County expected to agree to let Tipanuk fire district face election

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A public hearing was held the afternoon of Feb. 9 at the Elmore County Courthouse to discuss the petition to dissolve the Tipanuk Fire Protection District.

As the hearing got underway, the county commissioners' legal adviser explained that only taxpayers, or creditors of the Fire Protection District, would be allowed to present their testimony in the hearing.

The residents of Tipanuk presented the commissioners their reasons for why they are for the petition, or why they are opposed.

The hearing was only to decide if an election will be held to decide if the Tipanuk Fire Protection District should be dissolved. The commissioners are expected this week to agree to the request for an election and to set a date for doing so.

The majority of the residents who testified were for the petition to dissolve. "If you don't protect your own property that is your own fault. Our real risk is that we don't have access to water. I would much rather put my money toward water storage tanks so that when a fire occurs we could take care of it as neighbors and as a community" said Scott Wagner.

Supporters of the petition said they were upset because when the district was created it was believed it would be manned by volunteers. "When I came back to town after being on the road, I was informed that the plans had changed to a full paid staff of firefighters. So I'm now having to pay higher property taxes to make the fire protection plan work," claimed John Malotta.

Terry Oller added, "We don't have a fire problem, we have a weed problem. Cut your weeds down and keep your property clear of dry brush and weeds and we won't need this fire department."

According to Victoria Grimes, who is for the dissolution of the district, "our town is just too small" to pay for it. Grimes submitted a verbal and written formal complaint, against Gridley, "for attacking our efforts to dissolve the district." She also informed the district of the statements made by BLM, and Gridley, if the petition is passed that "they would never go to the Tipanuk area to fight fires."

But, she said, according to mutual aid agreements between the Mountain Home Fire Department and the BLM the two agencies have agreed to fight wildland fires "and the Tipanuk area is considered wildlands."

The agreement does not include structure fires, however.

Some of the residents that would like to see the fire protection district succeed, believing it will increase the value of their homes and property and their insurance would go down.

The fire protection district's secretary and treasurer, Nancy Jones, is opposed to dissolving the district. She informed the commissioners that if the petition is passed that the residents will be charged by Mountain Home Fire Department to respond to any emergency in Tipanuk. Jones also advised that she received this information from Mountain Home Fire Chief Phil Gridley.

Connie Cruser, county commissioner, questioned Jones about a second fire truck, and if the commissioners of the Tipanuk district are receiving any type of wages.

Jones said that the city of Caldwell has donated a second truck to the community, "we just have to go get it." She also said "the commissioners of Tipanuk haven't received a dime in pay."

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