BRODHEAD - Brodhead firefighters, community members and elected officials brought passionate opinions to Wednesday night's Brodhead Fire District meeting over the future "and past" of the operation. Among the opinions shared during the meeting:
• Trust between all people involved needs to be restored.
• Volunteer firefighters can't be expected to volunteer more hours to fill previously paid positions.
• The board members chosen to run the department are not qualified, and at least a couple firefighters should be added to the group.
• The formation of a fire district should have waited until 2014 so details of its operation could have been fleshed out.
Mistrust and misunderstandings built up over the last two years were on full display. More than 50 people packed the fire department to listen and share thoughts on how the district should pick its next chief.
The newly formed, six-member fire district board accepted the resignation of Fire Chief Wayne Gibson, who resigned last Thursday after the board eliminated the pay for the department's four positions, including chief.
Assistant Chief Rob Scheidegger was approved as interim chief.
District board President Ron Schwartzlow, also a town of Decatur supervisor, led the meeting, seeking input from firefighters about how the board should pick the next chief. The board decided to place a locked ballot box in the police department lobby for firefighters to submit their nominations with supporting reasons.
The board plans to review the submissions at a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the fire department, when it also will discuss its 2013 budget.
The next chief, however, will not be paid through at least 2013 and will not have the support of the three other paid positions the board eliminated - fire inspector, administrative assistant and janitor, Schwartzlow said.
Why the positions were eliminated and where the salary money went was a contentious and murky issue.
The city of Brodhead and the Brodhead Rural Fire Association in February agreed to create the fire district to merge into a new administrative structure after nearly two years of discussions.
The agreement calls for both sides to contribute all assets, which each side apparently interpreted differently.
The rural group thought the $220,000 the city budgeted for fire protection for the year would be a cash asset and be contributed to the district. The city, however, did not believe the money it taxed and levied was an asset, said Katy Lounsbury, attorney for the district, and instead planned to contribute about $138,615.
"You're using assuming and believing' quite a bit," firefighter Anthony Painter said.
"That's what happened," Lounsbury said. "They did assume it, and they did believe it, and that's why we are where we are now is the parties came at it with two different understandings."
One of the changes most upsetting to the firefighters appeared to be the fact that the board expects people to fill the duties previously done by paid employees.
"I can think of no current member, frankly, that can do the job - because they aren't going to have the time, they aren't going to have the support, the administrative positions," firefighter and trustee Dick Pinnow said of the chief position. "I hate to say we're doomed, because it's not in my makeup. We'll figure out a way, hopefully, but I'm very, very concerned."
Schwartzlow wondered why the paid duties couldn't be split between three to four volunteers. His statements upset the firefighters, who say they already spend hours of their free time away from family for the good of the community, not so they can push paperwork. Firefighters are paid $4 per call.
The department serves about 6,000 residents in the city of Brodhead and surrounding towns of Avon, Decatur, Magnolia, Spring Grove and Spring Valley.
Uncertainty at the department started in the summer of 2011 when the city council voted not to renew former Chief Jay Bohan's contract. Gibson then took over as the interim, part-time fire chief.
• Trust between all people involved needs to be restored.
• Volunteer firefighters can't be expected to volunteer more hours to fill previously paid positions.
• The board members chosen to run the department are not qualified, and at least a couple firefighters should be added to the group.
• The formation of a fire district should have waited until 2014 so details of its operation could have been fleshed out.
Mistrust and misunderstandings built up over the last two years were on full display. More than 50 people packed the fire department to listen and share thoughts on how the district should pick its next chief.
The newly formed, six-member fire district board accepted the resignation of Fire Chief Wayne Gibson, who resigned last Thursday after the board eliminated the pay for the department's four positions, including chief.
Assistant Chief Rob Scheidegger was approved as interim chief.
District board President Ron Schwartzlow, also a town of Decatur supervisor, led the meeting, seeking input from firefighters about how the board should pick the next chief. The board decided to place a locked ballot box in the police department lobby for firefighters to submit their nominations with supporting reasons.
The board plans to review the submissions at a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the fire department, when it also will discuss its 2013 budget.
The next chief, however, will not be paid through at least 2013 and will not have the support of the three other paid positions the board eliminated - fire inspector, administrative assistant and janitor, Schwartzlow said.
Why the positions were eliminated and where the salary money went was a contentious and murky issue.
The city of Brodhead and the Brodhead Rural Fire Association in February agreed to create the fire district to merge into a new administrative structure after nearly two years of discussions.
The agreement calls for both sides to contribute all assets, which each side apparently interpreted differently.
The rural group thought the $220,000 the city budgeted for fire protection for the year would be a cash asset and be contributed to the district. The city, however, did not believe the money it taxed and levied was an asset, said Katy Lounsbury, attorney for the district, and instead planned to contribute about $138,615.
"You're using assuming and believing' quite a bit," firefighter Anthony Painter said.
"That's what happened," Lounsbury said. "They did assume it, and they did believe it, and that's why we are where we are now is the parties came at it with two different understandings."
One of the changes most upsetting to the firefighters appeared to be the fact that the board expects people to fill the duties previously done by paid employees.
"I can think of no current member, frankly, that can do the job - because they aren't going to have the time, they aren't going to have the support, the administrative positions," firefighter and trustee Dick Pinnow said of the chief position. "I hate to say we're doomed, because it's not in my makeup. We'll figure out a way, hopefully, but I'm very, very concerned."
Schwartzlow wondered why the paid duties couldn't be split between three to four volunteers. His statements upset the firefighters, who say they already spend hours of their free time away from family for the good of the community, not so they can push paperwork. Firefighters are paid $4 per call.
The department serves about 6,000 residents in the city of Brodhead and surrounding towns of Avon, Decatur, Magnolia, Spring Grove and Spring Valley.
Uncertainty at the department started in the summer of 2011 when the city council voted not to renew former Chief Jay Bohan's contract. Gibson then took over as the interim, part-time fire chief.