Duchesne County COG approves three-year renewal of custom fire protection agreement, raises certified firefighter pay

Duchesne County Council of Governments members voted to approve a three-year renewal of a custom fire protection agreement that updates boundary maps, raises pay for certified firefighters and clarifies county incident-command authority in catastrophic events.

The agreement, which members discussed at length before the vote, proposes a 2.5% increase in the contract renewal, sets certified firefighter pay at $25 per hour and retains noncertified pay at $15 per hour. The council also added provisions to align EMS and fire district boundaries, tighten reporting when apparatus are taken out of service, and require quicker billing and payment timelines.

Speaker 3 (staff member), who presented the draft renewal, said the boundary alignment would create “efficiencies” and make dispatching simpler: “There's just some efficiencies that we haven't been able to really realize. We've had a different boundary for EMS than we have in fire.” The presenter said aligning the boundaries will allow central dispatch to send both fire and EMS together instead of treating them as separate responses.

On compensation and term, the presenter said the renewal proposes a 2.5% increase and a three-year contract; certified firefighters would be paid $25 an hour while noncertified firefighters would remain at $15 an hour to preserve an incentive to obtain certification. In discussion, another participant asked about certification levels and the presenter said the agreement “we like to push all our to a 5 5 2, but we have several that are hanging there in firefighter 1.”

The presenter also described a reporting requirement for apparatus: when a pumper or other apparatus is taken out of service, the entity must notify the county so the county and dispatch can respond and assist if needed. “In the past, we've had a few instances where an entity hasn't let us know that they're comfortable about a service, And we wanna we wanna know so we can assist you if possible,” the presenter said.

Officials discussed billing and collection timelines. The presenter said reports should be submitted within 30 days and payments processed within 60 days so the county can recoup costs from homeowners when necessary and ensure departments are paid promptly.

On incident command, the presenter described language allowing county incident command to assume control in rare catastrophic incidents where an incident is “being inadequately managed.” The presenter said Chief Phillips, the county emergency management director, and the part-time county fire warden (whose salary is split between the state and county) are the officials ultimately in charge and that county assumption of command would be an exception, not routine: “If we have an incident where the county feels like it is not being managed, we will step in and take over that incident because we're ultimately the 1 who pays the bill.”

After discussion, Speaker 3 moved to approve the agreement; Speaker 1 seconded the motion. Members responded “Aye,” and the motion passed.

Members said they would circulate a draft of the updated Exhibit A (the boundary map) to chiefs for review and hoped to have the executed agreement on the county commission agenda before the end of the year.

Votes at a glance

— Approval of custom fire protection agreement (three-year renewal): motion moved by Speaker 3 (staff member), seconded by Speaker 1 (member); outcome: approved.

What this means

The approved changes aim to reduce confusion between EMS and fire response areas, speed billing and payment to departments, and create a modest pay incentive for certification. The county-retained incident-command provision is narrowly scoped for catastrophic or poorly managed incidents, according to the presenter.

Next steps and timeline

Presenters said they will circulate draft maps to local fire chiefs for comment, finalize Exhibit A, and seek county commission execution of the agreement before year-end.