X

Opinion: City manager actions make residents fear for safety, says Ogdensburg resident

Posted 9/24/20

To the Editor: There has been an agreement in place between the Ogdensburg FD and Heuvelton FD since March 1, 2017, which states that OFD will respond to incidents in the Heuvelton Fire District that …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Opinion: City manager actions make residents fear for safety, says Ogdensburg resident

Posted

To the Editor:

There has been an agreement in place between the Ogdensburg FD and Heuvelton FD since March 1, 2017, which states that OFD will respond to incidents in the Heuvelton Fire District that warrant immediate response.

OFD chief at the time hand wrote a message across the bottom of the agreement, a copy of which was provided by the current Captain, which reads "If in doubt, Respond!!" It's obvious our past fire chief was concerned with the safety of all citizens. OFD and neighboring fire dept's have a long history of working together for the good of our communities.

On September 20, 2020, Ogdensburg's temporary, part-time city manager and acting fire chief, Stephen Jellie, issued a policy change stating that, effective immediately, all requests for mutual aid support outside the city of Ogdensburg must come directly from the St. Lawrence County Emergency Communications Center.

The practice of self-dispatching is no longer authorized. He goes on to say that automatic mutual aid agreements will be created with neighboring communities for "certain types of emergencies." To tell our firefighters to sit back and ignore an emergency situation in the surrounding area until they are dispatched through the SLC ECC is unacceptable! Every second counts!

Since Mr. Jellie's appointment, I'm told he has directed the OFD to stop reporting to EMS calls, refuses to use a $50,000 grant that was awarded to the OFD for a new mini pumper, has invalidated mutual aid agreements with our surrounding fire departments, and removed two vehicles from the OFD fleet, including a new SUV that was issued to them to replace an unreliable vehicle that provides equipment to off-duty firefighters who respond to an all-call fire. No one has seen this vehicle since shortly after it was delivered.

The citizens of Ogdensburg are strong supporters of our first responders, the people who come to our aid under the worst circumstances whether it's a fire, car accident, or home emergency. Mr. Jellie has no vested interest in our community, but he doesn't mind collecting a paycheck from Ogdensburg taxpayers. Many think that Mr. Jellie is acting at the bequest of the new mayor. Whether that's true or not, he's the one collecting the paycheck so the responsibility lies with him.

I feel my safety, as well as that of my loved ones, could now be jeopardized due to the actions of Mr. Jellie, therefore, this is a public notice to Stephen Jellie that should anything happen to me, my family, or our property due to his actions, I will hold him personally responsible.

Darcy Larock

Ogdensburg