The Church Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen will ask for a $30,000 increase in funding from the county to continue providing fire protection to the Phipps Bend Industrial Park.
The Church Hill Fire Department has provided fire protection at Phipps Bend since 2008 in exchange for $20,000 from the county.
Mayor Dennis Deal said during a special called meeting on March 14 that rising costs were taking too much money out of city funds to justify continued coverage.
Deal said that he would like to see Church Hill continue to offer fire services to Phipps Bend, but the cost might cause the town to make a tough decision.
“We support the industrial complex 100%, but is it fair or right if the taxpayer eats the cost,” Mayor Deal stated.
‘Only going to increase’
Last summer, the BMA voted unanimously to increase the overtime pay of officers and firefighters answering calls. The Mayor said that when fire equipment, fuel, and man hours are factored, the city pays a large sum for every call answered.
Police Chief Chad Mosley added that on average, it costs about $2,500 for every call answered at Phipps Bend. A growing issue has been false alarms from the industries.
“We have to answer (any call we get). We don’t have a choice,” Mayor Deal explained.
Alderman Keith Gibson asked if there was a way to make the factories more accountable for the false alarms. Fire Chief Will Mullins said fire alarm systems are always going to be faulty due to temperature changes in the plant, despite yearly inspections.
Mosley added, “(Our costs) are only going to increase because we have more plants coming too. … We’ve basically doubled our amount of costs this year.”
Mosley said the city would hit a cost of $50,000 for serving Phipps Bend this year, and 40% of the total calls to the city are going to Phipps Bend.
For 16 years, the contract with Phipps Bend has been automatically renewed without any pay increase from the county despite the cost to the city increasing, Deal noted.
‘That’s unheard of’
“I can’t imagine any sort of organization having some sort of increase in 20 years,” Alderman Ken Luster stated. “That’s unheard of.”
“My recommendation is let (Chief Mosley) and (Chief Mullins) meet with the Industrial Board and see if we can come to an agreement,” Mayor Deal told the board.
The motion passed with a 5-0 vote with Alderman Kathy Christian abstaining after arriving late.
Chief Mosley also recommended that the contract include a percentage increase in funding each year to cover growing inflation.
Mayor Deal said, “We’re servicing Phipps Bend and we want to do that, but there’s a cost factor there and when it goes up it goes up.”
“If (the Industrial Board) says they can’t pay it then we’re going to have to take a strong look at that.”
New mini-pumper truck
In other business, the board voted 6-0 to purchase a used mini-pumper firetruck for $287,500 on the condition that the town would not have to send out for bids on the truck.
Mayor Deal said, “A lot of our trucks won’t go on residential roads because a lot of our streets are so small here.”
Chief Mullins said that the mini-pumper would allow the Fire Department to reach buildings on narrower roads and would be used for car wrecks, extractions, off-road fires, and inclement weather if purchased.
“We’ve needed a mini-pumper for a long time,” the Mayor stated. However, with an average cost of $375,000 new, the city has never been able to afford one.
The truck under consideration to purchase is a 2019 Dodge with 4,000 miles on it that was originally purchased for a gated community who recently traded it in. Chief Mosley also stated that the truck can pump 1500 gallons of water per minute with a 300 gallon tank, the town’s older trucks pump 1250 gallons per minute.
“I think this will be a really good asset for the city,” Fire Chief Mullins said.
“With the taxpayers’ money we’ve voted to put in the bank on interest, that interest would pay for this truck this year. That’s a good thing too,” Mayor Deal added.
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