Peoria Heights Fire Chief Greg Walters has postponed his scheduled November retirement, alleviating the immediate pressure on the Village Board to chart a new course for the fire department’s future.
“I cannot in good conscience abandon the men and women of the Peoria Heights Fire Department when so much is at stake.” said Walters on Sept. 1.
“I have a duty to rebuild the shattered morale of our current membership, which is the lowest I’ve ever seen. I will continue to fight to keep the fire department intact and in place, where it belongs.”
The surprise announcement comes after weeks of passionate deliberations. Village Board members had appeared to reach a consensus on asking voters for their input in a spring 2021 referendum.
Multiple options essentially had been whittled down to two: hiring a full-time local fire chief for the first time, or contracting with the Peoria Fire Department for service. Complicating matters has been the difficulty of recruiting people for the Heights’ current all-volunteer force.
Much of the conversation at Tuesday’s board meeting revolved around the number of missed emergency calls stemming from that shortage of voluntary manpower.
There was some disagreement over that number – 107 or 82 in 2019. Either way, the number surprised and concerned Walters.
“My heart dropped,” he said, while reassuring Heights residents that “we did not miss a fire call. We did not miss an accident with injuries. Anything that we refer to as a critical incident, we did not miss.”
Meanwhile, “somebody shows up” – ambulance service AMT, another public safety agency responding through the region’s mutual aid agreement – said Walters. “It might not be somebody from Peoria Heights Fire ... At least I know the citizens of Peoria Heights were taken care of in one way or another.”
In any case, addressing and rectifying that situation, to the degree possible – including getting the commercial driver’s license credentialing for volunteers that is necessary to operate the bigger fire equipment -- is the top priority, said Walters.
In other related discussion, board members debated the wording on the proposed referendum, which is now in the hands of village counsel. Again, there was disagreement over the interpretation of the word “neutral” in crafting a ballot question.
While some trustees want a question that contains more information about the choice being presented, including the potential cost to taxpayers, Trustee Brandon Wisenburg wants a simple up-or-down vote on the prospect of keeping a local department vs. outsourcing firefighting to the city of Peoria, or at least an attempt at a budgeting exercise before presenting any tax information to voters.
He again expressed little confidence in Peoria’s $153,000 proposal, which is considerably less than the Village now spends on such emergency services.
“Peoria is going to cost us something. It will at some point exceed what we’re paying now. I mean, that’s just the way it is, especially with public pensions,” he said. “At some point there’s going to be a tax increase, even to pay for Peoria. There’s not a person on this board that really believes it’s going to stay at (about) $150,000. I don’t.
“So we can’t possibly tell the people of Peoria Heights that they’re going to get a tax increase if we keep our fire department but they’re not going to get a tax increase if we go to Peoria. No one can make that promise. So the question when we put it on the ballot really has to be neutral.”
Peoria Assistant Fire Chief James Bachman was present to address the cost questions regarding the Peoria proposal, and did seek to clarify that the price as presented was based on the Heights’ 2019 data in terms of numbers and types of calls. Basically, it’s a “pay for what you use” option, he said. “It could be more, it could be less.”
Beyond that, typically the cost would be subject to an annual inflationary increase, usually about 3 percent, said Bachman. Of course, all of that would be subject to negotiation, including the length of the contract, said Bachman, who also clarified that the Peoria City Council would have to sign off on any agreement, just as the Heights Village Board would.
Heights Mayor Michael Phelan indicated that he has seen many a ballot initiative over the years, and in his view more information is better than less.
For example, voters could be asked, “Would you like a new vehicle? I think your answer would be ‘yes.” But there may be expectations that go along with that,” including how and how much to pay for it, he said. “We have good (cost) estimates of whatever option the Board decides to go with.”
The board did not reach a resolution on the wording of any ballot question. The matter will be taken up again at its next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Ultimately, while the Village Board has gotten something of a reprieve on making a final fire department decision, it does have a deadline yet this year for filing to get a referendum on the Apr. 6, 2021 ballot.