Fire department still wants fire territory
A question from a new town council member of “How can we help?” turned into a discussion about the merits of a fire protection territory.
Town council member Anna Hofstetter asked the question of Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp at the June 20 council meeting.
Kelp had reported that the department was happy to be getting a special washing machine to wash their firefighting gear and reduce the risk of developing cancer from the chemicals the fabric picks up. However, the department was “dealing with a lot of burnout issues” and was struggling with getting new recruits, he said.
In answer to Hofstetter’s question, Kelp said that the department would still like to pursue having a fire territory. A fire territory would be a new taxing unit which could raise tax money to pay firefighters. He estimated he spends “more than 40 hours, easy” per week on firefighting-related tasks.
No firefighters at any of Brown County’s six volunteer fire stations are paid.
Some of the work the volunteers do, like maintenance, they are doing because they need to keep operation costs down, Kelp said.
The Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department is supported by donations and by contracts with two government entities: The town and the Washington Township Advisory Board. Residents of both places pay taxes to help support operations, but those contracts aren’t enough to cover expenses; firefighters also sell fish sandwiches on October weekends and do other fundraisers throughout the year.
The problem with forming a fire territory — which likely would be between Washington Township and the Town of Nashville — is that Washington Township is already in a fire protection district, Kelp said. Washington Township needs the Brown County Commissioners’ permission to get out of the Brown County Fire Protection District so it can form a new fire protection territory. But so far, the commissioners “haven’t been super receptive” about touching that issue, Kelp said.
The Brown County Fire Protection District was tied up in court battles for nearly a decade as residents debated the legitimacy of how it was set up. It never charged any taxes, but it could have. Right now, the fire protection district is doing no one any good, Kelp said.
Kelp said that as a resident, he doesn’t want to pay more taxes either, but this would be for a good cause.
“We know what we need to get the job done, and it’s not what we’re getting right now,” he said about firefighting. That’s part of the reason why the volunteers have burnout, he said.
Council members Hofstetter and Nancy Crocker expressed interest in continuing discussions about the merits of a fire territory because it could mean lower insurance rates and better fire protection.
No decisions were made.
Town having trouble finding custodian
The town has been trying to hire a part-time custodian, but hasn’t had any luck with the pay and hours it’s offering — $13 per hour for 15 hours.
The only interested party wanted the job on contract, not to be hired as an employee, said Town Administrator Phyllis Carr. Not all town council members were comfortable with that. One reason is that they wanted to limit the amount of people who would have access to offices where records were kept, potentially at hours when no town staff were around to oversee them.
Newly contracted town adviser Dax Norton said that many communities are contracting out services such as janitorial and maintenance. It generally saves money, he said.
Andrew Tilton, who was in the audience at the June council meeting, suggested putting a request for services out and not setting a rate of pay, to see what cleaning companies would bid for the work. He said he used to run a cleaning service.
Town Attorney James T. Roberts said, in regard to the security concerns, that the county prosecutor’s office has used a cleaning service, and it also contains confidential records.
Carr was to contact county officials to see what they do for janitorial services before taking any other action.
