Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk

Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk
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The saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That comes to mind with the current squabble between the Town of Ocean City and its firefighter/paramedics union.

In 2015, two calls out of 5,927 missed the two-minute response time goal. In Ocean City Fire Department’s Standard Operating Guidelines, it says, “the goal of the Ocean City Fire Department, Fire-EMS Division is to have the first due unit on the street and responding within two minutes of the time of dispatch with a 90% compliance.” That goal was easily been met last year with 99.96% of calls meeting the goal. In fact, there is no record of the department not making that goal in recent years.

Therefore, it’s clear there is no problem currently under the union’s favored “24-72” schedule, which means a 24-hour shift is followed by three days off. The city maintains it wants to get out in front of the matter, ensure there are no issues in the future and that’s why a change is needed. The position is firm, but the city believes it’s showing good faith by allowing 19 months before it’s implemented. That surely is a fair carrot to dangle, as that’s an extensive adjustment period to iron out any concerns.

Back when collective bargaining was approved for Ocean City’s firefighter/paramedics in 2007, two years after city police officers earned collective bargaining with binding interest arbitration through a voter referendum, I remember wondering what happens if they can’t agree to terms on a new contract. Nothing was the answer I got back then.

Although the city’s cops and firefighter/paramedics are both organized in their respective unions, the difference is huge. If there’s an impasse in contract negotiations between the city and the cops, a three-person panel will decide the conflict. Both sides then have to stand by that judgment. That has never happened in 11 years of contract negotiations.

In the case of firefighter/paramedics, binding interest arbitration was not granted or sought. Therefore, this is just an official impasse, and the union has no reasonable recourse but to accept the city’s offer, which will go into effect July 1 and includes raises and the discontinuation of the “24-72” schedule effective October 2017.

The union has every reason to want to continue with the status quo because it’s working and the town’s first responders are highly acclaimed with good reason. Two calls exceeding the two-minute goal over a 12-month period is not reason enough, and the city has not justified the change in my opinion.

Nonetheless, the city is in the power position here and the first responders will have to accept the change. The good news is 19 months is plenty of time to adjust.

Another showdown over the budget between the Worcester County Commissioners and the Board of Education is inevitable. That much we learned this week when the commissioners made clear their intention to challenge the state-mandated Maintenance of Effort formula, which requires jurisdictions to fund school systems at the same per-pupil rate as the previous year.

In Worcester’s case, meeting that state requirement means an increase of $761,792 over last year’s funding allocation. With the commissioners giving that figure the stink eye this week, I can only imagine what they will do when they look over the budget the Worcester County Board of Education approved last month. The school system’s new spending plan calls for an increase of $3.4 million from the county over last year’s approved budget.

I know two things for certain here. One, the state will not give the county’s challenge to the Maintenance of Effort mandate any consideration. Secondly, the commissioners will never approve the school board’s budget as presented.

What gets cut will be interesting, as it always is around budget time each spring. Herein lies one of the ongoing issues between these two bodies. The school board is not doing enough to submit a realistic budget to the commissioners for consideration in my opinion. School board members know full well the county will not give the school $3.4 million more than last year.

That will make the commissioners look bad to educators and public school parents, but the reality is the blame should be shared if it truly does play out the way I expect.

Ocean City is right to allocate some funds for a new Boardwalk trash collection vehicle and to boost night crews to address high demands. The idea is the new purchase and the additional trash collection crew would allow the city to more frequently empty the cans on the Boardwalk during peak season times.

It would be nice if this vehicle could also be used to bolster the efforts at the end of prime beach days in the peak season. It’s a common sight to see trash blowing on the beach (or being hauled and then dropped by sea gulls and pigeons) around 5 p.m. when the trash receptacles are overwhelmed by the volume of beach-goers cleaning up their areas.

It all does eventually get cleaned up by the city, but it’s an unsightly and inconsistent image because Ocean City has rightly so garnered a reputation for its cleanliness.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.