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| Tanker Tale II Wednesday, March 03, 2010 Edwin Newton Was Reno Volunteer Fire Chief Jimmy Boone told not to use the department’s 3,000 gallon fire tanker truck in city limits – at least until a contract with the city could be worked out?
There are conflicting versions of that story.
But as Precinct 1 Commissioner George Conley sees it, the whole conversation is moot. Reno VFD is authorized it use the tanker to fight fires in the city – and always has been. “They have permission to use that tanker,” he said. Conley, Parker County Judge Mark Riley and Reno Mayor Roen Cox took exception to an article in the Feb. 24 edition of the Springtown Epigraph which stated the county wasn’t allowing the tanker to be used in city limits – and thus citizen safety was in jeopardy.
Conley and Riley felt such an order would make the county look irresponsible. They said an order to deny fire protection would never be given. “They (citizens of Reno) have never been in jeopardy,” Conley said. Cox said he didn’t like the way the story made the city look, either. He said the fire department’s failure to agree on a contract – and Boone’s claims that he couldn’t use a tanker – have done the city a lot of harm. “Boone is endangering the city of Reno by his actions – in more ways than one,” Cox said. Boone said a few weeks ago, Parker County Fire Marshal Shawn Scott told him “not to use county funded equipment inside the city because of insurance liability.” Boone’s fire captain, Cody Fithian, attended the meeting, and said he heard the same thing. “It was one of those off-the-record type of things,” Fithian said. “He was trying to make it clear that ‘You really don’t need to be using the tanker without a city contract.’” Scott denies that such an order – even off the record – was ever given. “That is not true,” he said. “What I did say was that we needed to get this thing hammered out because this is a liability issue. But I didn’t say not to use it. That would be detrimental to everyone involved.” Scott said assistant fire marshal Ron Shultz, who was also at a meeting with Boone and Fithian, could confirm his story. Ironically, Boone said he was prepared to use the tanker no matter what anyone told him. “It would have been better to be slapped on the wrist by the county than not use it if I needed it,” he said. Fire protection inside the city of Reno – and a contract between the city and the RFVD – have made headlines lately. A few weeks ago, the Parker County commissioners court announced it would withhold its annual $21,000 to $26,000 stipend to the department until a contract with the city was approved. Riley said a contract is all about accounting for how taxpayer money is spent. Coming to terms on that contract has not been an easy task. Until now, there has only been a verbal agreement between the city council and the fire department. The city has been paying the department $100 per run. Based on 10 runs a month, that comes out to $1,000. Citizen donations have amounted to another $1,400 to $1,600 a month. Boone said his department won’t be using any more city run money until a contract can be worked out. With the county’s money still on hold, that could make running a fire department – even paying for gas – rather difficult. And the contract may still be several weeks away from being finalized. After a four-and-a-half-hour workshop between the city and fire department a few days ago, the two sides are still far apart, Cox said. “The VFD had approximately 3.5 pages of things they did not agree with,” the mayor said. Boone said his complaints deal with his department’s demands to have an outside auditor conduct audits allowed by the contract. He also talked about the fire department’s right to discipline its own people, if needed, without city interference. Cox said Boone needs to reread the contract again to get the facts straight. In fact, the city has read the entire contract “into the record addressing all the VFD’s concerns,” Cox said. The city attorney is now looking at those changes before the contract is resubmitted to the council, Cox said. Boone said a statement in the Feb. 24 edition of the Epigraph that he didn’t want his firefighters to be required to attend training and get formally commissioned as firefighters was taken out of context. “I didn’t say we didn’t want training,” he said. “We need training – and need to go any time the county funds it. We just don’t need a certificate that says we’re firemen.” In the meantime, Scott said he’s looking at contingency plans in case the fire department can’t afford to fight fires. The county is divided into fire coverage areas. If a department doesn’t respond to a fire in its area, dispatch reroutes the call to the next closest fire department. In Reno’s case that could be the Azle Fire Department, Briar Volunteer Fire Department of Emergency District No. 1 crews which out of Springtown and LaJunta. “Our responsibility is to the citizens of the county,” he said. Scott said he needs to meet with Boone to determine the department’s firefighting capabilities in light of its finances. Riley said mutual aid agreements between all departments will continue to be honored. Above all, taxpayers have a “choice,” he said. In time, the county could simply decide to contract with another fire department, or “vendor.” “In the meantime, we’re county) going to do whatever we can to help,” he said. Scott said the county can learn something from Reno’s contract problems. He has vowed to take a more “pre-emptive role” intervening in potential problem areas before they get out of hand. |