SFD Candidate: Douglas Fitzpatrick says facts important3 min read

October 15, 2010

Douglas Fitzpatrick, 62, wants to use his background as an attorney to help the Sedona Fire District.

Fitzpatrick, running for an SFD Governing Board seat, moved to the Village of Oak Creek in 1982 from Phoenix. He was born and raised in New Jersey and attended college in Chicago. He graduated from the Kent College of Law in Chicago in 1975 and started practicing law in 1977.

While in law school, Fitzpatrick worked as a private investigator, and he believes this type of work proved to be good experience for his career.

“Getting the facts is important no matter what you do,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said he knows from firsthand experience the district’s importance to the community. He recalled the professionalism and compassion firefighters showed when they arrived to treat his wife, who was in excruciating pain.

If elected, Fitzpatrick would like to decrease overtime firefighters receive. He said the 20,000 overtime hours district employees received in 2009 was way too high.

He said there needs to be a way to change a good percentage of the overtime pay to straight-time pay.

Hiring additional firefighters to work the extra hours could be a solution, he said. However, overtime will always be needed for the district.

“It’s the nature of the beast for the fire district to have a substantial overtime budget,” he said.

Firefighters are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week with mandated staffing requirements, so cutting all overtime would be impossible, he said.

Fitzpatrick said another priority is for the Chapel area station to become a reality.

Although he supports the Chapel area station, his mind is not made up on its size. Building a three-bay station would prepare the district for the future.

Having space to store fire equipment and apparatus is another benefit a station in the Chapel area would provide. Fitzpatrick also said the ladder truck would be at this station due to its central location.

The three-bay station design has been completed. Making another design for a two-bay station would not be cheap, he said.

However, he said, he could be persuaded to vote for a two-bay station.

Fitzpatrick also opposes ambulance privatization because he thinks private companies would be more interested in profits than providing service.

“It is and should be a dead issue,” he said.

Changing to a volunteer fire district would likely not work, Fitzpatrick said. He would keep an open mind to having trained volunteers on hand to help the district.

He is highly skeptical volunteers could provide the same service residents have come to expect from the fire district.

Another goal Fitzpatrick has is decreasing the district’s Insurance Service Office rating by one point. He said doing this would result in a substantial savings to residents in the district, since fire insurance costs would go down.

ISO surveys communities on a regular basis to determine the public protection classification for the fire protection services protecting the community. The classification is used to gauge the ability of a local fire agency to respond to fires and affects homeowner’s insurance rates.

While he has the support and backing of the Sedona Verde Valley Firefighters Association, Fitzpatrick said the majority of his support is coming from the community.

“I am proud to have their support,” he said referring to the firefighter’s union.