Agreement did not benefit city according to fire chief

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

The Burns City Council decided to terminate the city’s agreement with the Crane Fire Protection Association during the Sept. 10 meeting.

Burns Fire Chief Bill Guindon stated that the original agreement, which was approved in November 2001, indicated the Crane Fire Protection Association would provide structure protection. “By state statute, they can only do wildland firefighting,” Guindon said. “I have been quite concerned about this.”

In a memo to the city council Guindon stated, “During the past several years we have responded to the Crane area under mutual aid with little financial recovery or a return in services in most cases to serve in the capacity of structural protection.”

Guindon recommended the city give him the authority to terminate the agreement, giving Crane 30 days’ notice on the decision. “We really don’t have the resources to send people out that far,” Guindon said.

Councilor Darwin Johnson asked the chief whether or not the Burns firefighters would respond to a fire threatening the Crane schools.
Guindon replied that the Burns fire department likely would respond if resources allowed.

Councilor Bill Renwick wondered if 30 days was sufficient notice. He pointed out that the city gave county residents a longer deadline last fall.

In the end, Councilor Linda Johnson moved to let the chief terminate the agreement. Councilor Craig LaFollette seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

In other business:

• City Manager Justin Boone reversed his recommendation regarding the  city’s potential hiring of a code enforcement officer. Even though the City of Hines agreed to pay 40 percent of the part-time salary, Boone said the Burns portion of the salary would have to come out the city’s contingency fund, and he didn’t want to deplete the fund.  However, he said the city will look to budget money for the position next year.

• the council approved the airport contract with Walt and Pat Sitz for $36,000. The city originally budgeted $30,000 for the contract, which the Sitzes bid for $42,000. The city negotiated the contract down to $36,000. The additional $6,000 above what the city originally budgeted will come out of the city’s contingency fund;

• a few residents were present to stress how important the airport is to the city. They chided the council for suggesting that the city close or sell it at the Aug. 27 meeting.

Councilor Linda Johnson stated that she felt her comments were taken out of context by the Burns Times-Herald. She said her quote asking whether the city needed an airport was meant to be facetious.

The next Burns City Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at Burns City Hall.