No board, no service

Without board members, can there be fire protection?

That's the question and concern that board members of the Jamestown/Rio-Vista Fire District brought to the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners this week. 

"We have served for many years, and we're coming to the end of our terms," Dave Buller explained, adding that the board has kept the fire service in Jamestown going. "Our concern is, in the first part of the year, how does that continue without a board?"

Buller and Patsy Moody, two members of the three-member fire district board, both came to the commission meeting on Tuesday to explain that their terms are set to expire at the beginning of the new year, as is the term of the third board member, James Reinard. While the positions are usually elected, no one ran for the board in the November General Election. Some names were written in on ballots, but those who were written in declined to accept the position, Buller explained. With all three board members' terms expiring, and no one in line to replace them, the question is, what will happen to the fire district? 

"We don't have the answers," Buller said, pointing out that his fear is that the fire district will dissolve without a board.

The Jamestown/Rio-Vista Fire District operates by working with the county as well as the City of Green River and the Green River Fire Department, which provides fire service in the Jamestown area. The fire district receives money from a mill levy that is collected and distributed by the county, then the district pays the city for fire service. 

"We receive a check, we write a check to the city," Buller explained. "That's basically all there is to it."

Commissioner Island Richards shared his concerns about the possibility of the board dissolving, and what that could mean for fire protection in the Jamestown area. Richards explained that he lived north of Rock Springs before Sweetwater County Fire District One was established, and pointed out that there is no guarantee that the county always can or will enter into contracts to provide fire service to certain areas. 

"If your district dissolves, there's the very real chance, which we faced north of Rock Springs, that your insurance companies will choose no longer to insure you and your properties," Richards said. "When that happens, banks will no longer loan in those areas."

Richards added his concern that the district dissolving would make it even harder to find a way to provide fire service in the area without a revenue stream, and added that he hopes the district will be kept intact so it won't come to that. For that to happen, however, he said the community needs to act.

"It saddens me that not enough people have been willing to step up and do the job, and I commend you guys for having done it yourselves for so long, and I understand that you don't want to do it forever," Richards told Buller and Moody. "You can't fix your neighbor's problems forever, and your neighbors need to stand up and take some responsibility for their own communities." 

County Assessor Dave Divis agreed that there is a need for community members to step up and serve, and he hopes they will, as Buller and others have done for years. He noted that the fire district was established in 1970, and a lot of the hand-typed paperwork from the time had Buller's name attached to it. Now he hopes that others will step up to help out.

Divis also pointed out that it's unusual that the terms for all three board positions are expiring at the same time, and usually they are staggered to prevent that from occurring. However, a past change with the appointment of a previous member led to the terms not fitting into their usual timeframes, causing the current situation.

Commission Chairman Keaton West thanked Buller and Moody for bringing the issue to the commission's attention, and said that the county is looking into it and will continue to review state statutes to see what options are available. 

"I know this governing body has the capability of appointing someone to fill those roles, but obviously the difficulty is finding someone that's willing to do that," West said. He added that the county is looking into the possibility of state statutes and previously established precedents in similar cases allowing the board members to continue in their roles until someone new is appointed, without the need to dissolve the district. 

Sweetwater County Fire Warden Allen Adams did point out that the fire district's contract with the Green River Fire Department extends until June 30, so the department will continue to respond and provide fire service to Jamestown at least until then.