Monday, July 10th the Weiser City Council discussed the renewal of the contract the city currently has with the Weiser Rural Fire Department. Part of the discussion was to decide whether or not a new Command Vehicle and other Capital Expenditures should be included in the 50% the city has currently agreed upon paying the WRFD. Mayor Randy Hibberd shared, “We are looking for some direction on those items. Do we want to make a small payment now or do we want to take the big bite?”
It was unclear to the council if some items were a priority over others and if the expense of a new Water Tender Truck and new Command Vehicle were necessary and warranted. Council Person Layna Hafer was uneasy about the expense and concerned that the city was being taken advantage of. Mayor Hibberd shared his thoughts stating, “In my opinion or my feeling in negotiating the original contract and negotiating with them this year that we’re an open pocket book. Because in combining the departments, I did an analysis on what I thought we could save in costs. Instead of there being savings, the expenses went up and all of a sudden they needed more than what they said they needed. As our ability to negotiate diminished, the demands went up.”
With the agreement between the City and the Fire Department being a yearly contract the council was not sure they wanted to pay the full 50% for the trucks since they may only be in agreement with the department for another year and not necessarily the whole time of the use of the vehicles. Council Person Larry Hogg shared what he felt might be a solution stating, “To me participating in something like a 10% match makes sense because, like I said before, it equates to a lease payment and we are using them for a specific period of time. It would be a year and a half before an agreement could be gotten out of and I think that this is reasonable for us.”
During the discussion Council Person Hogg shared that the department has noticed an increase in calls for the city of Weiser stating, “There appears to be a huge increase in the number of calls that are coming in, even based on historical information that we provided them. More than half of those calls are city related.” He also reminded everyone that this agreement is new and both sides are learning as they proceed through this relationship and agreement. Council Person Sterling Blackwell shared, “They are protecting us now, I think they need things now. So what’s the compromise we are comfortable with, because I do think we need to compromise, let’s do our best, but do it wisely.”
The council settled with reviewing the information presented and a recommendation to encourage the Weiser Rural Fire Department to lease a new command vehicle with the city only covering a portion of the cost, not the whole fifty percent before they enter into a final agreement.
For a full account of the discussion please see the video for the Weiser City Council meeting for July 10th, 2023 posted on our Livinginthenews.com Facebook page.
Editor’s Note: This article was written based on a one sided conversation with only the information presented at the meeting. At the time of the meeting there was no representation from the Weiser Rural Fire Department. Living In The News.com will update any new information as it becomes available.
