Fire Chief John Wayne feathers got ruffled at the last fire board meeting, as he was on the defensive all night.
So who actually runs the fire boards meetings, the board or Chief Wayne?
During the so-called public hearing on the assessment, if you want to call it that, Wayne attacked one of the owners of a not for profit in Lehigh Acres and tried to embarrass him.
After the meeting two firefighters came up to this owner and apologized for the Wayne’s behavior and stated if we would have done that to you, the chief would have fired us on the spot.
“Wayne’s behavior against that not for profit owner is totally unethical,” said Fire Commissioner Matt Smith.
To date two of the five commissioners have called this not for profit and apologized for Chief Wayne’s behavior.
The taxpayers deserve that the leaders of this fire department to be professional and ethical at all times, if they cannot be, just maybe it’s time for new leadership in the fire department.
I was at the public hearing and it was a JOKE!! None of the public was for the assesment but it was still voted in??? The fire department chief was full of misstatements. He claims he has been the chief for 23 years but he did not put the fire stations there they were there when he took over. They were built after 2000. Do the math. He ordered 2 new ambulances and the cost of $750k each. Thats 1.5 million. You could recondition the existing ambulances with new engine, transmission, and other suspension parts for less than $30k each. That would save 1.4 million.
For the record the fire board ordered three new ambulances for 750,000
I had the impression from the meeting that the fire department was acting more as an investment bank than a fire department. The idea of ordering three ambulances at one time defies logic. Did they consider the fact that all the ambulances would wear out at the same time?
For profit business would stager the orders for obvious reasons.
There was an air of arrogance by officials because they had the vote under their belt. Their objective in this matter was to financially insulate themselves from economic cycles of the economy. The tax payer is the only party that has to endure economic cycles; what a lofty set of goals for a service organization.
Can your organization head up a new referendum to reverse the vote? The tax payers need another turn at bat.
Thank you
William Buyak
Two options:
1 sue the district or 2 three of the election board are up for reelection in 2016
We need to get organized against these people.Last time they spent $35 K for professional adds etc. Next time we should petition for matching funds and get the word out
Lehigh has turned into hell-hole. I no longer wish to live here, and feel the need to pack heat wherever i go on a daily basis. Now they are taxing me to death and want to become a city so they can tax and regulate me even more. House for sale: Good neighborhood i swear it.
Chief John Wayne has read this article but refuses to comment wonder why?????
Put his picture in the paper.Then he might respond!
I have already contacted a local attorney to look into possibility of taking legal action on this matter. Am wondering if anyone else is seriously looking into forming a group of property owners to make for a more convincing coalition and help spread the costs of this type of endeavor?