A proposed deal being considered by the Neosho Area Fire District board would save two jobs at the Neosho Fire Department as Neosho Fire Chief Mike Eads leans more heavily on the area volunteer fire districts.
Eads approached the Neosho Area Fire Protection District board Thursday with a proposal that the rural fire district agree to sponsor two city firemen that are scheduled to be laid off in a couple of weeks because of city budget cuts.
The fire district, encompassing 92-square-miles around Neosho, is manned by city firefighters, but buys its own trucks and equipment, which are kept at the two city firehouses. It is funded by a 40 cents per $100 of assessed valuation property tax levy (which was reset at the same amount by the fire district board on Thursday.)
Eads was forced to lay off 10 firemen positions earlier this week. Of the 10, seven chose to leave immediately, two agreed to finish out their two weeks and one, Lt. John Edsell, decided on early retirement in order to save a job.
The two firemen who are staying until the 24th of this month, Ryan Bogle and Eric Brodie, would be the next in line to go, according to seniority. Both are engineers. If they are laid off, the fire department would be down to 14 firefighters.
But Eads asked the fire district to cover their paychecks through next fiscal year and save those two positions. Brodie, Eads said, currently performs roughly 90 percent of all the maintenance work at the fire department and “is the most knowledgeable of any of us” about mechanics.
The cost for subsidizing the two for a little more than a year would be $92,359, according to Eads.
The fire district board voted to put off their answer until they had spoken with an attorney. Board members also expressed some misgivings.
“Ninety-two thousand — it gives me heartburn to write a check that large,” said board chairman Lee Ireland. “Then if you lay these guys off six months later you’ve got our money.”
Board member Terry Cook said the fire district would need a guarantee from the city that those two firemen would not be laid off if the district put up the money to keep them.
Another board member, Beverly Walters, pointed out that should the district agree to the proposal, it would be setting a precedent. She said the city could feasibly want the same agreement year after year. However, she was in favor of paying to keep the two firemen, which she said were an asset to the city and therefore to the fire district, should the attorney give the nod.
“We’re representing the people in the district and we are here to take care of their money — if we mess this up and throw away $92,000, our yard isn’t big enough to hold all the angry people who are going to be standing out there,” Walters said. “We have got to do this legally. If we take this money out of reserve (funds) we have got to have a plan to put it back in. Because if you take and take and take, pretty soon your money is gone. And we can’t let that happen.”
Ireland said he would only agree to the district paying for city firemen if the money was paid out on a month by month basis and not all at once.
“If we’re going to sponsor people, I can’t see giving the city anything but separate checks each month,” Ireland said.
A special meeting of the Neosho Area Fire Protection District board to vote on the proposal was set for 10 a.m. Aug. 19 at the Oaks Apartments community room in Neosho.
Meanwhile, Eads said he met Wednesday night with the chiefs of all the fire districts in Newton County to revamp the mutual aid plan.
In cases of fire, the Neosho Fire Department will now call for more help and sooner than before. Eads said he will ask the central dispatch center to request for Neosho a fire engine and personnel from other departments at second alarm instead of third. Third alarm will be calls for an additional outside tanker and pumper. There are five alarms total, signifying the level of mutual aid response needed.
On the flip side, Neosho will only be able to send a tanker and one firefighter on mutual aid calls from other communities. If there is a specific call for a pumper, Neosho will send two firemen and any off-duty firefighters able to respond.
According to Eads, Redings Mill Fire Protection District has agreed to take over the air truck, which is shared among all the fire departments in Newton County.
“We housed it here in Neosho because we are centrally located and we had the people to man it,” Eads said. “It’s not going to be centrally located anymore, but Redings Mill has the people.”
Eads said that since the personnel cuts, there will only be four firefighters minimum on duty per shift. They will be split, two each, between Fire Station 1 and Fire Station 2. Additionally, Fire Station 2 could close without notice anytime someone calls in sick or is otherwise absent, Eads said. Two firemen will float among the different shifts to cover longer absences.
Eads said he has three people who are interested in being volunteer firemen, but because they would be paid by the call, he has to write a justification letter to the city, including an estimate of how much it would cost.
He also said he would be pursuing an assistance to firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for next year. That grant is 100 percent funded, Eads said.
