County
Commissioner's Office
County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner
Q. What makes up a “state of the art” fire
department?
A. Our fire department is equipped with computers to access the
weather instantly, computers to access the GIS mapping system, and immediately
print a map on any part of the county. We have fiber optic cables installed
connecting the fire department to the E-911 center that will allow unprecedented
uses over the next few years. With SPLOST funds, we have the best fire
engines, rescue vehicles, heat sensing cameras and other equipment available. With
a grant, we even have a “state of the art” ventilation system that
allows the vehicles to be operated in the station with the garage doors closed
and vented outside. In an emergency, the connections automatically release
as the vehicle leaves the station
Q. Why are volunteer firefighters paying
for the interest on loans made for their department?
A. The
volunteer fire association asked me to sign a note with them (county
co-signing) to purchase the five new fire engines that each station
now has possession of, and they would pay for them over 15 years at a cost
of $125,000 plus interest for each station. Instead, knowing
the SPLOST election was coming up soon, I suggested to them to only pay
the interest until the SPLOST sales tax was passed and if it passed, the
county would then pay the entire cost of the fire engines with SPLOST funds.
(We did not have any money in the budget in 2007/2008 for the interest
payments). So now each station has a brand new fire engine (pumper/tanker),
and the only cost to the volunteer station is utilizing a small portion
of their public contributions to pay the interest. The volunteer
association agreed in writing, signed by all stations, that this is the
way they wanted to do it. So instead of the volunteer stations having
to make payments on a new pumper/tanker fire engine for the next 15 years,
the county will pay for the engines in FULL with SPLOST funds in early
2009, if not sooner.
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