The county's fire coordinator told the committee on July 15 that the county is starting discussions about redirecting a portion of false-alarm fine revenue to subsidize training-center costs for volunteer fire departments.

Why it matters: False-alarm fee programs generate local revenue; the coordinator said some of those funds could be used to support department training and local readiness.

The coordinator said the county is exploring, during the 2026 budget process, using some funds collected from false-alarm fines — which begin after a set number of free responses and escalate to fines — to help subsidize training-center expenses for local departments. "We're trying to...get a chunk of some of the fire alarm low money that we're chasing around false alarms for all the while to help, subsidize some of the stuff in the training center to the fire departments," the coordinator said.

Separately, the committee approved appointments for Sean Hoffman (City of Hudson) and Mark Lindelkin (Stockport Fire District) as deputy coordinators for the county, each to serve the remainder of the calendar year with the usual reappointment schedule in January. The committee also declared a 1995 KME fire truck surplus following acquisition of a new vehicle.

Ending: The coordinator said the county will continue budgeting discussions and that local town laws and billing processes for false alarms will inform any reallocation of funds to training; the committee approved the personnel appointments and the surplus declaration.