Go back to drawing board, Winfield

Unfortunately, our only recourse is to vote no on the upcoming referendum to add 6 more firefighters to the Winfield Fire Protection District.

Long term cost is staggering. Sadly, this is a very typical solution from old school government. What we do need in Winfield is innovation within and collaboration with neighboring fire protection districts. There is a good article at governing.com that our readers - especially Deputy Chief Lewis - should read. An excerpt is copied below:

"While reforms are slowly happening, the standard response by fire departments and firefighter unions to too-slow response times is still more fire stations, fire trucks and firefighters. That isn't just an unrealistic non-starter for most cash-strapped local governments, especially as America's rapidly aging population generates even more non-fire 911 calls. It's also a doubling down on a long-outdated delivery model that requires a fundamental rethinking."

In this day and age when the goal of state and local elected officials is to consolidate or eliminate redundancy in government, we have just the opposite occurring in Winfield. I say go back to the drawing board.

Al Palash

Winfield