It may be months before the City of West Liberty and the volunteers of the West Liberty Fire Department agree on a new 28E Agency agreement – if ever – following a public safety committee work session Tuesday, May 17, at the West Liberty Community Center.
The work session preceded the regular meeting of the council, where council members praised the work of the volunteers of the department and considered the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) document presented to the city and council on April 18 was a working draft of what potentially could be a new agreement between the city, the Rural Fire District and the West Liberty Fire and Ambulance Department.
“It’s a starting point,” said Mayor Katie McCullough, noting there are three really big issues in the memorandum that the council “unanimously” agrees cannot be part of the document.
Council member Cara McFerren agreed. “I do find a lot of parts to it that are not in the best interest of the city,” she said, noting she also doesn’t appreciate getting “strong armed” into a situation to resolve the issue quickly.
The fire fighting volunteers extended a “walk out” deadline to Friday, June 3, should the issue not get resolved, the council members saying they not only have one, but two back-up plans should that happen. The city is saying, througclerk Lee Geertz, there are a lot of things and meetings that would have to happen in order to change things, including the possibility of obtaining a seasoned consultant/mediator to work with both sides on the issues at hand.
The consultant/mediator the city would try to seek is George Oster, a former fire chief who is semi-retired, but has worked with fire departments and cities on 28E agreements, including nearby Riverside and other communities.
“We’d want him to simply sit at a table and have a conversation,” said city administrator Dave Haugland, noting Oster’s experience at resolving these type of issues in Iowa.
McFerren said there’s a lot of information and misinformation circulating in the community, noting “all of this is so muddied.” She said the MOU has a major problem in the fact the volunteers want “ownership of the vehicles and the building.”
The mayor jumped in noting it would be “illegal” for the city to forfeit the fire station and equipment to another entity. “We can’t just give it away,” she said.
In the regular meeting, council member Jose Zacarius agreed the MOU is a “starting point” in negotiations with the fire department.
‘Experts in their field’
McFerren said the council is “pretty unanimous” that the volunteers of the West Liberty Fire Department are “experts in their field,” noting “that’s not in question.”
Council member Dana Dominguez encouraged members of the volunteer fire department and Rural Fire District to carefully read the MOU, noting she learned there were a couple of fire fighters who signed the document that had not read it. She said everyone in the community should read it, noting it’s available on the city’s website.
McFerren, who started the discussion at the regular council meeting by saying the committee “did have a good work session” regarding the agreement and said there were a number of ideas that would provide guidance for the new document from agreements put together for other cities, but noted, “West Liberty is our own community.”
She said the volunteers have the power to do whatever they would like to do, but said everyone needs to “take time out of your busy lives” to absorb what the document says, from the formulation of a three-party advisory board to the city giving up buildings and equipment.
The work session was much more heated. With council members Omar Martinez and Jose Zacarius absent, the mayor asked Dominguez to talk about her research into the situation after setting a timeline for meetings at the May 3 meeting.
Dominguez started off by going through a 28E agreement she had found, among others, from the city of Baxter in Jasper County, calling it “interesting” and “something to go off of,” calling the community a little more “apples to apples” in their situation compared to documents in Solon or Riverside, pointing out Solon’s population difference and the fact Riverside has a casino. “Baxter is only 1,100 people, but it’s a good place to start,” she said.
Council member Diane Beranek broke in to say, “Why are we looking at another 28E agreement when we’ve already approved one?”
Dominguez said she’s been looking on line to find a draft suitable for both the city and the fire department, noting she’s been looking at 28E agreements the past five months since getting elected to office, trying to get a “good handle” on the issues.
She referred to the fire department and rural fire department as the “association,” noting the MOU talks about tax levies, a fire advisory board and the fact the fire chief would “oversee everything.” Basically, the fire department wants a board similar to the library or park boards presently operating in the community, she said, noting she was “intrigued” by this idea.
The board would have three city representatives including two city council members, as well as three representatives from both the West Liberty Fire Department and the Rural Fire District.
Council looking at new agreement
Dominguez said Baxter’s agreement asks that the fire chief (although responsible for all operations) report to the advisory board and the EMS chief become an employee of the city. The fire chief would not be have to be approved by the city council as it is now. The department would create their own budget and a bonded bookkeeper would handle the operating accounts and capital improvement accounts as well as memorial donations.
Geertz questioned if the agency would be a non-profit and if fundraisers would be managed by the bookkeeper. McFerren questioned if the city gets a donation to the fire department even now, “we can’s just hand that over,” noting there are regiments the city goes through to make sure the funds are put in the right place to make sure everything is documented.
Dominguez said she hoped to talk to Baxter city officials with McCullough to clarify how things work. She said the fire department asked for more oversight on operations, funding, budget and other issues.
It was pointed out the city doesn’t levy tax monies for fire protection, which would be a problem in funding the department, officials said.
“So, instead of an MOU, you’ve just described a 28E that gives them all the money,” Beranek said, Dominguez correcting the council woman in saying, “I don’t think so. It describes what they’ll be responsible for.”
Beranek pointed out the present 28E agreement is with the Rural Fire District trustees and “not the fire department – that’s where mess started. Our fire department is ours.”
“Right now the volunteers don’t think the system is working, but it is,” McFerren added.
Not airing ‘dirty laundry’
Geertz said there may have been problems in the past with administration, but pointed out members of the fire department are “not clerks, they’re volunteers. I respect that. When you hear council say they’re not confident in administration. I’m not going to air dirty laundry. It circles back around.”
Geertz said the fire department may not be able to afford a bookkeeper, which would cost an estimated $17,500 a year. “I wouldn’t want to set them up to fail,” she said.
Dominguez went on to say there is “no trust” between the fire department and the city council and called it, “my last ditch effort.” Geertz complimented the work of Dominguez and pointed out as well the change would require an amendment to the municipal code, something that would take several meetings and pushing the issue weeks and possibly months down the road. The clerk said while she admires the council member’s work in “trying to bring something fresh” to the city, she said there has to be trust between the city and volunteers first.
The clerk said there is “no way” any changes in 28E agreements would be handled by June 3. McFerren asked if there was a way the city could start with their present 28E agreement and look at revisions. Dominguez said she thought that was “a great idea.”
“None of this matters if we can’t trust each other,” Geertz said
‘Led us to this pile of crap’
Beranek said the 28E agreement between the Rural Fire District and city “has worked for 100 and some years,” continuing to question “why are we doing this?” She blamed fire chief Kirt Sickels for causing a lot of the problem, noting he made his personal review public, noting he needed to communicate with the city council. “I don’t understand this,” Beranek said.
The long-time council member who has lived in the city for more than four decades said those documents never went into his personnel fire and she said the council started getting blamed, “which led us to this pile of crap.” Beranek went on to say she’s dealt with retaliation from the public for her decisions on the council.
“If they hate the city enough to walk, then let them walk,” she said of the threat of the volunteers leaving the department. “It’s the city they’re letting down.”
“The chief and his little circle of volunteers have created this and I’m sick of it,” Beranek went on, hammering her first on the council table.
Dominguez said the whole thing has been a “misunderstanding,” noting there have been “horrible things” said to members of the council.
Geertz said she has not stopped communicating with the fire department volunteers, leaders or the public, but said the whole issue gets “muddier.” She said no one wants this situation and said the council “simply can’t work that fast” in resolving the situation by June 3, noting there are “processes that need to be done.”
It was pointed out even if a change was made, amendments take at least three meetings of readings and votes by the council in order to get approved, noting it could be August before anything would be finalized if changes were made.
It was pointed out by council members that “it’s not an even playing field” and said the city was not in a good position to negotiate.
Haugland said the issue “can’t change unless we change the concept,” Geertz suggesting the city works on their relationship with the volunteers to “talk about trust.”
She said it’s been publicly stated that she stole money from donor funds for the department, noting she would like an opportunity to address those accusation and “rebuild that relationship.”