Small Town News

Fire district to seek community assistance

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A relatively short agenda led to a shortened meeting at the monthly meeting of the South Walton Fire District board last week.

Board attorney Lori By-tell reported she had reviewed the lease agreement with the John Deere Company, but had since found out John Deere has decided not to pursue leasing the fire district property located near the intersection of CR-393 and U.S. 98. In order to use the property as the company would have wanted, a variance would have been necessary from the planning department.

Assistant chief Marc Anderson explained it this way. "We went to the county and asked them what it would take to paint the building, erect a fence, and so forth. The county wanted a minor development order and the project would have to meet scenic corridor standards, and a traffic analysis would have been necessary. John Deere did not want to hire all the people required to go forward with this process without any guarantee the development application would be approved," he said.

The property remains vacant and the district will continue to look for either a tenant or a buyer.

It was noted the lifeguards are now off the beach until the spring. There were no fatalities in any of the areas protected by lifeguards during the summer season.

Chief Rick Talbert reported that the collective bargaining agreement expired Sept. 30, but talks continue while they work under the old contract. They anticipate reaching agreement within the next two weeks.

Chairman Maurice Gilbert reminded the board about the retirement board, composed of both appointed and elected trustees. The two appointed trustees by the board are Sean Hayes and Brian Flanagan and both of their terms expire at the end of November. Two fire fighters, Ryan Crawford and Eric Lang, were elected by the membership. The fifth member is Nate Brown. Neither Flanagan nor Brown has any financial interest in the retirement fund, as neither are fire fighters.

Gilbert noted the retirement fund currently has a balance of more than $10 million and serving on the board is a serious matter. He asked the fire district board to come to the next meeting with names of community members who might be willing to volunteer to serve on the retirement board. "We need people with the expertise to advise the board. We need people from out there in the community who do not benefit directly from the retirement plan. I would like nominations brought in from the community. I'm sure we have people who would serve in that capacity," he said.

Jack Abbit commented, "The pension plan is very sophisticated. It takes a lot of work to serve on this committee. I think fresh eyes are a great idea."

Commissioner Harry Millsaps made a motion to retain the current officers of the board for 2010, which was passed by all.

On another matter, Abbit said, "One of the items we have kicked around for a while is a fee for false alarms. Other fire departments have a fee structure for alarm calls. I think it may be time to institute such a program in these trying financial times. I would like the chief to take a look at it and come back to us with his comments on whether or not this should be done."

Talbert said, "This issue is one of our upcoming goals to look at this year. We want to collect a bit more data on the number of false alarms and the reasons for false alarms before making a decision."

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Leah Stratmann may be reached via leahwrites@ gmail.com



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© 2010 The DeFuniak Springs Herald DeFuniak Springs, Florida. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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