Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. is an independent non-profit North Carolina corporation which has been contracted by Durham County through the County Fire Marshal and the County EMS Director to respond to community emergencies. The department maintains reciprocal and agreements with neighboring departments to ensure efficient and productive responses. Primary funding for the department comes from taxes collected by the Durham County Tax Administrator on property within the Lebanon Fire District. The assessed tax rate on this property is set by the Durham County Commissioners.
Overall goals for the department are set by the Board of Directors during open public meetings within the structure of the corporation's bylaws. A majority of the Board's directors consist of taxpayers who are not operational members of the fire department with the remaining directors coming from the operational side of the fire department. All district taxpayers may vote in the election of board members at the Board's annual meeting which is held each April. Individuals interested in becoming board members are encouraged to attend board meetings and submit their names to the nominating committee prior to the annual election.
Board responsibilities include selection and evaluation of the department's chief, the chief's job description, budget submission and other general management and control. The chief in turn assures the safe implementation of the board's goals following local, state and national standards in such as way as to satisfy county desires, provide the greatest possible taxpayer benefit and minimize the negative effects of emergencies.
In addition to the county contracting with Lebanon for service, Lebanon uses some of its tax revenue to hire county employees as Lebanon contractors. This arrangement allows access to government benefits and the economies of scale belonging to Durham County, a much larger employer, thus efficiently using taxpayer money. As with most contractor relationships, the County has Lebanon, which follows County employment policies, provide assignments for these County employees/Lebanon contractors as well as indicate the acceptability of specific contractors. Lebanon also provides information back to the county for use in normal evaluations and necessary disciplinary actions.
The department uses a "Unity of Command" where at any given time, each member directly reports to only one supervisor. In addition, through a "Chain of Command" all members are responsible to the chief. As recommended by NFPA 1021, "end runs" where members attempt to sidestep their immediate supervisors are discouraged with the members being sent back to their immediate supervisors.
Two exceptions to the Unity of Command exist. One is when the supervisor is considered to be the problem; in this case the problem is addressed at a higher level. Normally, a first attempt should be to resolve the problem directly with the supervisor, and, if this is not possible, both would proceed up the chain of command.
The other is "functional supervision," where for efficiency items related to a specific duty are reported to the individual responsibility for that duty. For example, when a firefighter inspecting equipment determines repairs are necessary, that fact can be directly reported to the individual responsible for the repairs eliminating the problems at occur when information is passed through a series of people and speeding resolution.
To ensure all problems are resolved, Lebanon uses the following hierarchy. First, attempt to resolve the issue directly with the people involved. This should work in most cases. If it doesn't, go to your immediate officer and work up the chain of command to the chief responsible for personnel issues. The chief will resolve issues not otherwise resolved. If the chief's actions are considered unacceptable, the Board of Directors has a Grievance Committee, which does not include the chief. The Grievance Committee will resolve the issue or make a recommendation to the Board of Directors, who will take a final action.