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NOTE: Mr. Jack Davis is to be informed of the meetings the managers will have on this issue. <br />3. PAID FIREFIGHTERS <br />Eric Swanson made reference to his memo dated April 21, 1995 about "Full-Time <br />Fireman Issues for the Town and Orange Rural". He said that the major problem with providing fire <br />protection is the lack of volunteers during the daytime period. All Orange County schools except one <br />are located in these two fire districts. The first solution was to increase the number of volunteers <br />during the daytime period. The County has twelve employees who have firefighter certifications. The <br />concern here is a lack of a policy for letting them volunteer. The County Schools and the Town both <br />let their employees volunteer without any loss of wages. The recommendation from this group is to <br />encourage volunteers and pursue changes in personnel policies to accommodate such activity <br />without a loss in salary. The second solution was the hiring of fulltime personnel. One salary would <br />be paid by the Town and the other salary would be paid by the County and the Orange County <br />School Board. He noted that these proposals were not endorsed by everyone on this committee. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he feels volunteerism needs to be promoted. He has <br />no problem with County employees volunteering to respond to fires. <br />In answer to a question from Mayor Johnson on training requirements, Fire Marshall <br />Mike Tapp said that it takes from 6 months to one year to learn the basic functions and another year <br />to complete the training. <br />Commissioner Willhoit questioned the liability issues for County employees who would <br />volunteer as a firefighter. <br />Commissioner Crowther noted that 25% of the calls are intentional or false calls and he <br />suggested that there needs to be a large fine for false calls. <br />Chair Carey, in answer to a question from Town Commissioner Remus Smith, said that <br />he feels the County should consider funding one-half of a position and that the County should <br />participate to the extent it can. He supports developing a policy where County employees can <br />volunteer if they wish to do so. He wants to know the response from the County School System on <br />this request. He feels that they should look at all options including the fire district tax. and decide on <br />what is more efficient. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis feels it extremely important to provide new equipment and have <br />adequate staff to operate the equipment. <br />Mayor Johnson reemphasized that he would like for whatever plan they approve to be <br />effective July 1, 1997. <br />John Link noted that it seems that paying for this position from the district tax does not <br />address the equity issue because the County does not pay property taxes. However, if the County <br />uses property tax revenue to pay for personnel for a specific district then another equity issue is <br />created whereby everyone will have to pay for this service. It may be easier to pursue this issue in <br />terms of providing capital needs instead of personnel. He will look at that option in his response to <br />the Board the first meeting in May. <br />Commissioner Willhoit asked that all schools in Orange County be reviewed for fire <br />protection and not just the Orange County schools.