Heat between Garland VFD and town board

During Tuesday’s town board meeting in Garland, Mayor Austin Brown read aloud a letter from the president of Garland VFD board, Anthony Norris, informing the town that Garland’s fire department was cancelling its services due to “budgetary constraints.” Norris is voted by their board to be the only one authorized to negotiate an agreement. Within that letter, an ultimatum was given to the town of Garland: either pay $40,000 per year or implement an 8-cent fire tax on town citizens.

This ultimatum was proposed on Monday during a meeting between Norris, Mayor Pro Tem Ralph Smith Jr. and Mayor Brown. Since there was no resolution at that meeting, Norris drafted the letter. Assistant Fire Chief Chris Register and Deputy Chief Brandon Norris were present Tuesday to speak on behalf of GVFD. “I will start by extending my apology to all of you for the worrying chaos followed by the letter recently received by the town from our department’s board of directors,” said Register.

“We are proposing a new one- to two-year contract between the town of Garland and the Garland Fire Department to include $20,000 a year, with the added promise from the town board to begin this year the process of implementing an 8-cent fire tax municipality of Garland,” Register continued.

He went on to explain the reprecussions if a resolution was not met. It could result in major delays in fire protection due to the assistance coming from neighboring departments and homeowner’s insurance premiums could skyrocket comparative to what they are paying today. “We volunteer our time to serve and protect our district in our town because we care to take great pride in what we do for all of you,” Register concluded.

Board Attorney Greg Griffin was prepared with a rebuttal. “First of all, on behalf of the city that I represent, I appreciate the apology, because the approach that was given was basically an ultimatum. Do this or else,” Griffin began. He reminded them that the corporation is a nonprofit corporation that is there for public safety. “You have a duty on behalf of the town to provide the safety and look out for the people you are trying to serve.”

He also noted that the contract that is in place calls for zero payment. The city for the past two years has provided them with $20,000. Griffin noted that within the contract in place, GFD has an obligation to provide an audit to the commissioner board annually. This task has not been done in seven or eight years.

“It’s a two-way street when you come in and say here’s where we at, because it calls for you to provide ‘What is your budget? What is the revenues? Where is your needs? How can we help?’” Griffin said.

Commissioner Jo Allison Strickland added, “I want to know what’s the financial situation. I want to know where the money is going because I personally know what the county gave you, and what we gave you. Where is it? What have you done with it? We deserve to know.”

Things got slightly contentious during this part of the discourse with one of the firefighters insisting she joins the department to see what it’s like. “None of this information has been provided and the town cannot contract with you without an absolute,” Griffin informed. GVFD stated that they will get that information to the Board of Commissioners.

Looking upon public records, in March of 2017, this same exact situation took place. Mayor Winifred Murphy was the mayor at that point in time, and the fire department was represented by Attorney H.W. “Sandy” Sanderson Jr. The verbiage of the letter received then is very similar to the letter Mayor Brown read. At that time, GVFD was requesting $25,000 per year. In 2016 they requested a 10-cent tax per $100 valuation on personal and real estate property. One other similarity between then and now, is the percentage of calls that take place within town limits. In 2016, 19 percent of the department’s calls were in Garland. Attorney Griffin stated at Tuesday’s meeting that “it appears there are more calls that go outside of the city limits than inside the city limits. The $20,000, in percentage, [compared to] what the county provides is actually more per call than what the county does per call in regards to calls that go outside city limits.”

One rebuttal given by a fireman was, “We pay a fire tax, where[as] y’all just take it out the budget.” He then asked, “Why not let citizens do just like us county people do? Pay our part. Everybody doing their part equally. There’s no argument over there.” Mayor Brown stated that a public hearing would have to be held before any decision of that nature could be made. Attorney Griffin assured, “Whether the money is coming out of the town or whether it’s coming out of a tax, you as a homeowner is going to feel it’s coming out the same pocket, your pocket.” He acknowledged that there are demands from multiple departments from water works, garbage, public works, and others but there is simply “a limit to the town of Garland of what they can or cannot do.”

“To have the contract be terminated will create a hardship on this town, it will create a legal situation, and it will create a bad situation for the fire department. It is a non-win situation, so holding off is not necessarily good thing,” Griffin warned. He did state optimistically “this is a solvable issue.” The idea of the board for now is to continue the contract as is. It may be amended with some extra verbiage, but the fire department will have to show the reports and figures requested by the Board of Commisioners. GVFD was asked by Griffin, “Are you withdrawing your termination if they (the board of commissioners) say that they are gonna move forward?” Assistant Chief Register replied, “I can’t speak on that because it involves the board.”

Motion was made and accepted to table the matter for now with hopes of coming back together with a resolution.

On a brighter note, Samantha Hobbs was sworn in as town clerk and finance officer for the town of Garland. Mayor Pro Tem Ralph Smith Jr. made this nomination back in January at their second special meeting that month. “I am excited for the opportunity,” Hobbs said.

The NC League of Municipalities gave a presentation by Chief ARP officer, Carla Obiol. She proposed to the board a program named AIM (Accounting Instruction Mentorship) which offers help, training, and insight in accounting of small towns. Hobbs said she would participate in the program. The board is awaiting the contract offer from NCLM.