Longtime responder asks commission to remove volunteer fire district language from charter

Karen Sargent, a volunteer firefighter and professional emergency responder, told the Butte-Silver Bow Study Commission on Oct. 27 she wants specific references to volunteer fire districts removed from the county charter.

"I am respectfully requesting that the Butte Silver Bow Government Study Commission remove any and all written reference pertaining to the volunteer fire districts, take them out of the charter," Sargent said, adding she has 30 years of training and experience in emergency response.

Sargent told commissioners that since arriving in Butte she has experienced what she described as distrust and poor treatment from upper administration in the career fire department and said the charter language currently differentiates volunteer districts in ways she believes conflict with how volunteers are governed elsewhere in Montana. She identified the relevant charter language as section 7.03, subsections a, d, e and f.

Sargent said removing the language would "allow the volunteers to be subject to current state laws that dictate how each district was established and how they should operate," and that the change would not, in her view, alter the form of government as previously explained by the county attorney.

The commission did not take questions during public comment; the chair told Sargent the commission would welcome her return when it deliberates the charter section. No commission motion or formal action on the charter language was taken at the meeting.

The commission's upcoming schedule lists a session on fire departments and possible changes to charter language on Nov. 10. Commissioners indicated they plan further deliberation and potential subcommittee work on charter sections before any formal recommendation or ballot language is drafted.

Sargent's full remarks and background information will be part of the record for the commission's deliberations on section 7.03.