Fire annexation discussion draws crowd

By STAR SILVA

Editor

The North Bench Fire Association board members met in regular session Monday night, and heard public comments on the recently proposed annexation with South Boundary Fire Protection District.

Members of the community lined the walls of the packed North Bench Fire Department, and there was standing room only. A heated discussion between those in favor of and opposed to the controversial merger of the two fire agencies was heard.

This meeting comes in the wake of two previous heated meetings. The initial meeting took place at the North Bench fire station on March 13, Fire NBFA Chief Gus Jackson and SBFPD Fire Chief Tony Rohrwasser first approached the North Bench board regarding a request from homeowners in the North Bench area of service. Chief Jackson and Chief Rohrwasser, supported by their firefighters, explained the benefits of a merger between the two agencies. Due to limited time, and the proliferation of details involved, the two fire agencies agreed to hold a second meeting March 23 at the Boundary County Extension Office for a question and answer forum that included a presentation by Chief Rohrwasser.

The purpose of that second meeting was to allow the two fire agencies to discuss whether, or not, they could work as a team before bringing the idea to the community to consider. If the answer was yes, the fire agencies would then put the idea to community members to decide if they wanted to form a taxing district.

Monday night, NBFA board member, Walter Burrow, who was opposed to the proposed annexation, moved to table the discussion indefinitely, until the board could gather further public input. Before putting the motion to a vote, board members heard from the present community members.

Discussion quickly became heated. The majority of attendees wanted the board to know that they were opposed to forming a taxing district, while Chief Jackson, backed by his firefighters and a number of North Bench homeowners, defended the proposed annexation on the grounds that it would facilitate the purchase of updated SCBAs, which are reportedly due to expire by next year, firefighting equipment, and apparatus which they said was sub-par, according to National Fire Protection (NFPA) standards.

The opposition disagreed as to the necessity of NFPA guidelines regarding the updating, replacement, or purchase of firefighting equipment, or apparatus. However, NBFA board members said that if the department has any necessary purchases to make, that they will find a way, without taxing homeowners.

NFPA standards are not law, but they are consensus standards, and in the event of a lawsuit, they are the standards that are upheld in a court of law.

The majority of North Bench firefighters expressed that they felt as if the board was not concerned with their safety and wellbeing by providing them with proper gear and equipment.

Burrow said firefighters with Hall Mountain Volunteer Fire Department do not complain about not receiving a stipend or new gear and that he was tired of the North Bench firefighters whining and blaming the board.

Burrow said, “The firefighters need to just shut up and do their job.”

Those opposed expressed their belief that currently owned apparatus and gear is sufficient, and if the department is in need of replacements, the funds could be obtained through community outreach fundraisers, donations, and by doubling North Bench membership dues, which will raise dues from $75 to $150.

Fire Chief Tony Rohrwasser released the following statement regarding the proposed annexation:

“In 2004 we created the South Boundary Fire Protection District from the old Naples Volunteer Fireman’s Association. We felt that we had gone as far as we could as an association, and the next step would be to create a taxing district so we would be able to create a solid budget and upgrade training and equipment to better serve the community. Our hope at the time was to do it with the involvement of Paradise Valley, so we could cut out some of the duplication of costs and put on part-time personnel to upgrade our service. This didn’t work out for Paradise Valley at the time, so we continued on our own with the hopes of consolidation in the future.

To keep costs down we looked into a quarter time (10 hours/week) Chief’s position. I applied and received the position. After writing grants and networking with many other fire agencies around the country trying to find the best ways to operate a small volunteer department, the Commissioners started increasing my time, ten hours per year until full-time. These costs were offset by the grants we wrote. Continuing to advance the District, our personnel worked to upgrade apparatus, equipment and buildings to get the maximum value from the dollars received, and to constantly work at lowering insurance costs to the homeowners.

We received sound advice from agencies that had gone through the same process. They advised us to set a levy rate that would allow us to keep up with the growth of the community and meet expanding needs. We came to a point where we saw an opportunity to look into combining resources and forces with other agencies to improve the service to the county as a whole, and keep the rates at what we originally set. We talked with North Bench Fire and came up with a possible plan. We asked the members to sit down and discuss what this possible merger might look like. The next step was that the agencies would go back to their own meetings and discuss pros and cons, and decide whether we should create a presentation to the public and show them the benefits of this merger.

It seems the meeting developed into a fight to find ways not to be taxed, even if it meant doubling the dues to members, which would cost many more dollars than they would pay in a taxing district. We simply wanted to show the community what could be available to them. If it was decided not to go ahead and create a petition to join South Boundary Fire District then it would be left alone.

I totally respect the decision that the North Bench community made to not proceed with the Fire District process, and South Boundary will continue to work with their very dedicated volunteers to provide the best service we can for the people of Boundary County.”

If North Bench homeowners want to pursue an annexation they would have two options:

1. A petition with signatures of at least 75 percent of the homeowners would be needed for the district to be annexed. The petition would then be presented to SBFPD’s Board of Commissioners. The commissioners would then decide if it was in the district’s best interest to move forward with an annexation, with no election required.

2. If North Bench homeowners that are in favor of an annexation are unable to secure 75 percent, they would still be able to present the petition to South Boundary’s Board of Commissioners. The board would then decide if it would be in the district’s best interest to hold an election.

A petition has not been submitted to the North Bench board.