The Church Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted Tuesday to give six-month notice of intent to terminate its contract with the county to provide fire protection at the Phipps Bend Industrial Park.
Church Hill has provided fire protection to the park since 2008 in exchange for an annual county contribution of $20,000, which has not been increased in 16 years.
In March, the BMA voted to allow the town’s Public Safety Department to negotiate a $30,000 increase due to increased costs for the town to continue providing fire protection at Phipps Bend.
Those costs were generated by the BMA’s decision to pay its city employees, who are required to serve on the fire department, a minimum of four overtime hours for ever call they answer at Phipps Bend.
CHFD Chief Will Mullins reported that felase alarm calls at Phipps Bend had increased, and Church Hill is anticipating a total cost of $40,000 by the end of June for providing fire protection to Phipps Bend. That’s expected to increase another $10,000 next year.
“My recommendation is we notify Hawkins County we will no longer provide (fire) protection,” City Attorney Chris Raines told the BMA. “We’re losing money doing a service that does not benefit us in any way.”
There are currently 13 plants operating inside the industrial park, employing approximately 1,400 people. Phipps Bend is also home to a Tennessee College of Applied Technology campus.
‘The risk increases’
Mayor Dennis Deal previously stated that Church Hill supports the Industrial Park 100 percent, but the financial the burden to the town was becoming too much.
On average, the town pays $2,500 per fire response to Phipps Bend when factoring equipment, fuel, and man hours.
False calls have also become an issue. Because CHFD has to answer every call, Mayor Deal said that it was too much stress on employees who respond.
Mayor Deal noted that although the County might require any factory with a false alarm to pay to cost for responding, Church Hill had no authority to enforce that requirement. Mullins said false calls are almost unavoidable as faulty systems will alarm with any internal temperature changes.
Raines noted that a new heat treatment plant was scheduled to move to Phipps Bend. Alderman Keith Gibson said that a battery powered electricity storage facility is possibly coming soon too.
“There’s a whole different way of putting fires out (with batteries),” Gibson said.
“The risk increases with these new plants moving in,” Raines agreed.
‘Pennywise and the town foolish’
Raines reminded the BMA there’s a six-month notice required to end it fire protection contract with the county at Phipps Bend, which he would take care of.
“It’s not like we’re pulling the rug out from under them,” Raines said.
Church Hill will have to continue delivering fire service until the six months are over.
Alderman Kathy Christian asked if there was any hope that renegotiations would open back up after the notice was sent, but Mayor Deal and Raines were skeptical of the hopes to continue offering service to Phipps Bend.
“I think the county’s being pennywise and the town foolish by not even recognizing that since 2008 we don’t deserve an increase,” Raines said.
On Wednesday the county commission’s Budget Committee voted to recommend the 2024-25 budget to the full commission keeping the same $20,000 annual contribution to Church Hill for Phipps Bend fire protection until the contract expires.
In the meantime the Budget Committee asked Surgoinsville Alderman Randy Collier about the possibility of contracting with Surgoinsville to provide fire protection at Phipps Bend. Collier said the subject will be discussed at the next BMA workshop, which will be held the first Monday in June.
‘A vicarious situation’
Hawkins County Industrial Development Board chairman Larry Elkins noted that disrupting fire protection at Phipps Bend will hinder industrial recruitment. The industrial Board is on the cusps of landing a major job producing plant on 100 vacant acres within the park; as well as an electricity storage facility that will increase county property tax revenue by more than $2 million annually.
“We are a part of the county government and the county commission holds the purse strings for this payment,” Elkins said. “This has put us, as an industrial board, in a vicarious situation. Having no fire protection will hurt industrial recruitment tremendously. We are currently working on one of the largest projects in East Tennessee for Phipps Bend Industrial Park, and having no fire protection may hinder the progression of this project.”
Elkins added, “We have always had a great working relationship with Church Hill Fire Department but we are disappointed in their decision, as we asked for more information (about which plants are having false alarms) from the fire chief but never received it. During our meeting with the fire chief, we were informed they had been receiving several false calls and we asked what industry the false calls were coming from so we could address the issue with the company, but we never received the information.”
It is imperative that the Hawkins County Industrial Board/Phipps Bend Joint Venture, the Hawkins County Commission, and the Church Hill Fire Department work this out, Elkins said.
“We must have good fire protection and a good relationship if we want to continue (industrial recruitment),” Elkins said. “This benefits everyone in the community with jobs and taxes.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0