Stuart commission asks Martin County to hold public meeting on fire mutual-aid talks

The City of Stuart commission on Jan. 12 directed staff to request that Martin County and Martin County Fire Rescue make any meetings about the interlocal agreement and mutual-aid arrangements open to the public. The action came after a lengthy discussion about whether billing and consolidation talks were occurring behind closed doors.

Vice Mayor Reid raised concerns that county-led discussions could affect which agency responds to 911 calls inside the city and sought public transparency: "If Martin County is going to invite the city of Stuart to have a discussion regarding this, I think it should be public," he said. City staff and fire administration agreed that the meeting should be public if it includes policy-level topics rather than routine chief-to-chief coordination.

Interim City Manager Jolie told commissioners she had not been approached by Martin County about consolidating fire operations and said she had "crunched the numbers" showing consolidation would not necessarily save local taxpayers money. Mayor Christopher Collins added a firm policy note for residents: "I have 0 interest in consolidating our fire department with Martin County," he said, emphasizing the commission's preference to retain local control and staffing.

City Attorney Lee advised the commission that amendments to any interlocal agreement would ultimately come back to the commission as an agenda item and be subject to public vote. Commissioners agreed by consensus to instruct staff to send a letter requesting a public meeting and to monitor the county's Friday meeting that had been raised in discussion.

Next steps: staff will draft and send the letter to Martin County and report back on any county response; no formal consolidation decision was made at the meeting.