West Side Redistricting
I am the vice-president of an organization called the west side mutual aid located in Luzerne county which encompasses local fire departments in 13 separate towns. Mr. KAUFFER has been an influential part in assisting our organization with projects to better the community. The west side mutual aid's primary goal is to strengthen and improve emergency services and breaking up this district would greatly hurt the progress that we have achieved thus far. In 2019, the west side mutual aid received a grant for approximately 130 thousand dollars to put new hydrant adaptors on every fire hydrant in all 13 towns. Now, every single fire hydrant in all the towns, are connected the same way, and there is no need to ever worry about having to connect a separate thread which results in improved safety of the first responders and the community members, by easily connecting to a fire hydrant no matter which town you reside in, because they are all the same. Mr. KAUFFER attended our meetings, assisted us as needed, and provided guidance which proved successful. Most recently, we obtained accountability tags for all members of every fire department in the west side communities. The cost of this project was approximately was 4 dollars per tag which turned out to be a couple thousand dollars by the time we were finished. Accountability on the fire scenes is the upmost importance and Mr. KAUFFER was totally supportive of our initiative to improve the safety of our firefighters. The organization is making progress and our current project is that we are looking into purchasing a drone. After a recent aircraft incident in Luzerne county, mutual aid members proposed the idea of getting a drone with thermal imaging capabilities to assist in searches of densely populated areas. Mr. KAUFFER was contacted and is eager to assist our organization in any way he possibly can. Redistricting Mr. KAUFFER's current district on the west side would greatly impact our organization and possibly prevent us from moving forward in the future which ultimately benefits all residents, business owners, and citizens who travel through the west side communities of Luzerne county.