During the campaign season of 2021, when Team Amanda Lewis, Sarah Salgado, and Jason Roberson ran for City Council, and ultimately won, one of the narratives that they pushed was that our first responders required additional funding and that they were understaffed. All three Council members have repeated throughout their two year term that the Police and Fire departments were understaffed. In fact, Amanda Lewis made the following quote in April of 2021, just before being elected Mayor. “After speaking with several in Fire and Police, the City needs to support a much needed change in culture, PLUS funding for training, hiring additional FTEs, and honoring pay commitments. We need to rebuild, recruit, retain, and develop our human capital in both departments that are unequivocally understaffed in both.”
Now, remember, Amanda Lewis, Sarah Salgado, and Jason Roberson were supported financially during their campaigns by the Forney Police and Fire Associations. However, what they never mentioned during their campaigns or at any time during their terms in office is that current Fire Chief Derek Briggs had just disbanded Forney’s long-standing volunteer Fire Department. At the time the volunteer Fire Department was made up of approximately nine firefighters and the volunteer Fire Chief at the time was actively recruiting additional volunteers, as the FY2020 city budget allowed for up to 13 volunteer firefighters. All of the volunteer firefighters were certified Firefighters and certified Emergency Medical Technicians or Emergency Medical Aids so that all volunteers had the ability to respond to any call for service within the City of Forney or Emergency Services District 6, who even utilized the building that the current City Council has approved over $1.1m to use as a temporary fire station. Additionally, each volunteer Firefighter had a minimal cost to the city at $82.58 per shift. In comparison, an entry level Firefighter employed by the city requires a cost of approximately $90,000 per year. Apply that to the 13 volunteer firefighters in the city budget in 2020 and you are looking at over $1.1m per year. Much of the volunteer Fire Department was made up of long time Forney residents who were current or previous Firefighters who volunteered for the love of their city. But, without notice or explanation, current Fire Chief Derek Briggs disbanded the department and proceeded to tell Amanda Lewis, Sarah Salgado, and Jason Roberson during their meeting in April that they were “unequivocally understaffed.” Just yesterday, with Chief Briggs front and center, the Forney Fire Department posted a video announcing they are still looking to hire five more employees. Sounds like those 13 volunteer firefighters would come in handy right now, and at a much lower cost to taxpayers. Stay tuned, news keeps coming in about issues within the Fire Department, including a new revelation I received just today.