Chapter Five - Administration
For the first few years immediately following the reorganization in 1925, the affairs of the Department were administered by a "Steering Committee" composed of the officers and a selected few of the members. Under this system, there were no stated meetings and no very definite personnel structure; nor were there any number of activities other than the usual fire department routine. In fact, there were no facilities for encouraging such activities, nor was there any great need to promote them. The boom was in full swing; money flowed freely and everybody in town was a civic promoter.
However, by the end of 1926, the fervor began to cool very rapidly; many of the newly acquired populace migrated to greener pastures and a definite need developed for activities that would maintain the morale of those who remained. Practically all of the men who had affiliated with the new Department, stayed in Sebring and, as most of them were in some type of business enterprise, they felt the need of a reconstruction program.
As a corollary to the Chamber of Commerce, the United Sebring Association was formed, having numerous branches or committees, one of which was a Sports Committee and, because the Fire Department was a group of younger men, they were chosen to take over all of the work of this nature.
By the fall of 1927, the new fire station had been completed, affording excellent club room facilities and attracting the interest of the members. In November 1927, a basketball team was put on the court at Tuscawilla Park and, after a highly successful season, the Department felt justified in sponsoring a baseball team. To transport their teams on their road trips, a 20 passenger bus was purchased in the spring of 1928 and in the same year, a pool table and other club room paraphernalia was acquired. All of these activities required money in excess of the receipts at the gates of basketball and baseball so the members of the Department agreed to pool the money they had been receiving for fire calls from the City and to devote it to amortizing the expenses of the new activities.
The Steering Committee felt that the time had come when the members should have more of a voice in the management of the affairs of the organization and so, on 4 January 1929, the first election of officers was held with Hal Long as President, Carl Tripp as Secretary and P. G. Gearing as Treasurer. Prior to the formation of this group, it had been the responsibility of the Chief to appoint the officers of the Department and as they formed the major part of the Steering Committee, the Chief practically controlled the Department. Now, that control passed from his hands except in the field of fire fighting and for the conduct of all members while in the fire station. This was a great stride forward.
Nevertheless, there were many more steps to be taken and the young Department was just learning to walk so it was almost inevitable that it should stumble once in a while. None of the members were older than their mid-twenties and they were all ambitious. At first, money seemed to come easily but when the effects of the boom had completely worn off, it was found necessary to adopt some more conservative measures.
Unofficially, the Steering Committee again went into action and discussed measures by which the ambitions of the young and energetic organization could be held within the bounds of its income. It was decided to seek the advice of some of the older businessmen of the City and, if they chose, bring them into the Department as associates or nonactive members. A few affiliated in this way but from the others, good counsel helped the Department over some very rough spots. These Associates were very valuable in addition to their sound financial advice. Some (Ivan Riedinger, Jack Lindsay, et.al.) made fire prevention talks to civic clubs; others served as liaison with the City Administration and all lent dignity to the Department.
During the first decade of the town’s history, baseball had been moved around from one location to another and was always played on borrowed land. The costs of improving these fields were high and no permanent facilities could be provided so when a good site was found in 1930, the Department voted to go deeply in debt to buy it. For the personal protection of the individual members, it was decided to form a nonprofit corporation and so, in 1930, The Sebring Firemen, Incorporated was chartered by Judge Wm. Barker.
By this time, most of the wrinkles had been ironed out of the organizational structure; the goals had been set and the limitations were pretty well known. Skeet Naylor, the Department’s smart, young lawyer, drew the form of the charter and, with one exception, it has stood up well for the past 30 years. The one exception was that the limit of the value of real property which the corporation might hold, was set at $100,000.00 whereas, with the increased area which has been acquired, the physical improvements made and the increase in values of all property, their holdings are well worth over double the $100,000.00. Several changes have been made in the By-Laws to meet changing conditions but these have been of very minor importance.
While the affairs of the Sebring Firemen, Inc., were solely in the hands of the elected officers, the rules of conduct around the station were set and enforced by the Chief. All alcoholic beverages - even beer - were strictly taboo and the discussion of politics or candidacies, was prohibited. These conditions were enthusiastically observed by the members until World War II when many changes in policies were made and accepted in American points of view and in almost all organizations.
Through the years, certain practices have been continued. No member has served more than one year as president. At the annual meeting, it has been the custom of the Chief to make his appointments of his assistant, the captains and lieutenants. For the past 20 years, the Chief has also announced the names of the volunteers attending the most alarms during the year.
After the selection of the first paid firemen by the members of the Council, it became the custom for the Chief to select his engineers with the final approval by the Chairman of the Fire Committee of the Council. In fact, all matters of policy and management were cleared through this committee.
No examinations have ever been required but, before World War II, the engineers were selected from the roster of the volunteers. During the war, most of the able bodied men either joined the service or accepted jobs that paid better than the fire service could afford so many changes in personnel were made during that period. At that time, it was necessary to seek men who were in a position to accept these jobs. During recent years, there have been several changes in employment policies. Younger men have been hired and the public announcements of appointments have been made as selections by the Mayor instead of the Chief or Council.
In the appointment of the chiefs, the Mayor has always had this privilege subject to approval of Council. The first one, A. C. Altvater, served from July 1925 through December 1933 and, after a violent political upheaval, was replaced by Hal Long. Hal made an excellent record with his service until December 1941 when he resigned to enter civil service in the post office.
A. C. "Austie" Heacock was appointed by Mayor McGee but served slightly less than a year, resigning in November 1942 to enlist in the Navy. Forrest Howard succeeded him by appointment at that time by Mayor Payne Sebring.
After almost 19 years as Chief, Forrest was retired on pension to accept a position as instructor with the Florida Fire College. He was succeeded by G. T. Haywood, a veteran of 18 years with the department.