Pecan Grove Volunteer Fire Department

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS, A True Community Fire Department. Serving Pecan Grove Plantation, Plantation Place and Waterside Estates Subdivisions.

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Truth Finally Comes Out!

Your present Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification of 3 is not in jeopardy. This Insurance Classification will not change until the PGVFD requests to be resurvey after our new fire station is fully operational early next year.

The Fire MUD Plan Committee Report to the Pecan Grove MUD Board of Directors is finally proof of what the PGVFD has been trying to inform the residents of Pecan Grove for the past 4 months.  After scheduling this third committee meeting on a date when the PGVFD was not able to attend and defend itself, PG MUD Director Stolleis, chairman submited a list of items to be included in the fire MUD plan to place before the voters.   The PGVFD asked for a week's delay to allow your department to present more information, but PG MUD Director Richard Stolleis refused and took advantage of our absence.  PG MUD Director Stolleis seems to be in huge rush to get this pushed through before more residents find out what the PGMUD is trying to do.  The first six items found in the memo ALL deal with the elimination of the PGVFD and handing the PGVFD over to the Richmond Fire Department.  The proposed criteria all place restrictions on the Pecan Grove Volunteer Fire Department that your department cannot meet and still operate in an effective manner for our residents.  And as the last sentence clearly states, "If the Pecan Grove VFD does not support the Fire MUD Plan, the Committee consensus is that the District should contract with the City of Richmond for Fire Services."  Despite the report from Fire Consultant Mike Pietsch that stated pretty clearly that the best situation is to stay with the current fire protection arrangement,  there was never any intention by the PG MUD or Committee Chairman PG MUD Director Stolleis to contract with the Pecan Grove Volunteer Fire Department from the beginning nor to have a fair and unbiased committee or study. This became even more evident by the fact that the report proclaims a consensus by the committee but not a single vote was ever taken by the committee. An even stranger fact that has emerged is that no minutes were ever taken at any of the three committee meetings so the PG MUD Fire MUD Plan Committee has no record of these meetings ever taking place. The Pecan Grove Volunteer Fire Department has and will continue to make the improvements to your fire and EMS services despite the deceitful challenges from the PG MUD blocking our way. This is what a community fire department does!

Your present Insurance Services Office Public Protection Classification of 3 is not in jeopardy. This Insurance Classification will not change until the PGVFD requests to be resurvey after our new fire station is fully operational early next year.

MEMO CAN BE FOUND BELOW!          More information can be found on the Welcome Page this website!

To:             Board of Directors

      Pecan Grove Municipal Utility District

From:         Fire Committee

Re:             Review of Pietsch Report and Fire Plan Recommendations

Date:          October 19, 2011

 

  

Committee Members present:

Fred Ross, POA         

Marc Bateman, CIA

Joe Dombrowski, The Grove HOA

Angela George, Pecan Lakes HOA

Chief Mike Youngblood, City of Richmond

Kevin Krahn, Board member

Richard Stolleis, Board member

 

Committee Members absent:

Representative of the VFD

 

 

The Committee met to review the Pietsch report regarding Optimizing the Public Protection Classification for Pecan Grove Municipal Utility District, discuss findings and consider recommendations to the Board of Directors. Discussion included review of comments provided in writing by the VFD Board President and the following:

 

  • The Committee discussed the time spent by Mr. Pietsch on the review of each entity. Based on comments from Mr. Pietsch, his main task in visiting with each entity was to update data assimilated when each department and the District were previously evaluated by Mr. Pietsch. Within the last few years, Mr. Pietsch provided consulting services to the PGVFD and Richmond FD relative to ISO PPC ratings.

 

  • Mutual Aid and Automatic Aid were discussed. According to Mr. Pietsch’s response, Mutual Aid receives no credit within the ISO rating system for areas afforded fire hydrant protection. Automatic Aid may provide credit toward the ISO rating for the VFD, but he estimates that the credit would be at a much reduced rate when compared to contractual agreements being considered by the District.

 

  • Scenario 3 in Mr. Pietsch’s report is not equal to the existing response protocols for the two departments.

 

  • Concerns were expressed that the PGMUD will charge an ever increasing fire fee that will become a profit center for the District. The board members on the Committee responded that the District strives annually to achieve a balanced budget and that the District is not in the business to make a profit.

 

  • The Committee was made aware that the VFD has borrowed substantial sums of money against the original fire station to fund on going improvements and new equipment. It is unknown how the VFD plans to pay for the expense and concern was expressed that the community should not be responsible for that debt.

 

  • Fire response is only part of the services provided by the departments. Most of the emergency calls are not fire related.

 

  • Contracting with the Richmond Fire Department will include dispatch of emergency calls through the City of Richmond central dispatch center. It is anticipated that response to calls for service will be improved when routed to Richmond. Based on the utilization of staff focused on the City and its service area, not the entire County.

 

After review and discussion of the Report and related discussions, the consensus of the Committee is that the District should implement Scenario 3 from the Pietsch Report. Implementation should be accomplished through contractual agreements that include consideration of the following:

 

  1. Eliminate boundaries for response areas and optimize the responses for all calls within the District
  2. Utilize the City of Richmond Dispatch system
  3. Maintain the identity of the PGVFD
  4. Consolidate the PGVFD with the Richmond VFD
  5. Create opportunity for VFD volunteers and paid staff to be assimilated into the Richmond FD and VFD
  6. Create one Command structure under the City of Richmond Fire Chief
  7. Maintain highest level of EMS provided by either department
  8. Include contract conditions to encourage the highest possible ISO PPC rating for the District.
  9. Include contract provisions to provide for District input related to Fire Services

The Committee discussed how the District should proceed, if the VFD does not agree to enter into a contract with the District. If the PGVFD does not support the Fire Plan, the Committee consensus is that the District should contract with the City of Richmond for Fire Services.

 
727 Pitts Road  Richmond, Texas 77406
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