The Peoria Heights Village Board is leaning toward a spring 2021 referendum to provide direction regarding the future of fire protection in the Village.
Initially, Trustee Brandon Wisenburg had pushed for a Nov. 3 ballot question to voters – after first seeking a vote on hiring a new fire chief -- but that got bogged down over disagreements regarding wording and a general sense that the issue was being rushed to meet a general election filing deadline this week without enough thought and discussion.
“This is such an important question, and it’s emotional,” said Mayor Michael Phelan. “I like the idea of an advisory referendum, but I’m getting a little nervous here tonight by rushing it. This ... may be one of the biggest decisions the board has made in a decade, maybe a couple of decades, and we have to get this right.”
Ultimately, trustees agreed that it would be more prudent to wait until April 6, 2021, with as unbiased an information campaign as possible in the interim to try to ensure the truest sense of local sentiment.
While the issue has generated a lot of passion among certain members of the community, “I think some people aren’t aware that this conversation is even taking place,” said Trustee Sarah DeVore.
The downside of waiting is that current Fire Chief Greg Walters is retiring on Nov. 3, which could leave a gap in leadership in a department struggling to recruit enough volunteers to man its fire equipment.
“Regardless of your referendum, we have to make a decision,” said Trustee Diane Mariscal.
“I think it’s critical that we have a direction tonight,” said Wisenburg. “We’re running out of time.”
Trustee Sherryl Carter wasn’t so sure.
“We’re a little paranoid now ... If we did nothing, the volunteer fire department is going to continue running the way it’s running,” she said. “It’s not like we have to make a decision right this second. Let’s think about it.”
What troubles some trustees and staff is the cost of keeping the fire department in-house, which is substantially more than the Peoria Fire Department proposal. Wisenburg, an advocate of hiring a full-time chief, said he believed that Peoria’s bid was suspect – “I couldn’t imagine keeping the lights on at a firehouse for $153,000” – and that savings could be found in the existing budget to pay for the chief’s estimated $110,000 compensation package.
“We absolutely have to figure out a way to pay for this,” said Trustee Beth Khazzam. “We can’t just decide that X or Y scenario is the way to go and throw it in our administrator’s lap.”
Several trustees made mention of a public safety tax, though Mariscal would have none of it.
“Are we already paying some of the highest taxes in the area? So we’re just going to keep moving them up and up?” she asked. “I hate the whole tax thing. I hate it.”
For her part, Carter said she doesn’t “mind paying for ... the safety of my family and our residents.”
For some, contracting with the Peoria Fire Department is not an option.
“Even though it looks good, the numbers look good ... I just can’t go that way,” said Carter.
“If irrational spending and budget issues concern this board, Peoria is absolutely the last place you’d go for a solution,” said Wisenburg.
“Ask any citizen from Peoria. Literally, any of them. They’re meeting right now to cut essential services, including their fire department.
“I do not doubt the ability of the Peoria Fire Department. I do, however, question their financial house,” Wisenburg continued. “I believe the proposal that Peoria offered us is well-intentioned, but they can’t possibly promise the citizens of Peoria Heights something they cannot even guarantee their citizens of Peoria. It’s foolish to think that we’d be spared the effect of any cuts.”
The flip side, as voiced by Heights resident and Water Superintendent Dave Marfell, is that the shortage of volunteers has become untenable.
Twenty-five years of experience in the Village have taught him that “you can hire anybody and pay them a million dollars a year, and you’re not going to get volunteers in this town,” in large part because so much of the housing is rental, the occupants transient and therefore not invested in the community. “It’s a problem today, it’s going to be a problem tomorrow, and it’s going to be a problem in five years.”
“Nobody’s throwing the fire department out,” clarified Village Administrator Dustin Sutton. “There’s a cause and there’s an effect. Obviously, this was brought up because of Chief Walters’ retirement. It’s not a Peoria Heights issue but a national issue regarding volunteerism.
“We all here want a solution. We know there’s a problem. Public safety is our top priority.”
Trustees debated the wording of a ballot question, with the one caveat that it be “totally neutral,” on the advice of the Village attorney, said Wisenburg. He proposed something along the lines of “Should the Village of Peoria Heights outsource fire protection to the city of Peoria?”
Others balked, arguing that it was a leading question to which they already knew the answer in terms of how Heights residents would vote. They preferred a ballot measure – or two -- that asked whether Heights residents wanted to keep their local fire department, and if so, whether they’d be willing to pay more for it, if need be.
Ultimately, the motion was withdrawn so that trustees could spend more time thinking about how to approach the question, which they will likely grapple with at their next meeting in September. There also seemed to be some desire to advertise the position of fire chief at a certain salary – lower than the $80,000 proposed, plus benefits – to determine the number and quality of candidates who would be interested.
At the end of the night, one thing seemed clear: The Village Board wants to hear from its citizens on this crucial issue.
“I personally, as a trustee, don’t feel comfortable making that decision for the residents of Peoria Heights without some sort of referendum,” said Khazzam.
“I’m very proud of all of you,” said Phelan in capping the meeting. “This is finally the discussion tonight we needed to have.”
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