| Councilman: Check fire subscriptions |
By: Donna Ryder Messenger Associate Editor
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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2009 9:21 pm
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By DONNA RYDER
Messenger Associate Editor
Obion County rural residents who live in the fire coverage area for Union City should make sure they’re paid up on their fire subscription fee.
Union City councilman Bill “Rat” Harrison said residents who have not paid in the past and have relied on Rives Volunteer Fire Department for coverage need to realize that Rives will no longer respond.
He made his plea at a rescheduled council meeting Wednesday night. Harrison questioned city manager Don Thornton about a News Note and an advertisement published in The Messenger from the Rives Volunteer Fire Department. The information stated Rives will no longer respond north of the 1056 parallel. This is an east-west line starting on the west side of the Rives fire district at the intersection of Pleasant Hill Road and Highway 51 running due east to the north end of Red McCorkle Road, where it intersects with Stanley Chapel Church Road.
Rives informed residents in the advertisement that the fire department will continue to respond outside the fire district for mutual aid and automatic aid requests as long as the request has been made by the authorizing agent for that fire district.
Prior to this point, Rives has responded to fires in the rural area around Union City if the homeowner was not a Union City subscriber. In some cases, Union City would then be called as mutual aid to the home that it had previously refused to respond to because the homeowner was a nonsubscriber. Union City recently stopped that practice, though, Thornton said after the meeting.
Thornton said the boundary, as explained by the Rives Volunteer Fire Department, actually moves the line up toward Union City, giving Rives some of the territory once covered by Union City. Thornton told The Messenger if there is a resident who is in that area and who has paid a subscription to Union City, the department will run mutual aid with Rives.
Harrison said he wanted to make sure rural residents in the Union City fire district understand that, if they want fire coverage, they must pay the fire fee. If the fee is not paid, they also need to understand that no fire department will respond.
The two exceptions to that, according to Thornton, are if a subscriber’s structure is being endangered by the nonsubscriber’s structure and if there is a life-threatening situation.
The fire subscription fee is $75 and can be paid at City Hall.
After the meeting was opened in prayer by city attorney Jim Glasgow Jr., the council, which was led by councilman Billy Jack “B.J.” Cranford in the absence of Mayor Terry Hailey:
• Approved amendments to the 2008-09 Union City Board of Education budget. The changes included increasing expenditures by $118,119.25 to $13,451,855.25 and revenues by $90,564.71 to $12,758,264.71.
• Learned the city was fined $8,000 by the Department of Environment and Conservation for compliance issues at the wastewater treatment facility. After the meeting, Thornton informed The Messenger that the necessary changes have been made and there was nothing harmful to residents or the environment resulting from the deficiencies at the plant.
• Amended the appropriations for the drug fund by increasing revenues from $25,200 to $30,700 and expenses from $25,185 to $26,500.
• Voted on first reading to replace the existing ordinance setting fire alarm fees. The new ordinance adds a requirement for all businesses and individuals who have alarms to obtain an alarm permit. There will be no charge for the permit, but it allows city officials to gather needed information. A $25 fine will be assessed to those who fail to register their alarms with the city. An alarm users awareness class may be taken once in lieu of paying the assessed fee.
False alarm fees will remain the same, with a verbal notification and no fee for the first false alarm during a 12-month period. On the second false alarm, the alarm owner will be given written notification, but no fee. The third and all subsequent false alarms during the 12-month period will be assessed a $25 fine. Exemptions are spelled out in the ordinance and have not changed from the original ordinance.
Once the ordinance passes on second reading, alarm owners will have 30 days to register. Thornton said current alarm owners may have their information transferred to the city by their alarm companies. Residents and businesses owners should check with their alarm companies or the city after the ordinance has passed on second reading to make sure they are in compliance.
• Briefly mentioned another incident with a bulldog.
• Asked if the city could clean the streets because there is a lot of sediment in the curbs. Public Works director Steve Ladd said he could take care of it if he had more manpower. He said there was an incident with the new Barker Brother’s street sweeper truck and it is not ready to be put into service yet.
Councilman Danny Leggett was also absent from the meeting.
Associate Editor Donna Ryder can be contacted by e-mail at dryder@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 6.18.09 |
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