SARAH WATSON 

Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa

(TNS)

The Eldridge City Council voted Monday to establish a city fire department and hire a fire chief, going against the wishes of the Eldridge Volunteer Fire Company, which wanted to remain independent for a longer period of time.

The city council voted 5-0 on Monday to establish the department, with several council members citing the advice from their attorney and insurance representatives.

The decision ends months of negotiations among the city council, city staff, and fire department volunteers over how best to address volunteer burnout and rising calls for service.

Negotiations to become a city department soured over the winter, and the fire department volunteers instead voted unanimously to stay independent, citing a loss of trust that city officials could run the department.

The department proposed hiring its own paid, full-time chief to respond to daytime calls and operate like an independent contractor, billing the city for its expenses. But city officials wanted more oversight over the fire department's budget and standards.

In a joint meeting on Sept. 9, both the city and the fire department laid out proposals for moving forward.

The city's attorney, Allison Wright and the fire department's attorney, Dan Morgan, met several times in the next month to discuss the proposals, Wright said.

The volunteers' non-negotiables, Wright said, were a three-year minimum transition period; the volunteers would hire the chief; the volunteers would have operational control; and they would operate under the same budget the volunteers proposed to the city earlier this year.

Wright said a 28-E agreement was required for Eldridge to continue operating fire services with a nonprofit fire department, but a 28-E agreement would provide more city oversight than volunteers wanted, Wright said.

Iowa Code Chapter 28-E allows local governments to enter into agreements with other local governments or private entities to share services. The cities of Davenport, Bettendorf, Riverdale, and Panorama Park share expenses under a 28-E agreement for wastewater treatment at a single plant in Davenport, for example. The chapter requires an administrator or a joint board to oversee the services. On a joint board, public entities must be represented, according to state code.

"I cannot write a 28E agreement that is consistent with 28E that provides that the city has no accountability or oversight for the fire protection services agreement," Wright said.

Council member Scott LaPlante, in explaining his vote, said he had hoped after the Sept. 9 meeting that the city and fire department would be able to compromise, but that his hope was extinguished when the fire department outlined its "red lines" that were non-negotiable.

"The city council is making a choice to move forward," LaPlante said.

Another Council member, Ryan Iossi, likewise said he'd hoped to reach a compromise, but it didn't work out. Iossi said it's the city attorney's and the insurance carriers' opinion that the city should avoid entering into an agreement that doesn't comply with state law.

"At the end of the day, if we're being advised that what is on the table as the final red-line proposal is not a safe move and is recommended not to do it, I take that with heavy consideration," Iossi said. "And it's going to be painful either way. Are we going to have a painful short term? Or are we going to have a painful long term?"

Mayor Scott Campbell thanked the volunteer firefighters and asked them to give the city a chance.

"I'm really asking them to dig down deep and think hard about joining us and just giving us a chance," Campbell said. "Hopefully, there's not going to be a lot of change. Yes, you will report to a new chief. But other than that, everything is going to be pretty much status quo. You're going to report to the same station. you're going to use the same equipment. You're going to still get your paid-for-call. And most importantly, you're still going to get to serve your friends and neighbors and community like you have done so well for so many years."

Previously, firefighters said they would quit by Dec. 31 if the city rejected the fire department's proposal and established its own city department.

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