Page 4 - InCommand : Ohio Fire Chief's Association : Volume 8

A Message from OFCA’s President
Chief Paul Wright, OFC OFCA President
I consider it a
great hono&
r that you have
bestowed upon me
will work to uphold the expectations
of this office.
As I begin my term as President of the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association, I would like to take a moment to thank you, the members, for allowing me this opportunity to serve in this capacity. I consider it a great honor that you have bestowed upon me and will work to uphold the expectations of this office. I am humbled as I reflect upon the many great leaders that have served the Association in this role. I thank the Past-Presidents I served under and appreciate their mentoring over the years. I can truly say that I have learned from each one of you and each has moved the Association forward.
The annual conference was a great success. Thank you to Chief Wallace and the entire Conference Committee for their great work. Changes made in the conference format were well received. I believe this year’s attendees had a great educational experience and enjoyed many networking opportunities. Please plan to join us again next July for another great conference. If you’ve never attended conference before
or have been missing the past few years, mark your calendar and plan to attend next year. Take advantage of the many educational opportunities and learn about new products and services provided by our many quality vendors. For me, the biggest value of the annual conference is the opportunity to meet with the many chief officers from across the great state of Ohio and learn the challenges they face in their particular departments. Often times, we find that we face the same issues and chal- lenges and it’s good to hear how others have handled similar situations.
In this edition of InCommand, we discuss consolidation, which has many facets and can move in many different directions. Much of consolidation originates with the concept of shared services. I think the fire service industry shares services in several capacities, many of which we don’t always get credit for including: Haz
Mat Regional Teams, USAR Regional Teams, Automatic Mutual Aid, Incident Management Assistance Teams, Regional Dispatch Centers, to name just a few. These joint efforts save the tax payers millions of dollars and provide a combined/ consolidated service in a more efficient and effective manner. Consolidation must always be both efficient and effective. It makes no sense to consolidate to be effi- cient without being effective and vice versa. I would argue that if your efficiency is contingent merely upon saving money by cutting costs, you probably are sacrificing your effectiveness. The same is true if you consolidate only to be effective without any regard for efficiency; you probably are expending too much money to reach a set outcome. The only consolidation that makes sense is one that balances a system that is both effective and efficient.
Another point to consider in the consolidation/shared services debate is that many Fire Chiefs are supportive of the initial concept but when it comes down to seriously moving in that direction, city council and township trustees wrestle with the concept. They see it as a loss of power and control. In a number of cases, I
have seen decisions made in order to retain power and control rather than to save tax payer money and provide better services. However, in the end, it is ultimately the local officials’ decision since they have been elected to represent the public’s
best interests. Our job then becomes one of navigating the system, looking for consolidation and shared services opportunities while juggling the politics of local governments. Often times, success only occurs when the timing is right and there is an alignment of the interested parties’ definition of efficient AND effective services.
4 InCommand OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org