Fire Services Study Moves Ahead Despite Opposition

CORRECTION: The fire services study passed by a three to one margin, as councilmen Bill Bryan and Hooky Huffman were not in attendance during the meeting.

The City of Canton will soon award a $19,940 contract to a consulting firm for an outsider's view on fire service funding in the city.

During Thursday's city council meeting, the board voted to award the contract to Ecological Planning Group, who had done a similar study for the city of Garden City. According to Councilman Bob Rush, Ecological Planning Group will investigate ways to fund a hybrid volunteer force in its study at no additional cost.

The question of whether or not hybridization options were part of the scope of the Garden City study prevented the council from awarding the contract during the last city council meeting.

Councilman Glen Cummins felt that the study was jumping the gun, explaining that the city should not be looking at ways to fund new fire services when they haven't fully investigated all the fire service options before them.

Cummins suggested two different hybrid systems: one system would maintain city control of fire services and move to a joint professional and volunteer firefighter model. The second option would be a "semi-consolidation" between the city and county fire services. Cummins suggested that the city could offer to share the costs of building the replacement for County Fire Station 9 in Laurel Canyon and contracting with the county to provide fire services for the Laurel Canyon and Great Sky areas.

"We could save $800,000 as a city and pay the county $230,000 a year for operating costs and a defined area of what they can cover," Cummins said. He admitted that millage rates would have to increase by 1/3rd of a mill to cover the operating costs.

Councilman John Beresford, a staunch supporter of the city expanding its fire services independently of the county, criticized Cummins for suggesting that the city should consolidate fire services with the county wholly or in part.

"I wish you would stop pushing consolidation," Beresford said. "We are a city and we do not need the county hovering over us. It doesn't make sense. If we go down that road, sometime in the future it will turn around and bite us."

Councilman Rush suggested that, instead of allowing Cummins to "do the study on his own in the council meeting," that the city and Ecological Planning Group perform parallel studies and collaborate at the end stages. The third-party study will not investigate any consolidation options.

Mayor Gene Hobgood felt that if consolidation or semi-consolidation had not been ruled out entirely by the council that the city should reach out to Cherokee County to discuss the new Laurel Canyon station.

"They're ready to spend the money to build the station if we suggest consolidation or semi-consolidation," he said.

The motion to award the contract passed by a five to one margin, with only Cummins dissenting.

To watch a replay of Thursday's meeting, click here and look for the April 4 council meeting video.