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City of Polson, Rural Fire Department to make changes to program

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The City of Polson recently completed a Fire Department Agency Review. This evaluation was conducted by Curt Belts, retired Missoula Rural Fire District Fire Chief. Through in-person interviews, reviewing a collection of internal documents, and reading the 2013 Agency Evaluation conducted by Emergency Services Consulting International, Chief Belts was able to offer the City a review of the current structure, and provide recommendations to be considered by the City and the Rural Fire Department. The report is available on the City of Polson website, www.cityofpolson.com

This article is submitted to the citizens of Polson on behalf of both the City of Polson and the Rural Fire Board. The most important thing to recognize is that the citizens of Polson and the Rural Fire District area are receiving excellent service. As Chief Belts pointed out, the fire loss in 2014 was a small $84,000, which is to be commended. We have a very dedicated and hard working group of volunteers who provide the manpower for our fire departments.

As anyone who has worked in organizations and with people will know, we are always in a perpetual state of trying to make improvements. And when challenges in the structure of a group are identified, in order to improve, we need to assess the situation, plan for improvements, implement the changes, and then continue to check on the progress of these changes and improvements. The report by Chief Belts represents the assessment portion of this process.

Now that we have received instrumental feedback, we are  ready to enter the planning for improvement stage, to be followed by implementing the changes. We want to assure the citizens that both the City of Polson and the Rural Fire Board are committed to providing the best possible service to our area, and that we will begin working on these structural changes in the coming weeks and months. 

We look forward to making some adjustments to the structure of our program, and we will continue to provide the top-notch service that has been demonstrated by our organizations and our valued volunteers. 

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