IN Fire District to Drop Volunteer FFs to Start Department
By Aprile Rickert
Source The Evening News and The Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
HAMBURG — After months of discussion, the Tri-Township Fire Protection District has decided to move away from contracting with the Sellersburg Volunteer Fire Department and is taking steps to start its own department.
Tri-Township has contracted since 1988 with the Sellersburg department which, as of 2017, provided fire protection for roughly 20,000 Clark County residents in Carr, Silver Creek and Union townships.
Background
At its February meeting, a committee presented findings gathered over the previous six weeks related to concerns with some fire department operations and the poor relationship between the two entities. The committee recommended that rather than entering into a new contract when the current deal expires at the end of the year, the board look into starting its own department.
A feasibility plan was presented by board attorney Keith Pulliam at Tuesday's Tri-Township board meeting. After hearing the plan, members voted 4-0, with member Jeff Beckert abstaining, to proceed with starting the new fire department.
"It's time for a change," Tri-Township board chairman Dale Cooke said after the meeting. "It's going to work. We're going to make it work."
How it could operate
Among the things the fire protection district would need to do to start the new department by Jan. 1 are acquire the initial funding and secure the fire apparatus, equipment and personnel to operate.
By statute, the fire protection board has the authority to levy taxes, issue bonds, lease and own fire apparatus and equipment, and hire paid and volunteer firefighters.
The fire protection district already collects a tax levy, with the majority of that money going to the fire department each year for fire services. In 2018, the Sellersburg fire department received roughly $1.5 million from the district. Moving forward, the fire protection district would continue to collect the levy and funnel the money into its own fire department.
Typically, the district starts each year with $5,000 cash on hand and later pays the fire department from the spring and fall tax settlements.
To avoid a short-term cash flow that would hinder the new department's start-up, Pulliam will contact the Indiana Bond Bank seeking to participate in tax anticipation warrants, which are an advance on property taxes the fire district expects to receive later in the year. A participant of the program can borrow up to 80 percent of the net tax levy for the year.
If the fire district is successful in getting the advance funding, some of it may be used to purchase the equipment and apparatus needed to start the new fire department. The fire protection district owns two of the fire trucks, with the Sellersburg fire department owning the majority of the equipment and trucks.
Pulliam said he hopes the two entities can reach an agreement for equipment the new fire department will need. Some of the equipment that the Sellersburg fire department utilizes was purchased with funds from the fire protection district, and some was purchased when the fire department operated an ambulance service. If they can't come to an agreement, the district has identified a tanker truck that could be used and an engine that could be leased; the district would have to purchase other equipment on its own.
But if that happens, the attorney said the district would have less funding available to hire current Sellersburg firefighters or new staff to man the new fire department.
"The more money that the district has to spend on equipment, the less money the district can spend on paying firefighters," he said. "So the fewer firefighters can come over or be hired to work for the district."
Rodney Scott, attorney for the Sellersburg Volunteer Fire Department, said he wasn't surprised by the vote — they've been close before, he said — but he believes the decision is a mistake. He offered alternatives to cutting ties, such as negotiating a new contract that addresses specific things on which the two don't agree.
"We'll see, but I think they're going to figure out there's a whole lot they don't have, so they'll really be underserving this community dramatically," he said.
Concerns
Sellersburg Volunteer Fire Chief Boyce Adams said Thursday he was disappointed by the board's decision, which he said he believes could affect services.
"I think it's premature," he said. "I don't believe the plan is well thought-through."
He said he'd started talking with other local fire chiefs since the meeting, "discussing how we could best go forward to make sure the resources of the department can best be utilized to keep everybody safe," he said.
During public comment Tuesday, a couple of other local fire chiefs spoke, saying they hoped the fire protection district board and the Sellersburg Fire Department board could sit down and talk things over instead of severing the relationship in this way.
Adams admitted before the vote that there had been a "communication breakdown" between the two parties, and that there were issues that needed to be addressed.
He added that firefighters for the department — 17 paid personnel and around 50 volunteers — "do a fine job for this community. The taxpayers in this area are getting a bargain for what they've got going on. This board and my board need to come together and figure out where we're needing to go."
Sellersburg Town Council member Martina Webster also spoke at the meeting, saying that while she believes the fire department provides a good service, she has concerns about the level of accountability the department is required to have.
The Sellersburg fire department receives funding from taxes but is a nonprofit entity, which has fewer requirements for transparency in operations than a department run by a government municipality. It doesn't have to disclose personnel salaries publicly, for example.
What's next
After the initial vote to move forward with its own fire department, the Tri-Township board also voted Tuesday on the steps it needs to get there. Pulliam was instructed to formally notify the Sellersburg fire department in writing of the decision, and to initiate talks with the Indiana Bond Bank to participate in the Indiana 2020 Advance Funding program.
The board also established committees to search for a prospective interim fire chief for the new department, who will oversee the hiring of firefighters before the start of the year. A separate committee will work on plans to secure fire apparatus and equipment for the department. Both committees are expected to make recommendations to the board at its April meeting.
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