Fire master plan consultant interviews

This morning I attended a meeting of the Audit Services Planning and Priorities Committee in the county commission chamber. In layman's terms, this was a meeting for the Hernando County Fire Rescue Services Consulting Project which was chaired by Karen Nicolai, Clerk of Court. This meeting was to hear presentations, and conduct interviews, to choose a consultant for the countywide fire master plan study. The four firms scheduled for presentations this morning were Emergency Services Consultants, Inc., Mizzelle, Hodges, and Associates, Carroll Buracker and Associates and the Management Advisory Group. Due to time constraints, I was only able to stay long enough to hear one presentation. I was surprised that this meeting was not televised on Channel 19 due to the wide interest shown in the community on fire services. Some of the members of this Audit Services Planning and priorities Committee were Karen Nicolai, Gary Kuhl, Larry Jennings and George Zoettlin. It is probably a good thing that this meeting was not televised or the camera may have gotten a shot of Mr. Zoettlin napping this morning at the dais. Brooksville's Fire Chief Tim Mossgrove and Assistant Fire Chief Davies of Spring Hill were also on hand to ask questions, along with Assistant Fire Chief Larry Nichols and Jill Allen of Hernando County Fire Rescue. I was dismayed to see that no one had attended from any of the volunteer fire departments in the county. The firm that will be picked for this study will be chosen at their next meeting on September 18th / 7:30 a.m. at the Country Kitchen Restaurant.