Elm Springs is among several Arkansas cities that gets firefighting services through a contract with another city. Such contracts should be legal but might not be, according to a state representative and former Elm Springs City Council member.
Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R- Elm Springs, said she learned of a lack of any legal provision for such contracts after voting to approve one when she was an alderwoman. Elm Springs contracts for fire protection from neighboring Cave Springs. So the freshman lawmaker introduced House Bill 1210 on Thursday.
"Sooner or later, somebody's going to challenge one of these contracts in court," Lundstrum said. "This is a very simple bill that makes these contracts legal."
Elm Springs negotiated its contract with Cave Springs in 2008. Some constituents in her legislative district have questioned whether the contract is allowed under state law, Lundstrum said. She filed the bill to remove any doubt.
Contracting with other cities is a widespread practice across the United States, said Benton County Fire Marshall Marc Trollinger. Lowell has a similar contract that provides fire protection to Bethel Heights, he said. Trollinger said he was surprised to hear that anyone had questioned such a contract.
House Bill 1210 has no requirements that cities enter such contracts either to provide or receive fire protection, Lundstrum said.
"If a city has a volunteer fire department and wants to keep it, they can," she said.
The bill also would allow cities to enter contracts with volunteer fire department that serve areas outside the city. Any fire department certified by the Arkansas Fire Protection Services Board could provide the service under the provisions of the bill.
"This is basically a small town protection plan," Lundstrum said. Setting up a fire department is a major expense for a small city. Small towns that do not have a department of their own need protection, and other cities with fire departments benefit from the economy of scale they get when they enter a contract. The payments from a contract help pay the department's expenses, she said.
Lundstrum's comments about the economy of scale are true, but the over-riding concern with these contracts is public safety, said Cave Springs Mayor Travis Lee.
"Public safety alone is reason enough for these contracts," Lee said. Whatever benefit Cave Springs gets from helping a neighboring city such as Elm Springs are secondary, he said.
Another advantage of these contracts is they can give a small fire department enough revenue and a big-enough coverage area to hire more full-time firefighters, Lundstrum said. That improves service for everyone, she said.
The bill contains no provision on ambulance services, Lundstrum said, because there already are provisions in the law for contracts for ambulance service.
The bill needs 51 votes to pass the House and had 28 House co-sponsors when Lundstrum filed it, the bill showed.
"I could have gotten 10 more pretty easily, but realized it was getting good bipartisan support and no real opposition," Lundstrum said. "It would do more good to go on and get the bill through than to keep adding sponsors."
The bill is assigned to the House City, County and Local Affairs committee.
NW News on 02/01/2015