Written Complaint
Kent County Chiefs Association
Standard Operating Guidelines &
Standard Operating Procedures
Subject: Written Complaint Policy
SOG # 1-7
Approved
March 2014
Approved by: President Phillip Lott
Revised
I. Purpose
To establish a formal policy for submitting and handling written complaints
II. Definition
S.O.G. – Standard Operating Guideline
S.O.P. – Standard Operating Procedures
III. Policy
It shall be the policy of the Volunteer Fire/Rescue/EMS Companies/Departments of Kent County to submit a written complaint in accordance with Kent County Chief’s Association S.O.P. 1-7.
It shall be the policy of the Kent County Chiefs Association to handled written complaints in accordance with Kent County Chief’s Association S.O.P. 1-7.
IV. Complaints
Complaints can be made for, but not limited to, violating any of the following;
Kent County Chief Association By-Laws
Kent County Chief Association Apparatus Standards
Kent County Chief Association S.O.G.’s
Kent County Chief Association S.O.P.’s
Or any other incident that the Company/Department feels the Kent Chiefs Association should handle.
Inter Company/Departmental complaints shall be handled by the Company/Department in question and not the Kent County Chiefs Association.
Complaints shall be made in writing on the Companies/Departments letter head to the Kent County Chief Association at any Kent County Chiefs Meeting.
The complaint shall contain as much information as possible of the violation or incident.
V. Complaint Investigation
Once the complaint is filed with the Kent County Chiefs Association it shall be read at the meeting.
The Companies/Departments in attendance shall decide if the complaint is valid and whether it shall be handled by the Association
If the Association decides that it is a valid complaint the Association shall first, try to resolve the complaint at the meeting.
If the complaint cannot be resolved at the meeting the President of the Association shall appoint a committee of at least three members to investigate the complaint and report back the Association.
The committee shall meet and report back to the Association with its findings by a date determined by the President.
The committee findings shall include but limited to the following information;
Was there a violation
If yes, what punishments shall the Kent County Chiefs hand out
Recommendation so that the violation shall not happen again.
Whether the violation, punishments and recommendation shall be forward the Kent County Emergency Service Board.
VI. Complaint Resolution
Once the committee report is submitted and read the Companies/Departments shall discuss the findings whether there was a violation or not.
If a violation has occurred the Association shall vote on the recommendation that the committee submitted.
If no violation has occurred the Association shall consider the incident closed.
The Companies/Departments in question feels that justice has not been done they can take their complaint to the Kent County Emergency Service Board.
Betterton Volunteer Fire Company, Inc.
Chief James L. Price, Sr.
Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company, Inc.
Chief David Turner
Community Volunteer Fire Company of Millington, Inc.
Chief Jesse Downey, Sr.
Galena Volunteer Fire Company, Inc.
Chief Christopher A. Powell
Kennedyville Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.
Chief John Krastel
Kent & Queen Anne’s Rescue Squad, Inc.
Chief Eric Jackson
Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Company, Inc.
Chief Kenneth Smith
Kent County Emergency Service Board
Chair Charlene Perry