MONROE — Efforts to improve internal communication at the Monroe Fire Department were identified in a report by an ad-hoc committee of the Monroe Common Council at the full meeting Jan. 6.
The ad-hoc committee began meeting late last year after conflict arose between paid administrators of the fire department and the volunteers that make up almost all of the officer and firefighter corps of the department.
Council President Brooke Bauman reported about the ad hoc committee, saying it has met several times and has come up with a number of recommendations. She said the work is complete and the recommendations are ready for the fire department to implement and develop.
Monroe’s Fire Department operates with two full-time paid members -- the fire chief and assistant fire chief. The rest of the department’s officers and firefighters are volunteers and members of the Monroe Volunteer Firefighters, Inc., who are paid for their time and training.
Bauman said recommendations included reviewing and updating the department’s internal communication policy, updating the fire department’s organizational chart, developing communication protocol including the procedures for taking minutes at department meetings and ensuring the chief and officers of the department have joint discussions about promotions.
Other recommendations included developing a policy for donations to the department, creating a policy for firefighters storing personal items on city property and developing a policy regarding which department members have authority to access city facilities, Bauman said.
The council voted unanimously to close the ad-hoc committee, allowing the fire department to move forward with the recommendations.
The council approved a six-month extension to the fire services protection contract between the city and the Monroe Rural Fire District’s participating towns. This comes as negotiations continue on a five-year contract. The previous five-year contract expired at the end of 2019.
City attorney Dan Bartholf said the contract extension was warranted because the participating municipal members of the Rural Fire District and the city have been unable to work out a long-term deal.
City of Monroe residents pay for fire protection services based on their equalized property value. Bartholf said the other municipal participants in the RFD have not been paying the same amount, leaving a greater majority of the financial burden on the city. Rural RFD members had been paying fees to the fire department on a per-call basis.
Alderperson Michael Boyce said the purpose of having a five-year contract allows all of the municipal partners to properly budget for fire protection purposes.
“Having a five-year window with flexibility allows towns to plan and raise their levies accordingly,” Boyce said. “Plus we can reach out to (the towns of) Sylvester and Jefferson to expand the RFD. That’s the goal.
“Townships wanted to deal with costs on the number of responses, but that isn’t fair to the Monroe taxpayer,” Boyce continued.
The Monroe Fire Department covers about 75 square miles including the city and several surrounding municipalities.
Alderperson Donna Douglas said “it’s a hardship” for the towns to make payments similar to those made by city residents, but the reality is the costs to the towns would be higher if they had to provide their own fire protection.
Youth in Government city council member Rebekah Rath said the main issue regarding the contract was making it fair for all partners and currently it is “unfair to the city.”
Boyce said it is a matter of spreading out $70,000 in costs, which, comparatively, is a small amount of the overall cost of fire protection.
“All we’re asking is for the townships to pay their fair share per their equalized value,” Boyce said. “We have been more than patient in my opinion with the RFD. I don’t want to give away services to the RFD for less than they cost city taxpayers.”
The six-month extension was approved unanimously.