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ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 3/ISSUE 39
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015
Sheriff seeks $6 million increase in budget
Special water skills
Says critical point reached after years of flat funding Jay Meisel
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
ST. LUCIE COUNTY —After years of flat funding for the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, employees are becoming burned out and moving elsewhere, equipment is failing and the office’s reserve account is being depleted, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara says. “Clearly the day of reckoning has come,” Mascara said in a letter to the St. Lucie County Commission. “Postponing our needs did not make them go away. We can’t ignore the lack of investment of the last nine years.” Mascara is seeking a $6.6 million budget increase, although he stated that around half of that is mandated by the state. The Sheriff is asking the County Commission for $73.4 million next fiscal year, which starts in September. Additionally, the department gets grants and other funds, so its total budget — if the commission OKs the request — will be $75.3 million.
See BUDGET page 15
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Francesca Correa, 26, of St. Lucie West fought the wind on the Indian River Lagoon to earn a first place finish during the Special Olympics Paddleboard competition at Jaycee Park in Fort Pierce Saturday, July 25.
SLCFD’s next chief is in-house Lisa Barry
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
ST. LUCIE WEST – Only a few weeks after celebrating his 30th anniversary in fire service, St. Lucie County Fire Chief Ron Parrish will retire. His successor, Deputy Chief and Fire Marshal George “Buddy” Emerson, will take the reins during an official
Change of Command ceremony to be held Sept. 2, 2015. Parrish launched his career in Broward County before joining the St. Lucie County Fire District as a firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) in 1985. At the time, he thought he would never trade field work for a job behind a desk. “I had no idea I would end here,”
Parrish said about his current position. As Parrish puts it, he spent 15 years in operations “getting dirty” and “saving lives.” And he never imagined doing anything else. In 1997, nearing the half-way mark in his career, he was recruited for his first administrative role.
See FIRE page 12
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