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Council weighs volunteer fire future as referendum would add 16 municipal fire personnel
Summary
Council members and residents debated whether the plan (which funds 16 municipal fire positions over five years) preserves Test Corners volunteers or leads to dissolution; mayor and staff said the dissolution agreement is funded, but council members asked for clearer cost and operational details before finalizing the ballot language.
Council members spent substantial time debating how a partial municipal staffing plan would interact with the Test Corners Volunteer Fire Department and the city's existing dissolution agreement.
Alderman Wolf and others argued the process is rushed and urged committee review of the dissolution and related costs. The mayor and city attorney responded the dissolution agreement (drafted in 1988) exists, the scholarship provision is fully funded and the city would only be compelled to buy assets or buildings if certain nonvoluntary conditions occur. "Anything post 1988 is ours," the mayor said when describing asset ownership under the dissolution agreement.
Resident Constantine Fondis urged the council to frame the plan as a combination model—keeping volunteers while adding municipal positions—rather than presenting the outcome as a transition to a fully career department. "I think the report should name that out that we need all the volunteers we have now and for indefinitely plus these 16 individuals," he said.
Council directed staff to convene a committee to work out operational details and contract terms between municipal employees and the volunteer department should voters approve the referendum. The motion to draft the referendum question passed; council members asked that committee recommendations and a clearer dissolution-cost breakdown be provided before final approval of ballot language.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 341, topfinish SEG 1299.
