MUTUAL AID … Conversation was held on the costs of mutual aid, and why the program was deemed necessary at its inception. To facilitate this conversation, the county’s fire chiefs all paid a visit to the May 15th Williams County Mayors Association meeting.
By: Anna Wozniak
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
anna@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County Mayors Association met on May 15, 2024 at Sam’s Place in Blakeslee at 6:30 p.m.
Katie Zartman, prosecutor for the county since 2015, then introduced herself, and shared that she is currently running unopposed as prosecutor. She also shared that the department is looking to hire an additional solicitor within the week.
Zartman then continued to share that the communities in the county, in her point of view, have a great, cooperative working relationship.
She shared how closely the prosecutor’s office works with the county’s various police forces, with her sharing that they “are top notch,” and “provide stellar work.”
In 2023, there were 218 felony adult cases throughout Williams County, which is on par with statistics from the last five years.
It was shared that there were 81 children in the county that were involved in abuse / neglect cases, which is almost double that of Fulton County.
Zartman shared that while this number may seem scary, it should serve as notice that those in charge care about the treatment of the kids in the community and are willing to intervene on their behalf.
She shared that a lot of the drug problems currently faced by the county have been centered around crystal meth, with the exceedingly addictive drug being readily available and cheap from Mexico and China.
Heroin and fentanyl continue to be an issue, especially with relation to fentanyl-laced drugs. Currently, all kinds of interventions take place to identify who is using, and how to build a case against them so that they can get them help.
Intervention is used in lieu of conviction, so they have the highest propensity to be successful with no record.
After violations, the drug-afflicted would be put on probation, with graduated steps to try and rehabilitate the users before incarceration, which is mostly used as a last resort.
“We want to get these people back to their families and make sure that they don’t die, because they aren’t bad people,” shared Zartman.
She also highlighted how there has been a rise in both the quantity and severity of domestic abuse cases, with the escalation related closely to the housing crisis, as many have nowhere else to turn.
There has also been an uptick in crimes related to mental health, with many instances of drug use being intermingled with cases of severe mental illness.
To change topic, Zartman continued on to share that Shane Frisbie’s parole hearing resulted in the maximum sentence, with Zartman sharing that she is “pretty proud” of her team.
Mayor Day was then appointed as the next president of the Mayors Association before conversation turned to the topic of mutual aid.
Mayor Kidston shared that they at the Village of Pioneer are “somewhat ahead of the curve” than the rest of the county due to purchasing a new fire engine, sharing that while he “is not against mutual aid,” he is looking to reconsider the policy to save taxpayer money.
Edgerton’s Fire Chief, Scott Blue, shared that he was instrumental in the inception of the mutual aid policy, detailing how the mutual aid agreement has not been questioned since the submission of annual reports throughout the program’s first two years.
Bryan’s Fire Chief, Douglas Pool, shared that each structural fire should have three or four tanks, with fluctuations being made throughout the last 20 years to make the system as efficient as possible.
The provision of a responding department and the assistance of two others often allows for this safety precaution to be taken.
Chief Pool also detailed that the fire engines and personnel have to be paid for regardless, with maintenance often being low on the vehicles.
Without small vehicle fire calls, there would currently be 500 fire calls on average. Chief Pool shared that even if those calls doubled, the staff are already on duty and the most major needs are already paid for regardless.
Mayor Kidston shared that “in bringing up this subject matter, I wasn’t trying to start conflict or anything else. What I don’t like is raising taxes. I’m dead set against it.”
Chief Pool shared those costs will continue to rise, with annual increases expected to be seen on equipment. He recommended that they band together to purchase equipment, and relayed that the used equipment is worth virtually nothing.
“I’ve got something to say,” shared Tony Carpenter, Alvordton-Millcreek Township’s Fire Chief, “how do you put a dollar amount on saving a life?”
“I don’t know how it cost $20,000,” shared Montpelier’s Fire Chief, Brian Fritsch, speaking on the comments made by Mayor Kidston regarding a mutual aid call recently made to JJ Winns in Holiday City.
Chief Fritsch shared that Holiday City has the highest rate of industry and hotels, so preparation is taken seriously when calls are made, with Holiday City itself having a formulated plan of attack to protect the number of people that could be affected due to the density of industry.
It was shared that 90% of people in the hotel didn’t leave their rooms, with a lack of cooperation cited on the end of the fire chiefs.
Mayor Schlade of Bryan noted that the call was made by a passerby, and that there was no alarm sounding from inside the hotel. Mayor Kidston shared that regardless, it was a waste of resources.
Montpelier’s Chief Fritsch shared the statistics of canceled automatic aid calls, with the vast majority of calls showing an hour to an hour and a half spent on scene.
He shared that they, being in the center of the county, respond to the most calls, with Mayor Kidston adding that they “probably get the worst of it.”
“I wouldn’t say the worst,” replied Montpelier’s Fire Chief, “I don’t see it as a burden for us to provide aid to the rest of the county when it’s needed.”
Mayor Yagelski shared “now I understand the cost, don’t get me wrong, it’s there. But what I’m saying is, like I said last month, I am a strong believer in automatic mutual aid.”
“And if there was a fire there, Mayor Kidston,” continued Mayor Yagelski, “and we didn’t respond, and something happened, you’d wonder where we were at.”
Bryan’s Chief Pool shared that false alarms out number actual fires almost 10 to 1, with many of those not receiving mutual aid.
“I appreciated it (the response) as a private citizen,” shared Mayor Kidston, “but as a public official I said, “is there a better way?”’
“All I’m asking is, “is it working well?” Or is there a better way to maintain what we have? Am I going to have to tell my residents “Your taxes are gonna go up?”’
One of the chiefs shared that there are other counties that saw the effectiveness of Williams County’s mutual aid policy and implemented it themselves due to its success at saving firefighter lives and lessening response times.
“It’s not a surprise,” Alvordton-Millcreek Township’s Chief Carpenter added to conversation around the cost of equipment, “the price was, but money should have been being socked away throughout this time.”
“If Alvordton-Millcreek Township can do it on the smallest budget we have, I would think everybody else would be on board.”
“There’s another formula available, and it’s to keep taxes as low as possible and then sales pitch it to the voters that we need money for equipment,” shared Pioneer Mayor Kidston.
Kidston detailed how he is not against mutual aid and is thankful for all of the county’s fire departments and added that it’s their job as public officials to “soften the divide” and “make life manageable” for the taxpayers that showed this past election that they are not in favor of paying more for services.
“We’ve either got to cut costs, or raise taxes,” stated Mayor Kidston before the meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m., with the group set to meet next in September with the Village of Edgerton hosting.
