Harford County Executive Withdraws Fire, EMS Bill

announced Monday his plan to withdraw a bill that would have established a fire and EMS commission for the county.

The bill was pending before the Harford County Council when Craig made the announcement.

The bill was designed to create "an advisory body to examine fire and EMS related matters and provide recommendations to the county executive regarding such issues," according to a release from the county executive's office.

The commission was among the top recommendations that came out of . At the time, Craig issued a an executive order to create the commission.

"At that time, the leadership and certain members of the fire service community took issue with the commission and chose to fight the administration on the need for the commission," Craig said in a statement.

Craig said that when the council moved forward on establishing the Fire and EMS Commission into law they were met with critics "from some segments of the fire service and other elected officials."

The release stated that Craig would address issues concerning the fire service in the near future.

Not all of the county council members agreed with Craig's decision, according to a report on ExploreHarford.com.

At Tuesday's council meeting, Council President Billy Boniface and Councilmen Jim McMahan and Joe Woods came to the defense of the fire service.

"Boniface criticized Craig's assertion last week that the Harford County Fire & EMS Association's amendments gutted the bill. The association wanted to require that more of their members be on the commission," according to the ExploreHarford.com story.

Woods expressed shock at Craig's actions, saying he was under the impression that the interested parties were nearing an agreement, according to the ExploreHarford.com report.

What do you think of the county executive's action? Do you think a Fire and EMS Commission is important for Harford County? Why or why not? Start the discussion by leaving a comment below.