East Manatee Fire Rescue, Seat 3: James Carlino

I am a solid candidate for this position because:

I have previously over 25 years in the public safety profession as a progressive, results driven leader. I am also a USAF veteran who was a firefighter. I now teach public safety at the State College of Florida. I also teach our firefighters and police Active Shooter Response along with Critical Incident Management all over Florida. This would be my second term on the commission. Importantly, I believe in smart spending and we have not raised fire taxes in more than 10 years while greatly improving services. I want to keep it that way.

This experience makes me a qualified candidate:

I have proven that I can get results on the Fire Commission already by using my experience during my first term. From day one, I made the citizens and firefighters my top priority. I deeply care about bringing you the best service for your tax dollars every day. I also work very hard at attracting and keeping the best firefighters. To that end, I have worked to make many improvements in the department. We are now the area’s premier (fire rescue) and also a destination fire department to work at. We have some of the best equipment and dedicated staff in the area to save lives.

These are two big issues that I hope to tackle:

This is a great question. I have taken a lead role in bringing Advanced Life Support to the department. Right now we can only provide Basic Life Support. ALS saves lives and gets you to the hospital faster. With firefighters who are also paramedics on our trucks, we can provide this service and be able to enhance the ambulance service provided by Manatee County. Almost 80% of our calls are medical related and the taxpayers should have the best medical response available on our fire trucks right away, not have to wait for an ambulance to arrive later. We can save more lives this way. This is the way modern fire departments operate. 

I want to serve because:

This will be my second term and I have already made great improvements to the department with more to come, like fighting for ALS, adding two more fire stations, taking over the Myakka Fire District, and all the time making sure we are providing the best service possible for your dollars with no new taxes. I bring a fresh perspective to the commission, I listen to taxpayers, and I get results. You can count on Carlino!

I would like to add:

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the past four years. We only receive a small stipend for all the hours we put in, so it is not for the money, it is for the honor to humbly serve the community and give back.