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Fire commission updates board on countywide strategic plan, requests $35.1 million funding for 2025
Summary
Fire commission vice chairman Barry Stanley and fire chiefs updated the board on coordinated efforts across departments, identified eight apparatus to replace and requested a 2025 funding plan totaling $35,143,713.70 to support apparatus, staffing and other needs.
Barry Stanley, vice chairman of the Johnston County Fire Commission, updated the Board of Commissioners on a multi-year, countywide strategic plan for fire protection and emergency services and presented a funding request for fiscal year 2025 totaling $35,143,713.70.
Stanley said the fire commission has organized three working committees — a call-share committee, an apparatus committee and a staffing-and-compensation committee — to coordinate replacement apparatus, deployment and personnel needs across 23 county fire departments and two out-of-county mutual aid departments. He said the apparatus committee has narrowed a previous long list to eight apparatus identified for replacement that are more than 30 years old, and the staffing-and-compensation work is about 85% complete.
The funding figure presented to the board draws on a matrix approved three years ago and data from the county’s fire RMS (records management system), Stanley said. He told commissioners the funding plan “meets and keeps us in line with that strategic plan” and that the presentation was intended to supply data for the county’s upcoming budget process rather than to request immediate appropriation.
Stanley and other chiefs emphasized unprecedented cooperation among volunteer and paid departments, and noted new coordination with the county human resources office to address recruitment and retention as the county shifts toward more paid staffing over time. Commissioners praised the multi-jurisdictional collaboration and said the information would be considered during the formal budget adoption and ad valorem tax-rate-setting process.
Key figures and details provided during the presentation include the $35,143,713.70 funding request for fiscal year 2025, identification of eight apparatus for replacement, inclusion of all 23 county fire departments and two out-of-county departments in the matrix, and the use of RMS data to produce the total. Stanley said the apparatus committee is still finalizing funding sources and whether departments already have budgeted funds or will require county-level assistance.
No formal board action was taken at the meeting on the funding request; commissioners were briefed and told the material will inform budget preparation.
Quotes in context "We put together a strategic plan and, working through this with the reevaluation ... the funding plan, I think, meets and keeps us in line with that strategic plan," Barry Stanley said while presenting the request.
"It's encouraging to know ... that when people get their minds together and think about the whole county, there are opportunities out there to actually step forward and do that," a commissioner said in response.
