Big Tree VFD Ignores Town Ordinances
6 04 2008Over the last week or so I have gotten a few e-mails from some people letting me know that the Big tree Volunteer Fire Hall is hard at work clearing the trees and brush from their new property on the corner of Big Tree Rd. and Bristol St. in Hamburg. These people are mad for several reasons and the least of which was more green space being torn down. I believe most people in this fire district are dismayed at how a Fire Hall can simply raise your taxes 9.2%, pay three hundred thousand dollars + for new property and plan to build a four million dollar fire hall without involving the public in any way.
Did someone forget these fire districts are not for profit organizations and require town oversight? Apparently the new Fire chief at BTVFD and their new President just don’t give a shit because Hamburg First verified today that the BTVFD has not received the necessary permits to begin clearing the property and certainly didn’t get anyone’s permission to start burning the brush from their efforts. That’s right folks, BTVFD has snubbed their noses at the appropriate town ordinances requiring them to get permits.
I went over to the sight of this burning and asked the Fire Chief if he had indeed had those permits and he told me he didn’t need any. Do you believe that? So my next call was to Supervisor Walters who didn’t even know they were starting this project. It’s my understanding he was also under the impression that the BTVFD would be consulting the town board before any action like this were to ever take place.
I then called police dispatch to find out if they were aware of this brush burning? I was told the Town Building Inspector gave the fire hall permission to go ahead without the proper permits. Who the hell does this guy think he is? There are town ordinances in place for this kind of stuff for a reason and just because he may be the Building Inspector doesn’t give him the authority to decide what law he will follow and what one he won’t.
107-11. Permit required;
| A. | None of the following activities shall be commenced until a permit has been issued under the provisions of this article:
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As you can clearly see Section 107-11 #2 and #5 clearly state that a permit is needed for the BTVFD to proceed in clearing the property of trees and brush. Will the Town Council continue to allow the BTVFD to ignore the very laws that we have to obey every day? We will see tomorrow when I try and get some answers from the Town Hall. This Building Inspector should receive disciplinary action for ignoring the very codes he is sworn to uphold. Perhaps termination would be in order. I also have unconfirmed reports that Hamburg Town Highway Department equipment was used to clear this property. If true, that is a clear violation of state law and someone should go to jail. As you probably know, several Highway Superintendents have recently been prosecuted by the Feds for doing that kind of crap. I’ll be looking into that fact this week as well. As always, I’ll keep you informed.
Ford,
I find this ridiculous. They have fire equipment that is suppose to be protecting the district dedicated so they can burn their own brush. Besides not having a permit what if their was a fire? Would the people their be able to get that piece of equipment to the scene in a timely fashion. This fire chief has some balls taking a piece of equipment out of service so they can burn brush.
I think this should go to the town board since equipment is being abused, the district is put at risk, and laws are being broken. I cannot even burn a small pile of leaves but its ok for the fire company to do it.
Everyone knows that it is against the law to burn in this town! Just goes to show you that the Fire Co.’s can do what ever they want in Hamburg. Including having a fish fry without a Health Department approved kitchen. How many people went home sick. There is NO oversight, the Town Board GIVES them the taxpayer money and they spend it without any control. That is why Big Tree has has so many problems with with missing cash, stolen gas, and court action that resulted in payment to a former Chief. The tax payers of Hamburg give all the Fire Departments big bucks and the Town board has no control over what they do with the money. It’s called ‘BUY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT VOTES”. When they were taking dow the brush there were town highway trucks at that sight. Mr. Connely should account to the actions of his crews working for the fire department, they don’t even pay taxes! Great Photo’s Ford! Keep up the good work! Maybe you could take Photo’s of the Town Crews doing jobs for that Non for profit Fire Company.
Anonymous
Maybe you should get your eyes examined!!!!!!!!!!!! The photos that are posted do not show any Town of Hamburg Highway Department trucks.
Should’nt the tax payers of the big tree fire protection district be happy that the fire company members, whom already dedicate their time answering calls, is taking even more time out of their lives and saving the tax payers money by cleaning up the land themselves? Also by them cleaning up the property, isn’t it much nicer to drive by and not see the garbage that people have thrown there? They are making it safer by cleaning up the damaged trees. The property was an eyesore and now they are trying to make something of it. I give Kudos to everyone who is helping them clean it up. It would be nice to see the rest of the community chip in and give a hand.
Happy citizen,
It does not matter if they are trying to save money or not. Their are laws against what they are doing. They are breaking the law,plain and simple. I also thought part of that was wetlands and shouldnt their be a enviromental impact study done.
Why does the fire company think they are above the laws?
It is not completely against the law to have fires in this town. Although the burning of cut trees in the clearing of land is an Environmental Conservation law violation.
This doesn’t look like site preperation to me. It seems to me like they are just clearing damaged branches and trees. No permit needed for that. And the whole corner that is currently cleared looks like grass…hmm…I guess I’ll have to go get a permit to do my yardwork too. Also I have looked through the town code and have found nothing that makes burning illegal if it is more than 50 feet away from a building. I’ve driven by several time and never once saw a town truck there. Even when the town picked up the brush in that neighborhood last week, that brush never moved.
Anonymous, can you prove the kitchen isn’t certified? It needs to be inspected every year so I think your a little off and I had that dinner which was excellent. I didn’t hear of anyone getting sick. Why do you think they tried the fundraiser…to lighten the burden on taxpayers. Duh.
Steve, who said that engine was out of service? I drove by this day and saw a number of firemen standing around it. This would mean that if a call did go off they would go to it even faster. Use your head.
Why cant people just be happy that the fire company is trying to make this property look nice? They are doing it without paying people and doing it on their own time. Maybe you should go to the building department that told the chief he didn’t need the permits. If the company asked and received that answer you cant fault them for it.
I would like to make a public statement, and say Thank You for the Volunteer Fire Personnel in Hamburg, both Village and Town. I know for a fact that I couldn’t make the commitment that these men and women do year after year. Today with all of the mandated training and time commitment we as residences should all appreciate what these people do.
Let’s support them……
So what you’re saying is that no matter what they wish to do, or how much of your money they wish to spend, we should all just bow to their wishes because they volunteer their time as firemen? I have to disagree with that sentiment. This particular Fire Company has hidden their wealth from the public, continued to make money even though they are considered non-profit, hidden tax increases that you and I have to pay for, purchased property and lied to the town council on their intentions, and also sent members packing that tried to run the department above board. Then they had to pay out more than 80 thousand dollars to settle the suit against the former members. Who do you think ultimately pays for those costs? The tax payers of this district, that’s who. Now they are violating town ordinances and ignoring those who speak out against them.
While I was taking the pictures for this story, the Fire Chief asked me to come over and talk to the President of the Fire Company about why I was taking pictures. I replied that I had no interest in speaking to him at this point but I would once again ask for his comments in the future. In response to my comments the chief put his hand on my vehicle and made an attempt to try and intimidate me by yelling at me and prevent me from leaving. I left the scene before an incident occurred.
My point is that if you or anyone does something these people don’t like they try and intimidate or threaten you. I sent e-mails and several requests to the current president asking for an interview, over the last year, only to be met with stony silence but now that he is caught with his hand in the cookie jar he wants to talk. Well I’ll let the article and the pictures speak for themselves. This Fire Company thinks they are above the law and continue to act that way. It’s time for the town council to look into their finances and stop them from raiding our pockets once and for all.
So after talking to some people that have dealt with Big Tree I did some looking on my own. One of the parties who was in the lawsuit with them gave me there tax returns that he goit off the web. Since Big Tree is a non for profit this information needs to be public. What I found was interesting
Big Tree has over 1.2 MILLION dollars in savings and cash. So why do they need a big tax increase?
In 2004 they received over 82k in donations. 45k of that alone was from a bequest but yet they still raised taxes
Big Tree’s Chiefs all receive money? For what I thought this was volunteer
SInce they have a banquet hall how come that isnt listed anywhere in the taxes showing the profit made from alcohol etc etc?
These people go before the town board and complain about how they have no many yet they made 36k off investments alone last year. That is more than alot of people make in year!
Welcome to the Town of Hamburg! If someone points out a problem they are shouted down, intimidated, or they call their lacki cops to send you away. Remember that the cops are paid by the same people that don’t like to listen to our thoughts and idea’s. Also most of the cops are/were members of the Fire Departments, you know what side they are going to be on, not the tax payers. Next time take the photo of the Fire Chief and the President of the Fire Company. Let everyone know who they are! Didn’t see anyone in the fire truck photo’s, where were they, out of sight because you were taking photo’s! Why would they hide if they were not doing anything wrong.
Wow! The cops in Hamburg are biased towards the fire companies? I sure hope not. They should be unbiased and impartial.
Fordie,
You should hope and pray that you never need the services of these volunteers. If you called for assistance, I know they would respond, I just don’t know how much of a hurry they would be in to get there.
Can’t you find a REAL, SERIOUS issue to get excited about ? How about ECWA employees who run private businesses while on water authority time ? Or how about people who fake back injuries ?
Keep up the good work.
If this department would actually let my house burn down because I’m asking questions they don’t like then that is just one more reason we should take a serious look at them. As far as the ECWA, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re referring to my back, I had major surgery in September so their is no faking their. You must be referring to someone else. Tell us who.
My Dear Friend Ford,
You are being played like a fiddle. Wake up and smell the wood burning.
Million+ in he bank, and tens of thousands in investment income? Guess they don’t exactly need a donation from me as much as I need the cash. Which I’ll point out to them next time they ask. Not exactly non-profit-like.
And if that makes them threaten to take their time putting out a fire at my house, then they don’t exactly qualify as volunteers - extortionist is the name that comes to mind. That worked out real well for the Operating Engineers local didn’t it. At least for a while …
As a resident of the Big Tree Rd. area, i dont see a problem with the work the fire company is doing there at all honestly! it appears to me, (as i drive by several times daily), that they are making this long-vacant piece of land, pleasing again. I have also noticed them doing the work on the weekends themselves. Im much happier to see this than the masses of heavy equipment and mountains of trees out there on rt. 20. I think that you volunteers taking time away from your families to help your fellow neighbors its very commendable. Its clear that those members are trying to save us taxpayers a little money by doing it themselves. I just want you all to know that some of us appreciate what you do for us. thank you!
Also, i do believe that your right and that if i recall correctly, there are wetlands back there somewhere, at least there was some years ago. Dont you have to have these surveys done in order to buy properties? im pretty sure you do
Has anyone ever heard of a fund balance???
Maybe the money in the bank is for replacement of vehicles (engines, chief’s vehicle and ambulance), repairs of vehicles, building repairs, reserve accounts, etc. I have heard that a new fire truck is somewhere around $4000, 000. That would be 1/3 of this money in the bank.
If there were no fund balances, every time a major purchase such as a new engine was to be purchased, the taxes would go up just for that purchase or a loan would have to be taken out. Seems to me like good fiscal sense.
Also seems to me that over the last 10 years, my tax rate for BT has gone down multiple times in the range of 2 % to 12 %, it has also gone up a bit but mostly gone down.
Doesn’t the town of Hamburg have a fund balance? (Not a not for profit)
What about the Red Cross? (A not for profit)
They both do, this is the way businesses operate, profit or non profit.
The site looks good this morning, the guys were out chipping and raking all weekend and even spread the mulch to make it look better.
I know my view is looking better and better every day
Also seems to me that a while back, some on this site (or maybe it was speak up WNY) were complaining about consolidation, seems to me that if the goal of Big Tree is to build a new hall and sell off the 2 old ones, wouldn’t this be consolidation?
Maybe some should reconsider their bashing on the past posts on consolidation and give Big Tree a hand for looking into the future and looking into consolidation.
Ford, you probably won’t post this, seeing as you deleted my last post, but I think you should revisit all your comments about the consolidation issues and make some comments on that.
Happy Homeowner,
As I recall if Big Tree was looking to consolidate and save money how come they bought a new “Rescue 7″ truck a few years back. I talked to some people that told me that truck cost around 500k and it is the same thing that Scranton and Newton Abbott. If they wanted to consolidate why did they pay for a duplication of resources. If that vehicle was out of service any of the others ones could be called in and do anything that Big Tree’s could do. People in the town begged them not to buy that vehicle but they did anyways.
How is that looking to the future and looking for consolidation. I think Big Tree just wants a nice new big hall like Newton Abbott just bulit so they could keep up with the boys in town.
Steve, who in the town begged them not to buy this rescue ? this is the first I have heard of it. As for 500 K , do you know this for a fact ? I have heard much lower figures.
I remember when they bought a new truck about 10 or more years ago, they replaced 3 big ones and a little one with one truck. I would call that down sizing and consolidating.
I cannot believe you people! Bashing the men who spent days pumping out basements during the October Storm they came to my house twice, I even heard they went door to door in Bethal Estates checking in on every resident.
Your right about preserving the green space, hanging branches and others debris looks so much better then what they are doing.
Well said (Friend of Firemen) that’s why the Hamburg Democratic Party is the party of HOPE “Good Government Services”-both paid and non paid. I ask you all to come back to Democratic Party fold and vote out anyone who cannot appreciate the dedication these men and women give of themselves for Town service. Instead of tearing them down let’s rally behind them. Who’s with me ?