Minutes 09-13-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange Rural Fire Chief Jeff Cabe said that this plan is not an additional cost to the citizens or the Board of County Commissioners. He addressed the Chair's concerns about how calls are run. He said that he has been in the fire service for over 20 years and when EMS went to a new program several years ago, the fire departments were asked to help, so they started doing EMS. The fire departments also started doing rescue. He said that it is expensive and busy. He made reference to the failures and said that the digital system is the one that causes problems. At no point during his 20 years have any of the fire departments failed. He said that the department does not even have a place to train people. He said that the goal is to take care of the people. Eno Fire Chief Bryan Baker said that they will meet next week to lay out the timeline for the remainder of the strategic plan. Chair Pelissier asked him to share this information with the Board of County Commissioners. Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones said that the timeline that was discussed was to have this plan ready by next budget year, but they have not worked this goal out yet with the School of Government. Commissioner McKee said that citizens want to see a response vehicle as quick as possible, but also that the County do it as economically as possible. He said that the issue of insurance for homeowners outside of the six-mile area is a huge concern. He is getting a feeling that the departments are very willing to work together to implement the same sort of agreement that Caldwell and Eno implemented. He asked staff if there is a timeframe to implement this with the rest of the departments if they are willing. Frank Montes de Oca said that it would take about 120-160 days. There are about 150 homes that are outside the six-mile insurance area. Michael Talbert said that fire protection districts and insurance districts are one in the same in Orange County with some exceptions. Everything within the district that is within six miles of the nearest station is considered to have a rating of 9 or better. Anything over six miles has a rating of 10. Anything over six road miles has a rating of 10, which the insurance companies have just started to clamp down on. A typical home of$200,000 in value, built in 1990 of frame construction that is less than six miles from a fire department has insurance of $835 per year. If the home is more than six miles away, it goes up 75%. Frank Clifton said that the County is getting calls from residents who received their tax bills and the rating has gone up. The easiest way is to address it in the short-term and then figure out what to do long-term. Annette Moore said that this issue is also about taxes. If these 1,200 homes were moved into another district, they may be levied a tax in a district that is not serving them. This is an issue that is of concern to her. Chair Pelissier said that there needs to be a more in-depth discussion about this topic. Commissioner McKee encouraged staff to work toward solving this insurance problem. Chief Jeff Cabe asked why the Board of County Commissioners had approved extending the East Orange Fire Insurance district boundary for Caldwell and Eno Fire Departments but would not do that for the other fire departments. Frank Clifton said that many properties are involved and everyone must agree before moving the homes into another district can be done. He said that the County needs to work with the property owners to find the most efficient way to address this issue. John Roberts said that there are solutions to these insurance problems, but they will be incremental. Chair Pelissier said that she heard that the issue would be resolved for 800 of the 1,200 homes with substations in the Orange Grove district.