Firefighters, city reach agreement on equitable funding for fire protection

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Mayor Bill Sheckles makes a point during discussion of a proposed agreement between the city and the incorporated volunteer fire department which would require the volunteers to pay more for the joint fire service. Click to enlarge.

Dec. 17, 2012, 11:59 p.m. — The question of funding for the two fire departments operating as the Bardstown Fire Department appears to resolved. At the Bardstown City Council’s safety committee meeting Monday, a framework for a new interlocal agreement to be signed by the mayor and the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. was presented to the committee members.

There are two fire departments operating out of the city’s main fire station — the Bardstown Fire Department, funded by city taxes and provides fire protection inside the city limits; and the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department, otherwise known as “the corporation,” that is funded by fire dues from homeowners and businesses located outside the city limits.

The proposed two-year interlocal agreement is an update to a 2005 agreement that specified the corporation was to fund two full-time firefighter positions, which totaled about $112,000. Mayor Bill Sheckles gave notice earlier this year he was taking the option to cancel the contract at the end of June 2013. He said Monday night the old agreement was “a bad contract.”

CORPORATION TIGHTENS BELT TO PAY MORE TO CITY. The proposal presented by the corporation would increase its level of funding of the joint fire service. Initially the agreement would run for two years, then renewed at four-year intervals.

The proposal would continue to pay for the equivalent of two full-time firefighter positions (4,160 hours annually) that would in fact be used to fund part-time positions. The use of this funding would be used at the discretion of the fire chief. The proposal does not attach a monetary figure to the total cost of these positions.

Additionally, the corporation would agree to pay the City of Bardstown $80,000 each year. Part of this money would fund half of the fire chief’s salary, while the rest would be retained by the City of Bardstown for rent, utilities and other cost for the main city fire station on North Fifth Street.

The corporation would also be required to pay for all the costs related to the part-time firefighter positions, including worker’s compensation, Social Security, uniforms, etc.

The proposed agreement met with the approval of the firefighters who are the corporation’s members, corporation President Neal Pyle told the committee.

The corporation’s bylaws require an annual election for fire chief. The proposed agreement changes the election for chief to once every four years to coincide with the mayor’s four-year terms. Pyle said the corporation membership agreed not to conduct an election for fire chief during the term of the proposed agreement.

Councilman Joe Buckman attended the meeting and asked Pyle about the corporation’s ability to pay the added expenses in the agreement. Pyle said the board examined the budget and trimmed expenses. For example, the corporation will stop equipping their fire trucks with cell phones, and will eliminate the practice of paying for firefighters’ dinners at one training night meeting per month.

Sheckles told the committee he was pleased with the contract as it would reduce the city’s costs and make fire protection funding “more equitable.”

Pyle and Fire Chief Marlin Howard told the committee the corporation members were supportive of the proposal and agreed to the changes it will require.

Sheckles said the proposal would be used as a framework for drafting an interlocal agreement that will be presented to the council early next year.

-30-