Hello citizens. One of the five things you need to know today is in regards to the Central Coventry Fire District budget meeting. Here are some things you need to know before attending tonight's meeting. Happy reading! (this is a re-post from earlier today, I just felt it more germane to this thread. I have deleted the other posts)

In recent weeks, there has been a steady stream of accusations levied against the Central Coventry Fire District by businessman and property owner John Assalone. There have been quite a few ads that have run weekly in the Coventry Reminder, leading up to the District’s Annual Meeting scheduled tonight, Monday( 10/1012) at Town Hall Annex. Initially, the statements made by Mr. Assalone raised my eyebrow, but after seeing some of the recent rebuttals made by the firemen of his assertions, my other eyebrow was equally raised. I took a pause, and asked myself, “Self, what is at the root of Mr. Assalone’s motivation to go on the attack against a fire department?”, so naturally I had to start a Crusade. I found some interesting facts that in my opinion, have found Mr. Assalone’s motivations to be suspect; disingenuous at best, ominously sinister at worst.

In a rebuttal to “set the record straight”, an ad was run in the Reminder and the Coventry Courier this past week regarding Mr. Assalone’s accusations. The ad in question asserts that Mr. Assalone operates and controls seventeen (17) individual business entities, all based in Coventry. I decided to do some fact checking, and lo and behold, that is true. The RI Secretary of State’s website here: http://sos.ri.gov/business/ lists those seventeen separate companies, all run from the same address: 1A Liena-Rose Way, in the Westwood Estates Mobile Home Park which Mr. Assalone owns and operates. If one is to conduct a search of Coventry properties here: http://www.appraisalresource.com/OnlineDatabases.aspx and enters the various business names, or Mr. Assalone’s name as the “owner”, you will see a mix of residential and commercial properties with a combined value in millions of dollars. One property alone, at 1650 Nooseneck Hill Rd listed under Boston Neck Realty (BNR on the SOS website) has an assessed value of $1.1 million. In exploring the diversity of how these various properties are owned, it dawned on me: the bulk of these commercial properties are located in old, pre-consolidated Central Coventry Fire District. Where have I written about this same situation before?

Here: http://coventry.patch.com/articles/raptakis-responds-to-gorman-deficit-explanation when I did an investigation about Mr. Raptakis’s properties during the run up to the Raptakis/Gorman primary. I have to believe that what motivated Mr. Raptakis’s allegations for the most part mirrors Mr. Assalone’s. The difference is that Mr. Assalone has a much greater financial interest at stake than does Mr. Raptakis. It is easily understood that Mr. Assalone operates a mini empire in Coventry, and therefore can it also be easily reasonable to assume that he would go to great lengths to keep said empire generating profits for himself?

The rebuttal ad (found here: http://www.server-jbmultimedia.net/RIReminder/sitebase/data/editions/208262/img/large/2759477.htm) raises the possibility that Mr. Assalone does not reside full time in Coventry. He keeps his voter registration at 3 Sabina Court, but records show the home at that address is not owned by Mr. Assalone (http://www.appraisalresource.com/PropertyDetail.aspx?town=Coventry&id=3398). The Reminder ad references Snug Harbor, which is in South Kingstown, as a possible place of residence.

A search of property records for the Town of South Kingstown here: http://data.visionappraisal.com/southkingstownri/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=9262 (click on Rhode Island, then South Kingstown, then Enter Database, and enter Assalone in the query by owner box) lists a large residential property at 158A Sherman Road assessed at nearly $1.2 million, owned by John R. Assalone. The property is visually stunning, as you can see here: http://www.planomatic.com/7640 . Judging by the photos and property description, the compound is a genuine slice of South County Heaven. An interesting tidbit I came across is that Mr. Assalone, and his wife Maureen Armonies-Assalone, seem to be, to their credit, committed to physical fitness.

In that vein, I found results from a 5K road race from July, 2007 in which the Armonies-Assalone family were participants, and actually did quite well. Here are their official results, from the company that tracked all the registered participants:

CELEBRATE SUMMER 2007
13th Annual 5k Run/Walk
Snug Harbor - Wakefield, RI July 21, 2007
Results by: +ORGANIZATION PLUS+ Road Race Management Services

Place Div/Tot No. Name Ag S City St Club Time Pace
207 31/37 444 ARMONIES GIOVANNI 11 M S KINGSTOWN RI 31:21 10:06
221 32/53 443 ARMONIES MAUREEN 48 F S KINGSTOWN RI 32:59 10:37
259 23/30 445 ASSALONE JOHN 64 M S KINGSTOWN RI 39:13 12:38

**Take note of the city/town listed by the participants when they registered**

Now this by no means is a legal documentation of residence, nor is it a declaration of residency, but it really does make one think doesn’t it?

The link I provided that shows the home in it’s stunning detail is actually meant to showcase the home, as it’s for sale with an asking price of $2.5 million. The dumping of such a pristine piece of property had me scratching my follically deficient head: Why? It’s an absolute paradise. Then I found this:
http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/08/jury-awards-cra.html , and the math and logic begin to add up. The facts of the accident are profoundly tragic, and the affects have and will leave both families deeply scarred for many years. It brings me no joy or pleasure to report this to you, but it must be included in the conversation as it begs questions. Is Mr. Assalone’s empire in jeopardy as a result of this decision? If so, does this factor into his attack on the Fire District as part of a veiled attempt to hold onto every dollar he can? Can he really be so insidious as to potentially reduce the level of public safety to hundreds of residents of this Town, through his attempted budget cuts, to protect the profitability of his own empire? In attempting to seek out the public court records to verify the details of the accident, I was told the case has been sealed by the court.

What does it cost in legal services to have the records of such a tragic case sealed and hidden from public view? What is contained in those records that someone has gone to such lengths to prevent the public from knowing the facts? Remember, the courts are public entities, funded by we the taxpayers, and doesn’t the taxpaying public have a right to know the facts of a case that most likely expended large amounts of taxpayer money to adjudicate? Ironic, isn’t it, that I’ve heard Mr. Assalone make similar statements in many a public venue?

These questions really have made me question the sincerity of Mr. Assalone’s other charges regarding fire district finances. I don’t doubt that there are probably financial strains on the district, but what form of government in Rhode Island is not facing some type of problems these days? I thought the rebuttal ad presented reasonable explanations to Mr. Assalone’s assertions. I find his charge of a 65% pay raise for the firemen to be nothing more than number twisting to substantiate his claim. The deficit claim he makes is also suspect, given what appears to be a strong motive in sustaining his profit margins, coupled with what could very well be questionable accounting practices on the part of the district treasurer, who has coincidentally resigned since the announcement that a forensic audit of the district finances is underway. What is really chilling to me, with all of these disingenuous assertions and questionable motives, is that Mr. Assalone may be able to forward his agenda of reducing the level of safety and security for hundreds of Coventry families, for his personal financial gain. I for one, will be attending the meeting Monday evening, with an open mind to hear exactly what the fire district is proposing and how they explain it. I intend to do this devoid of the outside influence of personal agendas, and cast my vote accordingly. I strongly suggest the rest of you do the same.

In order to make a truely educated decision you should consider the ramifications of cuts and who you realy want to pay.
Insurance rates for home owners and buisness are set by the I.S.O. and use a scale of 1 to 10 to rate towns and cities down to neighborhoods to set premium rates for your hazard insurance (fire insurance). The I.S.O. rate take into account such factors as number of emergency personnel on duty to respond to a call, number of trucks on initial response, number of gallons each truck is capable of pumping per minute, quality of hydrant and water system, age and testing of fire hose, age and testing of trucks, dispatch set up, and one of my favorits is how many miles away are these assets ( you can not count mutual aid as the insurance industry states they have there own towns to take care of).. This list goes on a little bit more but i think you get the picture of how your home owners or buissness insurance can change.
You have a choice to make, pay your insurance bill with a hefty increase or keep funding your public safety with knowing that when something happens at 2:00 a.m. to you and your family you have public safety coming to your emegency right away and with the people and equipment to treat or save. Anyone can put out a foundation but only a properly equiped and trained department can save and preserve life and property. I have seen rates more than double by the ISO and all of these facts can be found on the web just by using google.. GOOD LUCK !

We do not need all the firemen and stations that we currently have. How many fires do we actually have? Do we need to send a firetruck on every ambulance call? This is a way of doubling their call log. Granted firemen are very important to our community but the benefits and pensions they receive are ridiculous. Besides a lot of the current firemen are not physically fit and they also use these trucks that get 3 miles to the gallon to go grocery shopping. Do they really need more food? can't they shop before going their shift. It's a good old boys club that protect their own. These men should be required to pass a vigirous physical fitness test on a yearly basis. Firemans union? Unions were needed in this country at one time. No more...all they do is protect the lazy man. Let's get real here folks. The fire departments in this town are breaking peoples banks with the taxes they require to maintain all the equipment and salaries. I grew up in this town when it was an all volunteer dept. Now 7 stations, some within a mile of each other? We need to consolidate and have ONE chief to control this mess we are in. Do we need 38 superintendents in RI when the LA county has one with more students? GET REAL WE ARE BEING DUPED by union leaders any whining firemen.

As a mother of 4 small children I want to know that a paid, professional fire/EMT crew is coming if I have an emergency. I don't want to wait and see if a volunteer with who knows what kind of experience is going to show up. These guys put their lives on the line. Their kids and families spend holidays, birthdays, and lots of other important times with out their husband/dad because they are ready to respond to help others in need. You may have grown up in this town with all volunteers but times have changes and this town has changed. It is a growing community not the small town it used to be. TIME FOR YOU TO GET REAL!!!

Real deal, lots of your questions can be answered easily if you choose to look and learn..if you do not want to ask Coventry go to a outside department and ask. Conventry should have a physical fitness plan and hastoo many chiefs. Fire trucks respond to medical calls to help lift and carry not so fit patients safely (safety for patient and crew) as well as to assist in treatment and equipment. Days of scoop and screw get people a trip to the morgue. Best chance of recovery is ALS in the first few minutes. Volunteers find it hard to maintain training level required and feeding family.

Conventry Fire salary breaking the bank? Compare it to the rest of R.I. and New England and you will be surprised. Again, your insurance premium change will be much higher than your fire tax but you can deduct your fire tax right?

i have to agree with THE REAL DEAL. I drive by all the time and see a group of firemen having a barbecue and laughing in front of the station.I have also seen coventrys fire truck at walmart a few times, only to see two firemen come out with shopping bags. Im thinking the negative commenting people are also living off of these highly paid paychecks, and they are just trying to protect it. Who in their right mind would say NO to cutting some of the fire department or police stations funding? Im thinking it must be someone without a television and doesnt see whats going on in the world and how bad its going to get if spending doesnt slow down. Right now the fire and police are spending more than what is in their budget. I'll give you a hint on who picks up the tab for them over-spending.Look in the mirror. Now adays there is No repercussion for anything.If an official does wrong, then they simply resign. I would love to rob a bank, then when i get caught, just to resign from my job and everything will be ok. Wake up people and stop listening to these others that say they would rather have twenty firemen arriving for a choking victim, than just one well trained person. They are merely also living off their husbands/wifes pensions.

Hey REAL DEAL. The Idea of consolidating is awesome. It should be one fire district for coventry with one chief, one tax rate and one consistent level of care. However please don't insult the hard working professional men and women firefighters and emt's in this town by saying they are whining. The fact is they are the ones along with the tax payers who are victims of all of this. Blame the people who are responsible. The leaders of the four districts in town including the board of directors for each district and certain chiefs of certain districts who fear losing control or their " kingdom" so to speak. As far as stations go if there were to be a consolidation in the future there is probably certain stations that could be strategically closed. HOWEVER, The personnel that go with those stations should not be eliminated, rather redistributed through out the other stations so the manpower would actually be appropriate for each piece of apparatus. I am sure if you asked any of the firemen your self I believe to your surprise most would be very much in favor of a merge and would agree with you. Now as far as the ridiculous benefits they receive i believe they are just in receiving them. As you may or may not know they do contribute to their health care costs each week however specific amounts i am not aware of i believe it is lower than most due to the fact that their hourly rate is only around $20.00 per hour.

Im also thinking that the fire stations are so close together that they have a weekly lottery to see which station is going to take the most calls, and pay for the next barbecue.

They do receive a pension after 30 years of service and the average pension is probably only in the upper 30,000's. I know we hear horror stories of other communities handing out these six figure pensions from city systems but this is not the case in coventry. I understand everyones frustration however just because the fireman are an easy target in todays financial mess does not mean they should be the first ones we fire at. Look to the ones making the decisions. Thank you

I have been working at the same company for over ten years now. They just started to lay people off to cut cost. Do you think that sending those about-to-be laid off people to one of the sister companies would save the company any money? No it wouldnt. We have to start cutting costs all through the state and towns, but no matter where they should be cut, there are others whining about it. It needs to be done. Coventry will be a ghost town craving for funding really soon, if nothing gets done. why wait til its too late? Get it done before more damage is done.I was a rep for my local union, trust me i know how unions work, and there is no telling me differently. The unions would bankrupt the state as long as those workers are still going to cut them a check.

If you think these bullies are professionals you should have heard the cat calls and threats last night from the FF when anyone even mentioned examining where the money goes or suggesting that spending be cut to maintain the current tax rate....

Realdeal, you are right, fires are down...but there still has to be a system in place when there is one. Where were you 10 years ago when the economy was good and everyone was making more than the firemen were??? The pay and benefits haven't changed much since then but now you complain. What should a firefighter make? Minimum wage maybe? You'll get nice quality with that. Why don't you go and volunteer and help the town out. Merge? The Town wants nothing to do with teh Fire Districts. Come up with a workable merger plan and put it out there. It probably needs to be done but so far a fair plan hasn't come out.

I am just one voice but I can say unequivocally that the new combined fire district of CC/Tiogue/Washington & Harris is just too expensive for the average taxpayer that has to pay for this consolidation. First off the volunteers were disposed of and replaced by full time paid firefighters and EMT's. While this may be providing better professionalism it is cosiderably more expensive. And why 16 Leutenants and 4 deputy chiefs as well as several Captains in a department of 52? Anyone can see the new department is top heavy with brass. I do appreciate the job these men and women do to keep us safe but the cost may be too heavy in difficult times and thought should be given to looking at the entire town and how it could be better served with a single combined department. After all the best trained and staffed department in the state is not worth it if the taxpayers are unable to afford the tab.

Gerard, the FD is set up like the military. There is a deputy chief on each shift to oversee the District. He is the incident commander when there is an incident. Each truck has a Lt on it. Someone needs to be in charge. Same as in every other town, be it Vol or paid. The deputy gives orders to a Lt and the Lt organizes his men to get it done. I think all the people here that have no actual knowledge and like to bad mouth firefighters may have confused you and many others..

Leave RI, I do not think he insulted the military. I believe what he is trying to say is chain of command. Are you going to tell me that the miliary does not have chain of command? Chain of command is all part of NIMS and Incident Management per a Presidential Directive after 9/11..... Fire Deaprtments called it the Incident Command System and have been using it for years prior to NIMS. ICS started out in the mid west to manage large scale forest fires and it has worked so good it is used vountry wide big or small.

LeaveR, obviously you have an agenda to push here, that's fine, push away. You also have no idea how a Fire department operates or is organized. I suggest you go and see for yourself. The Fire department isn't a mob that does what it wants, no matter what ou choose to say here. Put some FACTS behind your rhetoric.

John, we all know whats going on. no need for name calling. your screaming at everyone like your about to lose a pension. cuts need to start somewhere, and hopefully the cuts happen before the pension checks get written out. its a start in the right direction. there will be cuts in every town.

Leave RI, RS is right. The fire department is a para military orginization, such as the police department, and many other orginizations..... No need to take what he wrote out of context, we all know these orginizations are not the military, but I beleive we all support our military 100% regardless how we feel about local issues.....Just saying.

WOW .
I see a lot of people are upset the way this meeting went well it wouldn't have dragged on if it weren't for all the non district people that voiced in the yea's and nea's Understand what I am saying there were many people that were ""not"" district taxpayers that chimed in with their voice vote last night and I think it was rude of the men to try to delay this debarkel we have had since the merged , yea merge which should have been = reduce+ reorginize and down size not increase with a downward economy in full view. This was just another way they ticked off the taxpayers .
Well guys your life line got voted out and the other one left a month ago although it was a good run but you know as I know good things must come to an end. The taxpayers voiced were heard loud and clear, so lets move on and cut some jobs we do not need and work to cut the budget and act like a Town should . Good for the ones that got up. I think whoever is on the board left form the past should step down we need new Idears to float the boat.

By the way Anthony is a lot more expensive , Where is the outrage???

John, do not listen that cuts will happend in every town. Lots of towns realize that the increase in a towns ISO rating when you strip your fire protection means a much higher cost in your hazards insurance premium. When home owner, commercial and renter insurance rates sky rocket who are you going to go after?

The town adopted a tiered property tax program a few years back. It was mirrored after the tax program in West Warwick. As most know we had a assessor working in Cov and WW at the time and a lawyer who worked very closely with WW's lawyer. Mr. A's trailer park was going to be classified as commercial property under that "New" tiered tax policy. In comes Mr. A to the democrat controlled Town Clowncil meeting and pleads the case to the TC that he doesn't pay the property taxes at the trailer park, the residents do. Its known as a "pass thru" meaning what ever the property taxes are in the park he divides it between the residents and they pay it to him and he pays it to the town. This is a very common practice in leased land and trailer or mobile home parks. The democrat controlled Town Council approved that change for him and I think all trailer parks in town. The democrat TC also hired his daughter as a lawyer and his relative as the inspector as mentioned.

I attended the meeting. I live in the district, and I was offended by actions and words of the very same people who demand to be called professional fire fighters. It was very obvious who they were and they all sat together in the back for the most part. Any time a person went to the microphone to speak they heckled that person if they were in opposition of the budget. There was one wife or girlfriend of a FF that kept yelling out "I hope you don't need a rescue" and "I hope you don't have a fire"
Was that some sort of threat? Was it just unprofessional behavior? I was on the fence about the budget. Its not a big increase for me as my home has a low value but the conduct of these professionals turned me to the opposition. They looked and acted like a bunch school yard bully's. As a Vietnam Vet I've seen allot of things, come up against allot of scary people and these guys acted like little children who didn't get their way.
The last Chief Seltzer came to my house and detailed the merge to me and my neighbors a few years back. He promised savings and a consolidation of services and equipment duplication. That hasn't happened. We now spend more than we did before and the population has gone down or stayed stagnant.

Fred it was not just FF ,i was in the back and had plenty of taxpayers making comments in fact I finally had to turn around ,and tell them (do you mind ) so dont just blame the FF . this meeting was a joke ,and a political stunt ,if you were paying attention all the key players were the wealthy buisnessman all they care about is their pocket

I also sat in that meeting and found most in the back were FF and other's from cour other fire districts in this town. Qpen meetings are fine but non taxpayers from other districts should be in a segerated area so their presents should not be heard or felt.
I am glad to see the taxpayers finally show up and stood up for control because no one was watching the store for some time now . Keep in mind in the beginning all intension were great to be one district and consolidate use buying power to keep the cost down, but after the first year it was reversed .
We did need non fire personal to manage this district and sit in on contract negeotaions we are not dealing with a hundred thousand dollar budgets its millions we are talking about we do not need past fire personal or anyone that is affiliated with anyone employed with fire district . I od think all other board members that are left should step down.

What happen to the volunteer ask a FF how they got rid of them you will get an answer like their not trained .
Well ask if they ever was a volunteer and you get an answer yes from most so they just wrote off the young guy that had time to serve his district and save the taxpayers some money.

Fred Gravy, the hydrant distance is a correct factor but only part of the table of price setting.

True example: Several years ago a ISO visit happend in a town in R.I. that had a previous ISO rating of 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 (lower the # better for you). This town had made improvements in number of firefighter, number of trucks and how much water they can pump, age and testing of hose and trucks, trianing, dispatch etc. The towns rate went from 6 to 4 meaning big savings on policies.
Now for the ISO bomb, they changed the rate for all policy holders living 5 or more road miles from station to a 10 and more than doubled the policy.

You can be pretty much guarantee an ISO visit with the press you all got on the News Networks. With the recent increase in fire protection under Chief Seltzer you should of had another visit to reset the rate.

This will be my last comment on this issue I am a Central Coventry taxpayer and I do know what I seen , the CCFF are not the problem there are a lot of great people that happen to work for the district some are my neighbors friends and family and they should also have a voice if they lived in the district and paid taxes in this district , no other FF or person' s should have got past the door without showing the red bracelet that was given to them when they checked in. All non district taxpayers should have gone to the room or area to observe the meeting but this didnt happed. I seen it and was utterly upset hopefully this does not happen again.
It just seem's like the board and its members is out of sink with the firefighters and taxpayers truely. they it showed they have no clue on what a budget is or why we even have a budget never mind the charter that was drawn up ask any of them they will say whats that.

Keep in mind We are in the red right now but we will come out stronger than ever and hopefully we learn for our mistakes and use the tax dollars wisely.
So the firefighters are not the problem or has never been the problem again top management has failed the tax payers along with the past Chief .The merger plan would have worked if they managed it the way it was presented to the taxpayers some time back and designed from the beginning . Didn't they have Hill Farm station shut down ,why is it open this is a waste two stations should have been shut down to consoladate or maybe three.
All of the board members left form the beginning of this cluster should resign you all did a poor job.

John and S Murray,
you both have merit..I like the fact that Murray says openly what he can and can't address and John says stuff about operational FD issues, and unless he's a FF, has no business addressing,

I know ff have a hard job as do alot of people, but is it really smart to give pensions out like they do? i dont know of any job that does that. in my opinion i would keep all the ff working as long as their contracts are changed so that the language says that they all put in their 401k plan and no early retirement crap. we all work hard and have to get our 401's, so should the ff. in the long run it would save money.

Yea thats what I want a 65 year old Firefighter to climb up a ladder to save my ass!! and when you say" keep them all working as long as theyr'e contracts are changed" kind of sounds like china?? Are you a communist?

Realistic voter,No one wants 65 yo ff's showing up when your house is on fire and the same for obese ff's like we see at one station in particular. You can not have your cake and eat it too I'm afraid. The ff's need to choose between high pay and high retirement pay. With the current mismanaged of debt there are not enough funds for both. 401k's are going to be the new norm. And FF's and police O's who retire at 40-45 collect a fat check while they go to work on pension #2 was not the intention of the system. It's un-sustainable sorry to burst your bubble.

People are not going to die because we limited the annual spending increase to 4.25%. Every city and town in the state has to live within that increase, why is CCFD different? Its the lack of management and oversight that put us in this position. The union took advantage of that so they need to share in the pain, but should not bear the whole brunt. The absentee voting public needs to share some pain aswell, maybe next time they will attend a few meetings.
The real shocker from Monday that was kind of hidden because of the way it was presented is the projected budget for 12-13 is higher than the current revenue. Way higher with a huge deficit from years past. I am in favor of a tiered tax system and It will mean lower tax rates for residential property and a higher for commercial property. The commercial property in Anthony got clobbered last year in their tiered system. Res rates had little change, probably election year tactics but I don't hear the Residential owners complaining, Commercial property doesn't vote so they put the increase on them.
MrA has skin in the game on this, all his trailer people are taxed as Res on the property tax side so it will effect his bottom line. ExSen Blais on the other hand only has Res property in the district so a tiered system actually lowers his rate. I think his input was more geared toward proper procedure and a legal charter.

Well it looks like we know what needs to be done. So lets vote on it and see what we can all do together to help our town.

FYI - ISO doesn't set any insurance rates. It does the classification standards. The insurance companies rely on them, but each company sets their own rates.

Rick, yeh right the insurance companies are not going to miss a chance to raise your rate once a new hazard classification is assigned by the ISO because let me guess...oh in Coventry the are owned and operated by the tooth ferry right.