----- At the Committee meetings last Thursday, January 9, 2014, Mr. Tomasic told an outright lie. He publicly said that at the two meetings with the FHVFD representatives it was never said that the FHVFD was NOT merging but in fact that we had said that YES we were going ahead with the merger. Perhaps someone should ask the other representatives of council that were at the meetings? Perhaps review the October 3, 2013 Committee of the Whole where Mr. Karas, who was at the meeting in August with FHVFD representatives states that it was said by FD representatives that we were not looking into a merger.

----- Possible violation of the sunshine act last Monday. Council brought forth new business and did not allow public comment before voting on it. At the end of the meeting, Council President read a press release in response to the letter that the FHVFD sent to residents. They never allowed public comment on this new business that subsequently was voted on. It should also be noted that the press release that was read was not the one that was posted the following day on the Borough website.

----- Information pertaining to the Fire Department has not been passed on to other members of council in a timely manner as noted in November minutes.

Under new business at the November 2013 meeting, Ms. Wood stated:

Borough of Forest Hills Page 15 Public Session of Council November 20, 2013
Ms. Wood stated that the debrief and what happened in that meeting was not known by the whole of council, until after the vote was taken regarding amending the ordinance.

This was in reference to the voting to change the Fire Protection Services Fee Ordinance in August and our August meeting with council. How could council make an informed decision when none of the information that came out of the meeting with FHVFD was relayed to them? When was the information passed on and how? We know it was not at any official meetings of committees or council.

----- In reference to the August meeting between FHVFD and council representatives:
Mr. Porco stated the following at the November council meeting

Borough of Forest Hills Page 15 Public Session of Council November 20, 2013
We walked away from the meeting feeling very positive about the discussion and in our mind the next steps would be that their attorney would reach out to us to schedule a follow-up meeting.

The FHVFD also left this meeting feeling positive about how things went and looked forward to working things out. Did we ask that the change in the ordinance be tabled? Absolutely!!! And one would think that since communication had been opened between the two, it would be reasonable to think that the decision to change the ordinance could be put on hold pending more conversation and considering we had waited over nine weeks for this talk and conveniently it came two days before the vote to change the ordinance.

The FHVFD agreed to continue talks and it was decided to have Mr. Porco be the contact person to set up these meetings. However, shortly after this we received verbal notice that any communication would have to be through Mr. Tomasic. Approximately a month later, one of our members was approached in the parking lot by Mr. Porco and asked why he hadn’t been contacted. It was explained that we were told we could not talk to him.

This is the reason we stressed all along that the President was the one to be contacted about things relating to the business side of the Fire Department.

-----After careful review of the recordings of meetings, we find that there is no mention of changing the Fire Protection Services Fee Ordinance until the July 9th meeting of the Public Safety Committee. At last week’s meeting, Mr. Tomasic said that the VFD was informed of the pending change in June. We were not aware of it until the July 9th meeting. This is obviously after the July 1 payment was due to the fire department.
If you are going to change an ordinance shouldn’t you follow the current one until after the new one takes affect? Can just choose to ignore your own ordinances; the public can’t ignore ordinances neither should council.

The July 9th Public Safety Committee meeting is also where it was decided to stop the contribution of $12,000 that the FHVFD had been getting for over 20 years. We used this money to pay for maintenance on the trucks or routine maintenance items inside of our building.

-----Council never involved the FHVFD in any talks about money or concerning “contracting” services. How do you send out a “proposal” to contract the services of an organization that is independent of the Borough unless you have talked to them? All of the letters from Forest Hills Borough to Braddock Hills Borough were sent without any discussion with the FHVFD.

----- In late July, the FHVFD received a policy change from the Forest Hills Borough Manager. It basically stated that the Chief was the only person that could fuel fire department vehicles. There is no discussion of anything to do with gas cards until August 1, 2013 at the Public Safety Committee Meeting. Questions have been raised as to who made this decision. It has been that it came out of committee. It has been said that it was voted on. It has been said that no vote is needed to change a policy. Which one is it? At the October 3, 2013 Committee of the Whole meeting Mr. Karas asked about the policy. Mr. Tomasic vehemently maintained that it was agreed upon by all council members. However, once again, there is no public record of any discussion taking place before this “policy” was put in place.
We have been told that the letter was misunderstood. We have all read the letter, as have some of the residents; we can find no one that doesn’t come away from it with the impression that only the Fire Chief may fuel the vehicles.

Historically, whoever was driving the vehicle was responsible for refueling.

-----Mutual Aid. Mutual aid is a well known practice in emergency services. It was such a large part of emergency services that on October 8, 2008 Pennsylvania’s House and Senate unanimously passed Act 93. The Act was sponsored by State Rep. Paul Costa, D-Allegheny, and Sen. John Pippy, R-Allegheny/Washington. The purpose of Act 93 of 2008 was to create a system of intrastate mutual aid within Pennsylvania municipalities, where it is recognized that emergencies transcend the boundaries of each community and realizing that intergovernmental coordination is essential for the protection of lives and property and for the best use of available public and private assets. The FHVFD does not feel that any other type of mutual aid agreement is necessary.
In addition to this, the FHVFD is a member of several organizations that promote mutual aid and the understanding that we all need to work together. Several examples of this are: WFCC, East Boros Association, Mon Yough Defense Council, Allegheny County Firefighters Association as well as the Firemen’s Association State of Pennsylvania.