TONTITOWN -- A new contract for fire protection service in Tontitown is possibly the first step in merging the city-run Fire Department and the Tontitown Area Fire Department, said Mayor Paul Colvin.
"I hope it works toward that transition," Colvin said.
At A Glance
Police chief not reinstated
Tontitown’s City Council went into executive session during a City Council meeting Tuesday to discuss reinstating Kristopher Arthur, who was fired as police chief earlier this month. Arthur appealed his firing by Mayor Paul Colvin and hoped aldermen would reinstate him. Aldermen voted not to take any action on the matter.
Source: Staff Report
Tontitown aldermen plan to consider a contract next Tuesday paying the area department $175,000 per year for fire service and protection, according to a contract released Tuesday. Monthly payments would start March 4.
The contract, which was discussed during a special City Council meeting Tuesday, is similar to what the city had with the department years ago, said Tommy Granata, alderman.
Under the new contract, the department would take control of the city's equipment and run the department, including employing firefighters. That means city firefighters would lose their jobs, said Steven Guzman, city assistant fire chief.
The city also would maintain its own equipment and allow the volunteer department "exclusive use of all existing city-owned or leased firefighting vehicles, equipment and supplies," according to the contract.
The volunteer fire department would be responsible for providing fire protection, emergency services and all necessary manpower, according to the contract. The department also would keep up its own equipment.
Fire service for Tontitown would cover two paid firefighters with one firefighter shift from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and one firefighter shift to begin any time from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and continue for a 12-hour shift Monday through Saturday.
Other staffing requirements would use volunteers.
Granata said he believed the city will benefit from the contract by using the firefighters who are part of the volunteer department and the additional equipment the city would get to use.
Colvin said the volunteer department's satellite may lower the Insurance Service Office rate for the city and outlying areas, which may lower homeowner insurance for some residents.
The city attempted a merger of the two departments about 1½ years ago, Colvin said, but the deal fell through. The volunteer department had covered Tontitown since 1979 stopped last year, when the city started its own department.
The contract is meant to save the city money, Colvin said, but former alderman Clint Penzo disagreed and said Tontitown could lose thousands. Penzo said money wasn't the reason for the contract, and said the reason aldermen want a contract is they have links to the volunteer fire department.
Tontitown has about $1.7 million in expenditures and about $1.3 million in expected revenue -- a shortfall of about $400,000, Colvin said. The 2015 budget for salaries alone at the city Fire Department is about $223,000, he said.
Guzman said he believed the city Fire Department could offer the same or similar service as in the new contract for $157,000. He passed out documents Tuesday showing alternatives for signing a contract.
As a bonus, the city could retain control of its equipment and employees, Guzman said.
Aldermen don't seem as concerned about the type of service the city Fire Department offers as much as costs, Guzman said. The Fire Department has 24-hour, seven-days-a-week fire protection service and employs roughly 30 part-time and full-time employees, he said.
The city Fire Department responds 90 percent of the time in less than two minutes ins the city, Guzman said, but the department hasn't yet faced a full structure fire in Tontitown, he said.
Numbers for the volunteer department weren't immediately available Tuesday.
Fire chiefs Tom Jenkins in Rogers and Mike Irwin in Springdale said cheapest fire protection may not always be the best. Irwin and Jenkins didn't attend Tuesday's meeting, but both fire chiefs said they believe cities should look at things such as firefighter training, response times and city needs.
"Money is not everything, but certainly, it's going to be a component of it, I think," Irwin said.
NW News on 01/28/2015