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Church Wells special service district outlines plan to add remote areas to fire protection; county to seek cost estimates
Summary
Jeanette, chair of the Church Wells Special Service District, asked Kane County to consider expanding structural fire protection to Pine Springs, Clark Bench and Perea through an MOU with BigWater; commissioners requested assessment valuations, discussed board composition and suggested a volunteer fire committee as an interim step.
Jeanette, chair of the Church Wells Special Service District, presented a plan at the May 6 Kane County Commission meeting to expand structural fire protection to Pine Springs, Clark Bench and Perea under the district’s existing MOU with BigWater.
Jeanette said the SSD will obtain assessed property values to calculate what the additional territory would add to their current assessment rate and that she hopes the expansion would not require raising the assessment. "We'll get an assessment value of them, find out what we have to raise and then figure out what the assessment is going to be," she said.
Commissioners asked for specifics on resident counts, estimated costs and whether BigWater would accept the same per-property assessment charged inside the district. Commissioners suggested alternatives to immediately adding two voting board members — including forming a volunteer fire committee or allowing remote participation so new representatives would not have to attend monthly meetings in person.
The commission reported it will not take direct action to expand the SSD at this meeting. County staff said they have authorized a $50,000 feasibility study for countywide fire/EMS, and Jeanette and commissioners agreed the expansion can be reconsidered after valuation and cost details are available.
The chair encouraged Jeanette to present the district with a concrete proposal for BigWater to consider, noting that a clear, presented package may speed an agreement. Jeanette said the district leadership "would not be upset" if the county ultimately moved to a countywide fire service, and that a committee approach could avoid immediate bylaw changes that would be required to add regular board members.
Next steps identified by the commission include: collecting assessed-value data for the affected lots, asking BigWater to respond to a proposed assessment package, and waiting for the countywide feasibility study before any formal boundary-expansion action.
