The work of the task force on forming a 28E agreement between the city, rural trustees and the fire department is at a standstill for the time being.
The city has taken the stance that they would like to have a consultant to do a comprehensive review of the fire department. The rural trustees and fire department haven’t responded to this request as of press time.
Mayor Ethan Anderson said this in a statement he issued on YouTube Friday, Aug. 4.
Anderson gave a brief history before getting into what led to the task force being formed in the first place before getting into the city’s stance on things. He said decades ago the city was given the responsibility to provide oversight of the fire department. The rural trustees also contribute funding and have oversight with a 28E agreement with the city.
“That worked well for many, many years, but in recent years some friction has developed in those relationships,” Anderson said.
A task force was developed with representatives from the city, the rural trustees and the fire department. The goal was to look into the possibility of forming a new fire/EMS agency, he added.
“This would be a new government agency that would assume the oversight responsibility of the fire department and separate the fire department from being a department of the city,” Anderson said.
The process has taken a lot of time and was a complicated process.
“Thanks to the diligent work of the task force members we have developed the framework for a possible structure for the fire department that meets everyone’s needs that address the administrative concerns that caused the concern in the first place,” Anderson said.
They are closer to having a final idea of what the agreement could look like because of the work the task force has put in, he added.
Recently, the task force agreed a professional consultant would be needed to review the plan. The city’s thoughts were to always have experts involved in the writing of legal documents, Anderson said.
“The fire department representatives chose an experienced consulting firm that they’re happy with,” he added. “A firm called the Center for Public Safety Management.”
Originally, the consultant’s involvement was to be limited but that proved unworkable so the option now is to have a comprehensive analysis with the consultant’s guidance.
“The City of West Liberty is encouraging the fire department and the rural fire district to move forward with a comprehensive review process with this consultant the fire department has identified," Anderson said. "The city council, the city staff and myself as mayor see this as the best and only way to move forward.”
This will cost around $50,000 and will take a minimum of six months for the consultant to review things and longer for a resolution to come, he added.
“It’s important to note while this is ongoing they do not affect the day-to-day firefighting and ambulance operations,” Anderson said. “The administration is affected but not the operations side. The fire department currently has full control of their operations. The budget they requested was granted exactly as the presented it. The chief that they elected was appointed unanimously by city council.”
They make all their leadership selections and are responsible for retention and recruitment, he added.
“This process leaves their operations unaffected in the meantime so that they can continue to serve the community as they do so well,” Anderson said.
As of press time, the fire department had not responded to The Index’s request for comment on the mayor’s statement.