SPEARFISH, SD—After nearly two years of litigation, the city of Spearfish, the Spearfish Fire Protection District and the Spearfish Volunteer Firefighters’ Association announced Thursday the signing of an agreement effectively dismissing all legal action.
According to a joint news release from the city and firefighters’ association, the settlement agreement addressed a number of issues, including:
- Historic artifacts will be transferred to the ownership of the association to be held in trust for the public.
- All vehicles, apparatus, and equipment will be owned by the city, with the exception of a grill trailer, fire education trailer, Engine 9, and the historic artifacts.
- The association will be the beneficiary of the endowment as long as it is eligible to receive it; the city will be the contingent beneficiary; and there will be amendments added to require the endowment funds to be used within the Spearfish Fire Protection District.
- The association will transfer $337,000 to an investment account mutually-agreed upon by the city and the association for no more than seven years, during which the parties will work together to find additional funding sources for said facility. If the training facility does not come to fruition after seven years, the funds would be put toward a piece of equipment/apparatus, of the association’s choosing, from a list provided by the city.
“Having the association and the city working as one is a big win for the community, and we are excited about what this means for the future,” Glen Lewis, Spearfish Volunteer Firefighters’ Association president, said in the release.
Mayor Dana Boke acknowledged the long legal process has involved difficult and challenging times for all entities involved.
“I am very thankful to be here at this place with the volunteers,” Boke said. “I’d like to commend the volunteers and the public safety leadership team for maintaining a strong foundation to continue the high level of service expected by the community, staying committed to the process, and holding to the vision for the future.”
Talk of building an advanced training facility in Spearfish started in the '90s, and that was one of the reasons that the association made the decision to not spend all of the proceeds of the fundraising efforts and instead invest what we could to plan for the future, Lewis said.
“By partnering with the city, we can leverage what we already have to build something that we would not be able to do by ourselves. We really have the opportunity to do something in our community that very few places could,” he said.
“We’re excited to explore the feasibility of a training facility,” Spearfish Fire Chief Scott Deaver said. “This is all geared toward making the Spearfish Fire Department the premier fire department.”
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