[October 07, 2009] Uniontown wants residents' view on firefighter jobs Tweet Oct 07, 2009 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Firefighters in one financially strapped Fayette County community will help write an informal poll that might help decide their fate. Two Uniontown firefighters will meet with Mayor Ed Fike and city council to design a survey to be mailed to voters in the coming weeks, according to a resolution council passed on Tuesday. Fike wants taxpayers to help council decide if it should reduce the city's paid fire department from 13 members to 10. Fike said a three-quarter-mill tax increase will be needed if residents want to maintain a 13-member department. The resolution approving the creation of the survey was the second of its kind OK'd at last night's meeting. Council initially voted 4-1 to send out a survey that had already been prepared, but members rescinded it after questions arose over its wording. The rescinded survey was not on council's agenda at the outset of the meeting. As a result, residents in attendance had no chance to view it or comment before council voted. In addition, the only councilman who voted against it, Gary Crozier, said he wasn't aware of it until it was put up for a vote. Council adjourned last night's meeting before providing copies of the rescinded survey to Crozier and residents. At that point, several residents noted the survey erroneously indicated that the city at one time had only 10 paid firefighters. Others said the three-question survey was unfairly slanted against firefighters because of its repeated references to the need for a tax increase to maintain a 13-member department. Although the meeting had officially ended, council went on to approve a motion by Crozier to rescind the prepared survey. Crozier's motion included the stipulation that firefighters are to meet with council to prepare a different survey. Council members said they will not have to abide by results of the survey. One councilman, Blair Jones, noted that because the rescinded survey gave voters the option to return it anonymously, there is no accountability. "This is not bounding me to nothing," Jones said. "I could put 100,000 of these out there and send them all in. This is asinine." Some residents last night wanted council to nix the idea of a survey in its entirety. They said it sets a precedent that might require the city to poll residents on every decision that comes before council. Fike last night said the issue is of such importance to the city that he does not want the decision left solely to a majority of city council. To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]