With the options now seemingly down to two for the future of fire service in Peoria Heights, at least one Village trustee framed the decision as a choice between the head and heart at the Aug. 18 Village Board meeting.
The Village was looking at basically four alternatives for fire protection a few months ago when Fire Chief Greg Walters announced his impending retirement in November – the all-volunteer status quo, employing a crew for dayside coverage with a part- or full-time fire chief, contracting with the City of Peoria for fire service, or creating a fire protection district with the tax base to support it.
Now those have been whittled down to either hiring a full-time fire chief – with the option of employing a duty crew at some point down the road if recruiting volunteers continues to prove difficult – or contracting with the Peoria fire department.
The primary difference is cost.
The stated price tag on the Peoria proposal under consideration – which would include 24-7 fire and accident coverage and some emergency response, specifically to cardiac arrests – is $153,000 annually.
Meanwhile, the cost of keeping fire service local – hiring a full-time chief with benefits, on top of the money the Village currently spends on the fire department including debt service on its firefighting equipment – would be well more than double Peoria’s bid, potentially triple that if a first-shift duty crew is hired.
“This is me thinking out loud. I guess I’m looking at the bottom line,” said Trustee Diane Mariscal. “That’s a pretty big difference between what we would pay Peoria and of course what we’d pay the Heights.
“I know this fire department is very, very beloved by the community … I know there are lots of other services you guys provide the community.
“Do we follow our heart or follow our head here? As far as financially, can we afford this?”
History and the desire for local control seemed to be exerting a powerful pull on some Village Board members.
“In the back of my mind, I cannot let Peoria step foot in here,” said Trustee Sherryl Carter. “We’ve got our own community, we’ve got it going good, we need to keep it.”
While cost is an issue, acknowledged Carter, “we need to find a way to rearrange the numbers.” She expressed confidence that a full-time fire chief could be found for less than the nearly $111,000 in salary and benefits that Walters believes is necessary to lure a quality candidate to the Heights.
Trustee Jeff Goett was of a similar mindset.
“If we’re going to spend the money, I’d just as soon keep it in the Heights,” he said. “Speaking with my heart, I want to keep a Heights Fire Department.”
Trustee Brandon Wisenburg, the board’s liaison to the fire department, also expressed a preference for hiring a fire chief, saying that time was of the essence and that the board needed to focus on the “immediate need” for daytime coverage when volunteers aren’t as readily available.
He encouraged his fellow trustees to “support Chief Walters’ recommendation” to keep fire service local.
For his part, Walters said that “when you’re looking at the numbers … it’s not just numbers.” Peoria’s proposal “is a reduction in service to the Village of Peoria Heights,” he said. “I would not stand for that. Our guys work hard to give as much service to the community as they can.”
Village Administrator Dustin Sutton voiced reservations about the cost, noting that it wasn’t that long ago that the Village was having to climb its way out a million-dollar budget deficit. He questioned whether the community would support a public safety tax.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said. “I think we need to start thinking about how we’re going to pay for this. That’s my job. That’s a large number.”
“I know this is not an easy decision,” said Mayor Michael Phelan, who reminded the board of the urgency of reaching some resolution soon with the clock ticking toward November.