Where We're Going... And Where We've Been
This is my first of hopefully many columns to you as they’ve asked me to maintain an open dialog with all of you. First let me say that it is an honor and a privilege to be appointed as the chairman of the Training Committee and being the Training Coordinator which goes along with it. It’s a great challenge; one that I accept with a great deal of responsibility and motivation to provide to all of you the best training possible and a learning environment that fosters successful results, not just in the classroom or drill area, but on the fireground where quite frankly, it really counts.
As an association, I believe that we have got a lot of things to be excited about. We are moving forward, bottom line, no excuses. We have to move forward in order to provide the best services that the citizens and more importantly our firefighters deserve. We’ve got some really neat things coming down the pike. Online registration and certification testing are just the start of hopefully many things to come! We hope to have the spring semester set soon and we’re full speed ahead for the rest of the year. We’re even starting to look into 2011 at the certifications and courses that we can offer and the leg work that goes along with offering those opportunities.
Before we get too far down the road, I’ve always held the principle that you have to know where you’ve been before you can get to where you are going. I have to give credit to Donnie Hubbard and all of the things that he accomplished. Donnie had been the Training Committee Chairman and Coordinator since the inception of the committee. He did a marvelous job getting us to where we are today. His dedication, commitment, and resiliency gave us a good baseline to work off of and I guarantee you that the principles that he founded will be a driving force moving forward. It was a “no brainer” for me to ask him to be the first person that I selected to be on the committee and he will continue to be involved as the senior adviser and an advocate for the progression of training opportunities.
Let’s fast forward to where we’re at, somehow we’ve got a lot of really great people that have come onto this committee. There are a few staples, like Mike Six, Dan Poist, and Denny Freed and some folks who are very talented in their respective areas like Hurshel Shank, Tom Eyler, Julie Baldwin, Frank Smith, Bob Cullison, and Brandon Hiller. Our committee will continue to grow and I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by a group of people which so much potential. I also need to throw into that group Luke Small who has done a “Yeoman’s” like effort getting the website and online registration ready to launch at the beginning of the year. Of course, we can’t forget Tammy and all of the work that she does behind the scenes, without her we likely wouldn’t be able to get a lot of these classes off of the ground.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Donnie Gantz for his ability to look beyond today’s need towards tomorrow’s requirements for facility use and the innovation and insight. As we look to redefine the goals for the end product of Phase II of the Training Center, we need to look at getting the most out of our facility. While we may need to change our original plan that the facility committee proposed the philosophy these guys imparted needs to be carried through.
I can’t reiterate it enough that we’ve got a lot to look forward to. If you have any questions, suggestions, or methods that we can improve the delivery please feel free to contact either myself or a member of the staff.
Yours in service,
Dustin Poist