By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Rural Hines residents living in the Garland Acres and Highland Estates subdivisions let the Harney Basin Rural Fire District Committee know in no uncertain terms that they don’t want to be included within the boundaries of the district.

In order to get the rural fire district on the November election ballot, the committee must present the county with the district boundaries, a feasibility statement, a petition and a budget before the May deadline. The county court will then decide whether there is enough information to go through with the November election. At that time, hearings will be held for residents who don’t want to be included in the district’s boundaries.

At the March 11 fire district committee meeting at the Harney County Courthouse, committee president Phil Kessinger opened the floor for citizen comments, and a handful of rural Hines residents had plenty to say.

John Ebar, who lives in Garland Acres, said that those in rural Hines have contracted with the City of Hines for fire protection. In his conversations with city officials, he said that it was his understanding that Hines would continue with those contracts even if a fire district is created. This is why he proposed that Garland Acres and Highland Estates be excluded from the district’s boundary. He said he’d heard from many residents living in the two subdivisions who felt the same.

Kessinger said that Ebar’s proposal was predicated on an understanding with the City of Hines. “What is Hines’ position?” he asked. He noted that in preliminary talks with Hines, City Administrator Pam Mather indicated Hines would consider contracting with the rural fire district, if the voters approve it. Of course, Mather noted that she could not speak for the city council, which would make the ultimate decision.

Kessinger also said that he thought the City of Hines had indicated that it would do away with the rural fire contracts if the fire district went through.
Ebar disagreed. “The problem is, we’ve been included in rural Burns’ problem,” he said referring to the City of Burns’ decision to stop responding to fire calls outside the city limits after June 30.

Currently, the City of Hines offers fire contracts to rural residents living within five miles of the city limits for $100 per year.

Kessinger has said that while a final budget has yet to be determined, the estimated tax rate for those within the rural fire district would be $1.34 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value. So a resident living in a house with a $200,000 taxable assessed value would owe $256 per year to the fire district.

It would be possible legally to exclude Garland Acres and Highland Estates from the fire district boundaries, if everyone in the subdivisions agree and residents could prove to the Harney County Court that they would not benefit from being included in the district.

However, Kessinger said that after consulting legal counsel, he found that the City of Hines could potentially stop offering the rural fire contracts at any time. If a fire district is approved, he noted that it would be legally obligated to provide fire protection to all those within its boundary. Kessinger said that from his perspective the fire district was being created for the good of the larger Harney County population. “I look at this as one community,” he said.

“What I don’t want to do is pay for an eventuality that might never happen,” Ebar said. He indicated that he didn’t feel rural fire protection was his political problem and doesn’t want to pay for other people’s services when the rural contracts Hines has now work just fine.

Earl McGee of Highland Estates agreed with Ebar. “We’ve got perfect protection now,” he said. McGee also asked what happens if the fire district doesn’t work? “If there’s something that’ll go wrong with it, this is Harney County — something will go wrong with it,” he said. McGee said he feels that the fire district is being created for insurance purposes only.

The Hines City Council has yet to take an official position on what it will do in the event that the rural fire district is approved.

The City of Burns has said that it would consider extending its June 30 deadline if the there is progress with the rural fire district. Burns Fire Chief Bill Guindon said that he is pleased with the headway the committee has made so far, but the council has yet to discuss extending the June 30 deadline.

Kessinger said the committee will soon begin canvassing in public places for signatures to petition to get the proposed rural fire district on the November ballot.