of the safety of our members and also the safety of the community. Also afraid of the legal implications that could follow. Myself and a few of the other firefighters are trying to keep it from going.

Well foiund out just how corrupt our county government is also. Myself and another officer of the department went to meet with the county commisioner yesterday told him all our concerns brought him to light on everything. Well he acted all like he was concerned. After the meeting we got sold out. He called up the acting chief told him about the meeting mocking us and pretty much laughing say don't worry about a thing. That everything would be ok. So everyone what do you think? What shoudl be done? :confused:

You present a very dark picture friend. But this is only one side of the story, so I need to caution you about what I think.

Unfortunately, many departments exists as you describe... no leadership and no direction. No attention paid to safety, training, policies, etc.

You have a tough choice before you.

If you can no longer in present your concerns, then you may be done. You may be forced out since you are not presumed to be a team player.

If you do not feel the board or officers have your safety as their first priority, then you perhaps should walk away.

Many times, legal issues will present themselves, as you seem to have a concern about.

But you cannot fix anything you walk away from. You cannot fix anything from the outside.

Sometimes it takes time to get things done, change minds and methods.

Sometimes it takes more courage to stick with something despite obstacles.

If you believe in what you do, then you will know what to do.

I cannot promote rebellion or mutiny. Everyone loses in most cases although your attempt to seek higher authority intervention seems to have only injured you.

But if enough want change and are not satisfied, it will change. You just have to decide how much you can take and for how long.

I wish you all the luck in the world. I'm sorry that I cannot give you an easy answer.

There isn't an easy answer.

Here is one possible solution to some of the problems in your department:

Research and compile all laws and regulations that local, state and federal statutes require your FD to follow (training, etc.).

Look at your FD's funding. If you recieve any funding (Forestry Dept. grants, AFG grants,
state insurance premium payments, etc.) from governmental sources that require stipulations (money spent in a certain way, require certain training hours, etc.), inform your acting chief of this.

Let him know that if your FD fails to comply with these statutes, future funding may be lost. If an audit was done and the FD was not in compliance, past funding could also be required to be paid back.

Some FD's do not operate in a professional manner. Sometimes the only way to get a FD to train or perform its mission professionally is to lose or threaten the lose of its funding.

Simply put: The majority of FD's revenue are taxpayer funded. The stipulations that must be met to recieve the funding must be followed.

Money talks and losing it will get someone's attention!

I'm with PaladinKnight on this one. The situation is very tough and the outlook is extremely bleak. Changes (if any) will come over time, possibly a very long time. Your ability to influence change is meager. Leaving the organization provides practically no ability to influence anything internal to the organization.

Having said that, I have some questions for you:

1) What are you doing within the organization? Are you viewed as a productive team player or as a hindering troublemaker? No matter what you do, if you're considered a troublemaker, getting any change implemented will be nearly impossible.

2) Are you very familiar with the organizations operations and why the operations are conducted in the manner they are? Why are things done the current way? What can you do to help the change occur? Ex: help create SOP's, perform basic vehicle maintenance, test fire hose, etc.

3) Are you wanting to change things to meet your perspective and expections?

Your description shows lots of change may be needed; change requires effort, usually lots of effort. From what I gather from your description, the change you seek may take years. I'm not trying to discourage you, just attempting to let you know you're in for a long, hard, unthankful road ahead.