Jun. 16—HENDERSON — In a rather contentious special-called meeting Wednesday, the Vance County Board of Commissioners voted to freeze the Vance County Fire Department budget until an outside study assessing the potential restructuring of county fire services is completed. In a separate motion, the board also approved the overall county budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24.
The Vance County Fire Department budget freeze means the department cannot fill any vacancies for full- or part-time positions until a consultant is hired and a study, which is anticipated to take 60 to 90 days, is finished.
That study is still in the works.
"Staff is currently drafting a request for proposals to send out to consultants for a Fire Services Study," said Assistant County Manager Chris Dillon.
An increase of part-time pay to $16 an hour had previously been planned, but that move was also paused, along with any increase in funding to the county's nonprofit (volunteer) departments. For the time being, the county fire department will continue to operate as normal with no decrease in personnel or operating expenses, but with a halt to additional capital expenditures.
A motion was briefly on the table that would reclassify Vance County Fire Chief and Fire Marshal Chris Wright's position, splitting it into two separate roles. But commissioners Sean Alston Sr. and Carolyn Faines rescinded the motion before it could be voted on following Interim County Manager Scott Elliot's recommendation that the board wait for the study's results before making a decision to split the position.
The special meeting followed a June 7 Public Safety Committee (Alston, Faines, Commissioner Dan Brummitt) meeting that yielded multiple proposals for county fire service restructuring — Much of that information was not brought to the board on Wednesday, including a proposal to eliminate all paid part-time Vance County Fire Department positions but one and to "reorganize Vance County Fire Department to Goldenbelt Fire Department."
PUBLIC DEBATE
The county fire service debate isn't a new one, despite it being rekindled publicly earlier this year.
In the May 16, 2023 Public Safety Committee meeting, according to county documents, discussion among county fire chiefs and commissioners included "who county employees embedded in nonprofit departments would ultimately answer to and the differences in personnel policies among the nine nonprofit departments and county personnel policy," in reference to the possibility of county firefighters being assigned to nonprofit departments.
Though not discussed directly at the Board of Commissioners meeting last Monday, the topic still came up. A number of county citizens spoke during the meeting's public comment period about the county fire department.
Danielle Evans recounted a car accident in 2020 that left her, her husband and their children with serious injuries. Evans' injuries were severe to the point she had to be airlifted to Duke Regional Hospital. She implored the board not convert VCFD to a volunteer station. That was a common theme that night.
Commissioners have insisted since the beginning of discussions that they aren't planning on getting rid of the VCFD and that they want to make the decision that's best for the county.
Another citizen last Monday expressed concern that restructuring would lead to higher insurance rates. She also questioned why downsizing was on the table when other counties were expanding fire services.
Citizen Angela Ryan claimed the board would willingly make decisions to harm the county, responding to Commissioner Carolyn Faines, who at another meeting questioned whether anyone thought the board would do so. Ryan referred to a May 16 comment by Board Chair Yolanda Feimster that she wasn't particularly worried about fire coverage as she lives within Henderson's city limits.
"My intention was that we should all work together to try to reach a resolution that's going to be beneficial for the entire county," said Feimster. "This is a countywide decision, and every citizen should have input, and that was my intent in making any statement I made."
She reiterated at the time that the fact-finding process was still ongoing, no decision had been reached and that all input will be taken under advisement.
The citizen also pointed out that the Public Safety Committee is composed of people in favor of restructuring the VCFD and said a member of the department should hold a seat.
She also called the idea of reorganizing the VCFD "political self-destruction."
Another said the VCFD was an object of envy for counties without county-funded fire department and should be kept as-is to provide coverage when volunteers cannot. Another presented a diagram of the fire triangle, which conveys that a fire has three ingredients: oxygen, fuel and heat. Remove any one of those and the fire is extinguished.
Bryant Williams, a VCFD battalion chief, quoted the Bible, and questioned who he, a county employee, would follow if put under the purview of two bosses.
"All of a sudden, in 2018, the department no longer was looked at as an asset, but a financial burden, by some," said Williams. He claimed nobody in the county government has attempted to get opinions from the members of the VCFD, though Fire Chief Chris Wright has been invited to and spoke at a Public Safety Committee meeting meant to touch base with fire department personnel.
Williams asked whether the board would serve "God's people," Vance County citizens, or money.
'COMPROMISE'
The overarching point of contention during Wednesday's meeting centered on whether the board should make any moves on fire service restructuring before the study comes back. Commissioners Tommy Hester, Leo Kelly Jr. and Archie Taylor Jr. vocally expressed their concerns during the meeting about whether to take action prior to a study, and what actions to take. Elliott, who was formally announced as interim county manager last week, said for the short term, he thought approving the overall county budget as it was — with the separate move for the fire department budget freeze — was a "reasonable compromise," in part because the county fire department already has vacancies it hasn't been able to fill within the last year. In other words, operations should be able to go on as usual while the study is taking place, and the board would still be able to make amendments to the budget should an urgent matter arise.
Feimster said during Wednesday's meeting one of the purposes of the budget freeze was to "maintain status quo" and eliminate the possibility of the department making any new hires before a consultant gives their input on restructuring.
Alston, who is in his first year as a commissioner, indicated he doesn't want part-time firefighters to lose out on a raise or for residents' insurance premiums to go up based on any changes to the fire tax rate.
"Let the study tell us if we're on the right path or not," Alston said. "This is what's best for me, [and] not only for my constituents, but for the county. I need to make sure that I'm making the right decision, and this dog and pony show that we're doing here ain't worth it. We need to agree to disagree and we can't even do that."
Hester and Kelly were adamant that proceeding Wednesday on separating the fire chief and fire marshal position should not be included in such a compromise.
"What's the big rush?" Kelly asked.
Taylor was critical of any action, including the freeze, being taken before a study was produced.
Wednesday's meeting grew heated several minutes after commencing as Hester asked Assistant County Manager Chris Dillon if the goal was to take a full-time fire department and turn it into an all-volunteer department. Dillon suggested that question go to the Public Safety Committee members.
In 2018, The Dispatch reported that making Vance County Fire Department, which serves the Golden Belt fire district, an all-volunteer station was one proposal being considered by county commissioners.
"There's no intention of making it a volunteer fire department," Brummitt responded to Hester before Hester replied, "Then why don't we keep it as it is?"
Feimster told Hester he was out of order and that there would be time for discussion later in the meeting. There was.
Feimster then lamented the nature of the attention the subject of fire service reorganization has brought to the board. "This board has been bombarded with emails," she said. "We've been getting texts. We've been getting phone calls. We've been on television — WRAL. There's been newspaper articles and there also have been radio station reports. A lot of information that was given [to the media] was not correct. We did not misunderstand in a lot of instances. A lot of stuff was intentionally misrepresented. At no time did anyone on this board ever say that we wanted to close the Golden Belt [sic]. What we said and me specifically was that I wanted to make sure that the citizens of Vance County were all protected..."
Feimster expressed concern, as other advocates for fire service redistricting or county fire department restructuring have in the past, that all Vance County residents aren't afforded the same level of fire coverage under the current system.
