Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fire And Rescue topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners debate volunteer dispatch and approve a 10‑year lease for Christiana Volunteer Fire Department
Summary
A commissioner questioned whether volunteer departments are receiving mutual-aid pages and suggested county funds might be wasted; Fire Chief Jay Farley said paid county trucks are dispatched as policy and volunteers are paged for their territories. The committee also approved a 10‑year lease to the Christiana Volunteer Fire Department for a county building at the address provided in packet.
A heated exchange over mutual-aid dispatching and volunteer response marked the Rutherford County Public Safety Committee’s discussion of fire and rescue operations on Nov. 24.
Chief Jay Farley presented fire-and-rescue call statistics and a new report layout showing call types and station breakouts. A commissioner (identified in the transcript as the frequent questioner) pressed Farley and Emergency Services Director Chris Clark about a Nolensville mutual-aid call and whether volunteer departments in areas such as Anvil, Christiana and Eagle were being paged and responding. The commissioner said he had been told a 45‑minute response time had been reported; Farley and Clark said the computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) record shows dispatch times, en‑route times and on‑scene times and that paid county trucks are sent when mutual aid requests come in, while volunteers are paged for their assigned territories and may have variable response times because volunteers must travel from home to station.
Farley and Clark said dispatch logs and CAD timestamps can show whether a unit was paged and whether it went en route; the chief said he reviews CAD for monthly reporting. Commissioners requested better communication and records to reconcile differing accounts of whether volunteers were paged.
Separately, the committee approved a lease of a county-owned building to the Christiana Volunteer Fire Department. The packet described the property as "2517 Millen Fossil Road, Bell Buckle" and proposed a 10‑year lease at $10 for the term; the lessee must carry insurance (the packet shows $1,000,000 with $2,000,000 aggregate) and maintain improvements. Commissioners asked whether putting a staffed truck in the building would improve the ISO rating for the area; Chief Farley said the building has been empty and that active use should improve insurance ratings. The lease was approved on a recorded roll call vote.
What’s next: commissioners asked for follow-up records and improved mutual-aid communication; county staff will complete the lease paperwork to effect occupancy by the Christiana Volunteer Fire Department.
