Greensboro and former firefighters vie for county fire service contract

The town is accused of misusing funds, and the firefighters are accused of not returning equipment.

Greensboro is still without a working fire department.

Last week, Gadsden County commissioners agreed to postpone entering an interlocal fire and rescue service agreement with the Town of Greensboro to provide fire and rescue services in Gadsden County.

A volunteer fire department, consisting of the town’s former firefighters, is also asking for the contract.

County Administrator Ed Dixon said by law, the town must give permission for an independent fire department and firefighters to respond to emergencies within the town’s boundaries.

“From my perspective, the county does not need another volunteer fire department in that area,” Dixon added, before imploring the two sides to work out their issues.

Dixon said it’s not the county’s problem to solve or resolve the issue between Greensboro and its ex-force of firefighters.

Former Greensboro Fire Chief Dan Hunter appeared before the board on behalf of a recently formed nonprofit volunteer fire department that had been created to serve the surrounding Greensboro area.

He said in the past seven months, men and women who were previously a part of the Greensboro’s fire department have created Greensboro Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Hunter said he and the other responders who quit the Greensboro volunteer fire department left because they no longer had confidence in the town protecting its firefighters due to the town not replacing aging equipment.

He asked the board to award the fire service agreement to Greensboro Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., instead of the town.

Hunter said the fire department will function like all of the other non-municipal fire departments throughout the county.

“As a non-profit organization, we exist solely to provide fire and rescue services, and 100 percent of the funds we receive must be used for this purpose,” Hunter said.

Hunter said the nonprofit volunteer fire department currently has 13 responders listed in its roster.

He said although the split between the volunteer firefighters and the town of Greensboro was unpleasant, the new volunteer fire department’s board of directors does welcome the opportunity to partner with the town to work out plans to provide fire service.

Joe Parramore, who serves as president of Greensboro Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.’s board of directors and who is also a volunteer firefighter, said it’s imperative that first responders be provided with necessary equipment.

“If the servant isn’t protected, neither is the public,” Parramore said.

Parramore said he and the other firefighter received a call in July about a man who fell in a 30-foot deep well, which had about four feet of water in it.

Parramore said he and another firefighter were about one mile for the Greensboro fire department, but they had to drive about 15 miles to Sycamore to pick up a rescue squad and an engine, and then respond back to Greensboro.

“Response time is critical,” Parramore noted.

Parramore said fortunately the man survived.

Greensboro councilmember Libby Henderson also went before the board and said back in April the former members of the town’s fire department demanded that the town surrender the money that the county pays them for fire services, so they could ‘spend it as they saw fit.’

“Regardless of what they thought we were not doing properly, that would have violated our agreement with you - the county - that we signed with the county commission, which has in it a clause that says the funds in this contract are not assignable; they cannot be paid to the benefit of any third party, whether it was volunteer firefighters, or whoever, the town could not do what they asked us to do,” Henderson said.

Henderson also said of the 13 members of the newly formed Greensboro Fire Department, only one lives in the town of Greensboro limits.

She said none of the founding members of the nonprofit fire department live in the service map area for the town of Greensboro.

Henderson said the town officials are working to rebuild the town’s fire department and they want to make sure potential members live in the service area.

“What good does it do us to have a volunteer firefighter who lives and works in Tallahassee?” Henderson asked. “That response time is surely not going to be shorter than Quincy who’s got a man stationed 24/7 can get to us.”

Henderson also said the town’s former firefighters took their radios and bunker equipment with them when they left.

“It has left the town of Greensboro in a situation, which in order to begin to recruit new firefighters and rebuild our department, we’re going to have to buy new gear,” Henderson said. “They have refused to return that gear, despite the fact they were all served with a notice to do so.”

Henderson also said Hunter refused to prepare an inventory of all the items the fire department had, when he was asked to do so in August 2020.

She said if the town is going to replace gear, they need to know what they have.

She said the equipment that was taken and not returned, has seriously handicapped the town in being able to put their firefighting force back together.

Henderson said the volunteer firefighters have made it clear they don’t want to work with the town.

“As far as I’m aware, we haven’t had a request to work that out.” Henderson said.

Commissioner Ronterrious Green asked County Attorney Clayton Knowles if the county can legally award the contract to Greensboro Volunteer Firefighter, Inc.

Knowles said the county does have contracts with volunteer fire departments because there are unincorporated areas (not governed by any municipalities).

However, he said it’s different with incorporated areas because they have “home rule,” and decide who can service their city or town.

Knowles said the county can award the contract to either the town or the nonprofit volunteer fire department, but the county may run into a problem where it is providing money to an entity that can’t work within the confines of where it’s supposed to be working.

Green inquired about the number of committed volunteers the town has.

Green and Commissioner Anthony Viegbesie both expressed their concerns about the town not having enough fire response coverage.

Henderson says Greensboro has four or five individuals who have committed to volunteer as firefighters once the town is ready.

She also said Chattahoochee, Quincy, and Wetumpka all stepped up the minute they found out Greensboro’s volunteer firefighters had quit.

“In fact, I believe it [coverage] is as good as we had when we had a working fire department because again these folks don’t live in the Town of Greensboro,” Henderson said.

Parramore argued that the volunteers did not just ‘walk out’ as Henderson had told commissioners.

“In those conversations Mrs. Henderson explicitly said, ‘If the volunteers don’t like the way the funds were being spent then they can find somewhere else to go.’” Parramore also noted that the Greensboro Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. has six firefighters living in Greensboro’s fire district, and one who lives within four or five blocks of the fire station.

Parramore said he and Hunter have met with the town council president William E. Willis, Jr., in an attempt to work through the issues, but he said the town has not shown any willingness.

“I believe that lack of willingness is because it was called into question how they were spending taxpayer’s dollars,” Parramore said.

Parramore said a number of public records requests indicated the town was using the firefighter funds to pay a large portion of the town clerk’s salary, Florida Retirement System benefits, health insurance benefits, and possibly the town’s liability insurance.

“It took 10 months for them to order the chief’s bunker gear, which that bill has still not been paid,” Parramore added.

Commission Chair Brenda Holt said public property that’s bought with public funds must be on public grounds and cannot become private property unless auctioned off.

Holt also said if there are allegations of funds being misappropriated with the town, that’s also an issue.

Holt advised the attorney to look at the contract to find out how the funds are supposed to be used.

She also instructed the firefighters to return the equipment.

The board voted 3-2 to postpone entering the contract with the Town of Greensboro until inventory of the equipment, and documentation of Greensboro’s fire department finances are provided to the board.

Knowles said a public records request will reveal if the fire department funds were misappropriated by the town.

The board will revisit the matter during the November 16 meeting.

In other matters, the board voted unanimously to approve a one-year interlocal fire and rescue service agreement with the City of Chattahoochee to also continue providing fire and rescue services in Gadsden County.

Dixon said Chattahoochee has decided to operate their own vehicle, and not use a fire engine provided by the county.

The county will pay Chattahoochee $32,031.25 for fire and rescue services, and an additional $16,468.75, to compensate the city for using its own fire engine, totaling $48,500.

In August, the board decided to not reimburse Chattahoochee $150,000 for money spent on a new $343,000 fire truck.

Although funding for the fire truck was included in the budget, there was no record of the board voting to pay for the fire engine.

Holt said she doesn’t want to set precedence by paying for equipment that the county does not own, and that the board has not voted to pay for.

Erin Hill - erin@gadsdencountytimes.com

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Greensboro and former firefighters vie for county fire service contract

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Timothy J. Ashley announced as Quincy’s new Chief of Police

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