Study Would Be Fair, Councilmen Tell Fahey
By Michael O’connor, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Sep. 28–Omaha City Council members objected today to an accusation from Mayor Mike Fahey that a proposed public safety study would be biased and aimed at privatizing the city’s ambulance service.
Councilman Franklin Thompson said the study would be an objective examination of the Police and Fire Departments.
“It has to be a fair and comprehensive study without hidden agendas,” he said.
Fahey on Wednesday vetoed spending $376,000 in city funds for a study of the Police and Fire Departments. He said that study would have a predetermined goal of privatizing the ambulance service.
In his veto letter, Fahey accuses City Council President Dan Welch of having concluded “that we should eliminate our 14 rescue squads in order to save money.”
Welch said he has reached no conclusions. He emphasized that ambulance service would be only one of a range of public safety issues the comprehensive study would examine.
“If private (ambulance) service is as good as public service and can save tax dollars, we need to think about making a change,” Welch said.
Thompson said it’s important to study ambulance service.
“The study would be a failure if we skirt that question,” he said.
But he said the study would look at more than just ambulance service and would be a comprehensive review of public safety.
Councilman Chuck Sigerson said he would support hiring a consultant only if he was certain that the study would be objective.
“I’m demanding a fair study,” Sigerson said. “My goal is to save the taxpayers money.”
Sigerson said the study should look at all aspects of public safety.
Lincoln has experimented with privatized ambulance service, but in 2000 the council voted to turn the rescue service over to the Lincoln Fire and Rescue Department. Citizen complaints about response times under the private service were a factor in the decision, which was upheld by voters in a ballot issue.
Private ambulance service can work in a number of ways. It can be provided by hospitals or a private company, said Omaha Fire Chief Robert Dahlquist.
Omaha’s dispute over the ambulance service marks one of the sharpest clashes between the council and Fahey during his five years in office.
Welch said Fahey’s accusation about privatizing the ambulance service is the latest in a series of attempts by the administration to derail the study.
“After a while, you get the impression they just don’t want to see the study done,” Welch said.
The conflict over the study has been brewing for several months. The council voted earlier this month to move general fund money into the council’s account for an outside public safety study.
The council says it found extra money in undercounted cable TV franchise fees to pay for the study.
The mayor has said he doesn’t want to spend money he doesn’t believe the city has.
In his veto letter, Fahey said he intends to have the police and fire chiefs “conduct a top to bottom review of their departments.” The review, which a mayoral aide says would have minimal costs, would have oversight by two local university officials and members of the City Council.
Five council members have consistently backed the plan for an outside study. Welch said he believes the support remains. The council would need five votes to override Fahey’s veto of the money for the outside study.
Along with Welch, Sigerson and Thompson, those who backed funding for the study were Councilmen Jim Suttle and Jim Vokal.
Welch, Sigerson and Thompson said today that they intend to vote to override the veto. The other council members who supported the study could not be reached for comment.
Welch has identified cities similar in size to Omaha that have lower fire service costs, including Colorado Springs, Colo.; Wichita, Kan.; Tulsa, Okla.; Arlington, Texas; Mesa, Ariz.; and Virginia Beach, Va.
Fahey said he believes that Welch wants to privatize Omaha’s ambulance service because those cities do not operate their own rescue service, said Paul Landow, the mayor’s chief of staff.
Welch said he thinks a study will find cost savings and wonders how other similarly sized cities can operate their departments so much cheaper than Omaha does.
In his veto letter, Fahey also said he asked for an equal say in developing the scope of the outside study and selecting the consultant but said that was rejected by Welch in a Sept. 22 letter.
Welch said he asked the Fahey administration to be part of the process but could not promise that the mayor would be able to sign off on the consultant and the study’s scope.
Welch said that’s because he believes the Fahey administration has opposed the study, which could make it hard for the council and the mayor to agree in a short time on a consultant and the study’s guidelines.
Landow said there was no offer of any kind from Welch for the administration to participate in the study process.
Welch said the city cannot wait to launch a thorough study because negotiations on three-year police and fire contracts will begin next spring. He said it would be ideal to have a study wrapped up by the middle of 2007 so it could have a bearing on the contracts.
The mayor’s review by the police and fire chiefs would be overseen by a study committee led by Patrick Borchers, dean of the Creighton University Law School, and B.J. Reed, dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service at UNO.
Fahey also will ask three members of the City Council to join the committee.
“I can assure you that it will not cost several hundred thousand tax dollars to get this done,” Fahey said.
Welch said Borchers and Reed are both capable. But Welch said it’s worth spending money on an outside consultant who has the time and the expertise in public safety to produce a high-quality study.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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