Prince George’s firefighters are locked in a bitter dispute over changes to the county’s volunteer fire commission, leading volunteers to walk away from the negotiating table without a compromise.
Volunteer and career firefighters are divided over what the makeup of the volunteer fire commission should be — county officials and the fire department want the nine-member panel to include citizens and a residency requirement, while volunteers have balked at deals that would lessen their sway over the budget and reduce the number of volunteers sitting on the commission.
Volunteers were unsuccessful in attempts to work with county officials and stopped negotiations with the fire department, wrote Glenn Sherman, president of the county Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, in a letter to County Executive Rushern Baker and Fire Chief Marc Bashoor in early January.
Bashoor said volunteers backed away from negotiations with the fire department shortly after the letter was sent, opting instead to negotiate directly with the county executive’s office.
Sherman did not return calls for comment.
Baker’s proposal, which he withdrew in October, would have overhauled the commission to include three volunteers, three career firefighters and three civilians instead of the nine volunteers on the current panel. Commission members would be nominated, rather than elected from the volunteer ranks.
The two sides have since returned to the negotiating table, and firefighters now have until May 1 to reach a compromise.
Some measures, such as a requirement that all commissioners be county residents, are nonnegotiable, Bashoor said.
He said he hopes the appointment of a new deputy fire chief will help smooth negotiations. Frank Underwood, a former volunteer commission and lifetime volunteer firefighter, will act as a liaison between the county fire department and the volunteer force.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to smooth out the things that we can smooth out,” he said, comparing volunteer and career firefighters to cats and dogs. “The things that are nationally driven, that are historically driven, will take years to solve.”
Councilman Will Campos, D-Hyattsville, promised to reintroduce legislation completing Baker’s original plan if no compromise is reached.
