Fire Commissioner Matt Smith release the press release 2:30 am April 1, 2015
Upon closer reevaluation of the Initial Assessment Resolution for Fire Protection and Emergency Services (IAR) which was approved on Mar 24, 2015 it was realized the statutory reference to Churches and Institutions 196.196 F.S. is not mentioned in the entire document. Commissioners approved 2014 Resolution with full intent of honoring these exemptions.
The Fire Board previously approved Exemptions by Resolution 14-09-05 in Sept 2014. The new Draft on the IAR appeared to have minor flaws and was suspect to have misrepresented the Commissioners intent. I reviewed this serious issue with Mr. Pringle today and he recognized that he could have been more prudent in his explanation of the proposed exemption, but he validated how the verbiage used in the Resolution did indeed reflect the identical intent from the original Resolution in 2014.
In order to fulfill our obligation to the general public, Mr. Pringle was requested to include more clear language relating to deleted reference to 196.196 FS. He added that he would also include the official process of exemption determination as previously outlined in the original Resolution 2014 and entertain the Commissioners approval of the “exemption process”.
If further information is required, feel free to call me or the District Staff