Fire Chief: We Have Not Withheld Any “Facts”

I take great offense to the that suggests that the city manager, police chief, and I are using scare tactics to try and persuade people’s opinions, in regards to our 9-1-1 center.  I am a lifelong resident of this community and I take great pride in the fact that we try to do what is the very best for this community.  Our sole purpose is to provide for the safety and well-being of our residents, and that is exactly what we are trying to do.

We have not withheld any “facts”.  We are trying to inform our residents of the difficult decision that we need to make.   I invite you to come visit and I could provide you with all the information you need to write an informative article about a very important issue to the Fenton Community.  Our response to the Flint Journal editorial was limited to 800 words by their editor.  We could have used a 1000 more words to get into the facts even more, but we were limited on space.  Our response was just that, a response to what we believed was an inaccurate portrayal of what is really happening.  If our decision was simply based on cost alone then it would be an easy decision, but it’s not, and that is why we are doing our very best at making the right decision for our community.

We value the local news media as it helps us get out the information that our residents need, but we also want to make sure it gets the correct information out.

I look forward to speaking to you about this to clear up any confusion you may have on the situation.

Sincerely,

Robert Cairnduff

Fire Chief

City of Fenton