Illinois Fire Chiefs Association consultants presented a staffing and operations review to the South Beloit City Council on Aug. 4, 2025, reviewing the city’s intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for fire staffing and outlining options if the current Town of Beloit staffing arrangement proves unsustainable.

The report matters because it assesses whether the IGA is meeting the city’s legal and operational needs and offers concrete models — including a proposed 6-station automatic-aid model — that would change how fire protection is delivered across South Beloit and neighboring jurisdictions.

Dan Markowski, a retired fire chief who spoke for the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, told the council the panel conducted a two‑phase review: first, a close reading of the IGA; second, an examination of the history and staffing model that led to the present arrangement. "What you're experiencing is no different than many other fire departments throughout this country," Markowski said, describing a long-term decline in volunteer and part‑time staffing and higher certification requirements that have increased training and time burdens on potential responders.

The consultants found the existing IGA language around staffing was ambiguous: the agreement can be interpreted as meeting staffing compliance when two personnel are present, while town and city leaders had expressed an intent for three-person daily staffing. The report documents that the most versatile staffing option would be a staffed advanced-life-support (ALS) engine rather than relying solely on an ALS ambulance, but that option would require full 24-hour staffing and additional personnel.

As a midrange option the consultants presented a 6-station concept: treating the three Beloit stations, two Town of Beloit stations and the South Beloit station as an integrated response group so that automatic aid would provide a more robust initial assignment (engines, truck, battalion chief and ambulance) when needed. The report also recommends that South Beloit continue to own and maintain its policies, procedures and records even if personnel come from another jurisdiction under the IGA.

The study noted operational metrics relevant to the city’s exposure: South Beloit’s ISO rating was reported as 4 in the presentation, national turnout and response guidelines were cited (a 5 minutes, 20 seconds example was discussed), and consultants quantified what a "best" staffing model would require — roughly 15 personnel on payroll to maintain a fully staffed engine and ambulance when accounting for vacations and schedules. The consultants also flagged communications and dispatch issues as points for future study (consolidating PSAPs or aligning fire frequencies were both discussed as potential improvements).

Public commenters tied the study to recent local incidents. Ida Tender, who said her son and others live at Fair Oaks, criticized the response to a July 23 alarm, saying the alarm registered at 10:00 a.m. and responders arrived about 10:17 a.m.; "17 minutes to me is unacceptable for no one to come," she said during public comment. Resident Josh Wood and others also raised concerns about staffing levels and dispatch response time during the public comment period.

Council members and staff asked for follow-ups and clarification. The consultants recommended that if the IGA period ends or is revisited the council evaluate both positive and negative outcomes, consider additional partner discussions (consultants said Harlem Roscoe and other agencies might be willing to talk in the future), and track ISO implications as staffing changes are implemented. The presentation was informational; no formal ordinance or vote on the staffing models was taken at the meeting.

What happens next: council members indicated they want more time to review the full written report and to ask technical questions of the consultants and local chiefs. City staff told the council they are available to follow up with more information and that any changes to service models or the IGA would return to the council as formal action items.

Background: the consultants said South Beloit previously reviewed fire service options in a 2016 Mid‑America report and that other neighboring agencies were consulted during the current study. The presentation emphasized that nationwide workforce trends — rising certification requirements and declining volunteer participation — have created staffing shortages that many jurisdictions are trying to manage through intergovernmental cooperation or by transitioning to career staffing.

No formal action was adopted at the Aug. 4 meeting; the presentation served to inform the council’s future policy deliberations.