Letters To The Editor

Letters to the editor:  Re: Garden City Fire District

LETTER 1

I for one am very supportive of the board's decision to hire a full-time fire chief. I appreciate the savings in my insurance. I appreciate the ability of Dan and his crews to effectively douse flames, but ALSO, his ability to complete the FLOOD of paperwork now required by the government. No volunteer would be very effective navigating the paperwork maze in addition to all other duties while also holding down another full-time job to provide for family. Thanks so much for ALL you do, Dan! I encourage the board to counter offer so Dan will stay here!
Sincerely, 
Jennifer Huefner

LETTER 2

What a travesty! I doubt we could hire TWO qualified fire chiefs for the equivalent effectiveness and professionalism that Dan the Man has willingly supplied all these years. I hope we can figure out a way, as a community, to make it worth his while (and dignity) to stay on.
Maureen Gale

LETTER 3

ED Note: Mike Wahlberg read a private note of mine to a relative, not to be made public, in which I made one speculation, I had others, as to who had written a note about the Fire Chief which we deleted as it was not signed and was potentially libelous.  We do not print unsigned letters for this reason and that the wrong people might be blamed. 

I have been, am now and as far as I'm concerned always will be a friend of Dans. We have shared a lot of good times together and I have enjoyed my time working with him on the fire department. The fire department is better off now than it was when he took the hot seat due to his efforts and the efforts of other members of the fire department. 

For you to blame me for the comments of another without any proof and then make reference to the bad grammar and spelling that you supposedly see in it is just wrong! I respect your right to post this editorial and I feel that Dan deserves to hear that people appreciate his contribution to the district and community, but to try to edit the comment out, whether you agreed with it or not, exhibits a lack of confidence in the readers of this editorial to form an opinion of their own and be able to decide for themselves that which is true or false. (ED NOTE:  We do not accept unsigned letters and will delete them.  We sometimes publish letters without names if the person writing it has let us know who they are and why they want to remain anonymous.)

I will continue to give freely of my time and energy to the fire district and try to improve upon my community in any way I can. I ask no recognition for it and have never expected it, but a little respect for me enough to confront me in private if you have an issue with me would be appreciated. I would do the same for you. 

Now the time to move on is upon us and members of the community, fire board and fire department need to work together to maintain the level of training, professionalism and respect that we have worked so hard to accomplish. What we DO NOT need is for people to try to push and accomplish their own agendas by backbiting, undermining and running behind one another's backs. Our community is too small for this petty gossip and whoever is in the position Dan has held is in for a lot of headache without a positive attitude from the community and members of this fire district.

 

Mike Wahlberg

LETTER 4

It is with great regret that I learned of Fire Chief Dan Kurek’s decision to tender his resignation as Chief of the Garden City Fire District. What is of particular concern is that Chief Kurek’s decision was forced by three members of the district’s fire board who controlled the majority of the board. They insisted upon micro managing the operations of the district’s fire operation, and worse, tampered with the chief’s long established compensation plan.

The writer some years ago, was among a group of local citizens charged with the responsibility of hiring the first paid fire chief. This group formulated a comprehensive fire chief job description, advertised the availability of the position, met with and interviewed several candidates, and in the end selected Dan Kurek as fire chief. It was established that a monthly salary would comprise his employment compensation. Since his initial employment, it is the writer’s opinion that Chief Kurek’s performance history has met and significantly exceeded all elements of that job description. Some of his performance accomplishments I’ll note below:

• Readiness for “on call” use of fire suppression vehicles has been vastly improved. In the past, far too many instances of flat tires, dead batteries etc kept the equipment stationary in their fire station parking stalls. Dan has also proved to be a very effective mechanic who has individually repaired many vehicle failures, water pump problems, and electrical system failures etc. Dan’s repair successes have saved thousands of dollars from the district’s budget for repair labor costs. 
• Under Dan’s leadership additional fire fighting vehicles such as a surplus military 6X6 dump truck which has been converted to a “go almost anywhere” brush fire fighting vehicle, and a tractor/trailer water tender to supply water in remote fire locations.  Both of these vehicles were obtained by Dan at a minimum cost to the fire district’s budget.
• Additional firefighters have been recruited, and significant training improvements have been implemented. Our firefighters have been trained to deal with hazmat incidents, how to extract  injured occupants from collision damaged vehicles, techniques of propane tank fire suppression, wild land fire fighting procedures, just to name a few of the many training programs presented. Under Dan’s leadership, the fire fighting abilities have progress from how to just squirt water to be able to attack many different situations facing a modern fire department. Dan’s training insistence and leadership has produced a group of fire fighters that now we can all be proud of.
• Chief Kurek has been very effective in finding, applying for, and receiving thousands of dollars in federal and state grants. These grant dollars have been used to purchase additional and replacement fire fighting clothing, modern higher air capacity self contained fire fighter breathing apparatus, wild land fire fighting clothing and emergency shelters etc. Many other needed items of fire equipment have been purchased which has significantly increased the district’s fire suppression performance.
• Fire service management includes hours of time and effort keeping up to date with current state and federal regulations. Maintaining a useable filing system to contain and organize the mountain of “paperwork” is also a time consuming but necessary component of the district’s fire management. Prior to Dan Kurek becoming fire chief, this aspect of a chief’s job was almost totally non-existent.
• A fire chief is also responsible for making and recording the results of fire safety inspections of commercial and rental properties and to approve various burn licenses etc  . Chief Kurek put forth an excellent effort complete this aspect of the fire chief’s responsibilities.

It is certainly my opinion that northern Rich County has lost an outstanding fire chief. His shoes will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to fill by some person in the future. Regretfully so few have caused such a large loss for so many in the county.

Jim Ruggles