Chiefland Commissioners Take First Step toward Fire Assessment

Chiefland Commissioner Lewrissa Mainwaring said she supported the idea of a fire assessment but felt the timing was wrong with the financial stresses brought on by COVID-19.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Chiefland City Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday to authorize City Manager Mary Ellzey to negotiate a lump sum fee with a consultant to draft a proposed fire assessment for the city.

The board ranked the bidders and chose Mark G. Lawson as the firm that provided the best proposal for developing a per parcel assessment on homes and businesses that would partially fund Chiefland Fire Rescue.

Commissioner Rollin Hudson cast the lone vote in opposition but Commissioner Lewrissa Mainwaring was also concerned about imposing a tax when many people are out of work or strained financially from COVID-19.

Fire Chief James Harris, who was awarded his 10- year certificate, said his department is financially stressed and using equipment that is old and worn out.

**Fire Chief James Harris accepted his 10-year certificate from Mayor Chris Jones.**

“You’re not always going to run what we have now. It’s old, it’s old and tired,” Harris said. “I can tell you if we didn’t get the grants we get now, we’d be in serious trouble, serious trouble.”

Mainwaring said in her line of work as a banker she sees people with no income whatsoever and businesses haven’t been opened for two months due to COVID-19.

“Our citizens, some of them are out of work and we’re going to come out and say, hey, we’re going to do this,” she said.

The fire assessment hasn’t been approved. When Lawson reaches agreement with the city, the city commission must decide at that point whether to hire Lawson and go forward with developing a per parcel fire assessment. The paperwork would have to be finished in time for the assessment to go on the November property tax bill.

Mayor Chris Jones and Commissioner Tim West wanted to get started developing the per parcel numbers for the assessment to allow enough time to adopt a fee if everything worked out. Lawson will come back with different proposals showing how much revenue would be generated with certain rates.

West said it’s clear to him the fire department doesn’t have enough funding for its operations.

“I think it’s kind of overdue for the city. We need a higher budget for the fire department,” he said.

USDA Grant

The United States Department of Agriculture may offer the city a $263,000 grant to purchase a ladder fire truck for the city, but the truck the city needs will cost $469,000.

The city held a public hearing on the grant. City officials are looking for supplemental funding sources to offset what the grant isn’t providing.

Online Glitches Stop Audit Report

Brendan McKitrick attempted to give the city commission an explanation of the 2018-19 audit report but the City Hall online Wi-Fi system shut down three or four times before Ellzey gave up.

Commissioners adopted the audit.

McKitrick and a co-worker decided to give the audit report online rather than in person, which is typically the way it’s done, to avoid being exposed to COVID-19.

Late May Meeting Reset

The commission’s second meeting of the month would have fallen on Memorial Day. The board voted to move the meeting from Monday, May 25 to Tuesday, May 26.

City Election Coming

Two of the board’s newest members, Mainwaring from District 2 and West from District 4 are up for re-election on Aug. 4. Qualifying is June 8-12. The fee is $448.

Two Employees Honored

Police Chief Scott Anderson received his five-year certificate from Mayor Chris Jones and Harris received his 10-year certificate.