Council delays vote on fire/EMS issue

A final reading and vote by the Hillsboro City Council on a resolution on EMS and fire services has been delayed, after council cancelled a special meeting that had previously been scheduled for Monday.

Council held a special session Friday evening in the Hillsboro Municipal Courtroom, with nearly 50 area residents - including approximately a dozen non-firefighter city employees - in attendance.

After two and a half hours in executive session to discuss contract negotiations and safety issues, Council President Lee Koogler said that a second meeting, scheduled for Monday evening, had been cancelled. 

"When I scheduled the meeting, I was unaware at that time that a member of council was unavailable," Koogler said, and later elaborated that the council member was scheduled to be out of town. 

Koogler said that the special meeting will be scheduled for later next week or sometime the following week, for the resolution's final reading and vote by council. 

Koogler said that he did not anticipate having all seven members of council in attendance. Council member Rod Daniels has been serving overseas in the 15th psychological operations of the Army Reserve since October. Daniels was in attendance for council's regular meeting Monday. However, Daniels was not in attendance for Friday's session. Koogler said that he had anticipated Daniels would be present for the meeting but asked council if they wanted to excuse the absence. Council did not vote to excuse the absence. As Daniels was scheduled to be in Hillsboro for only a short time, Koogler said it is unlikely that all seven members of council will be present when the resolution is put to a vote. 

Koogler later said that Daniels' absence was "a factor" in rescheduling the meeting. 

Prior to council entering into executive session, Koogler said that he wanted to thank the people for their interest in the ongoing issue regarding EMS/fire contracts, as well as the city's budget issues.

"This continues to be an issue a lot of people care about, and we appreciate your attendance," Koogler said.

However, because public comment was not advertised as a reason for the meeting, council would not be hearing what the individuals had to say.

Input from the community is important, Koogler said, "but I can't afford that to you now."

Prior to the adjournment of the meeting, council member Bill Alexander asked if the community would have an opportunity to openly address council prior to the resolution's third reading and vote. 

Koogler said that it was his intent to include a public participation item on the agenda for the next special meeting. 

City employees from the administrative offices, street department, sewer department and other departments were also in attendance.

On Thursday, special administrative assistant II Heather Flint, who works in the mayor's office, said that a group of city employees were drafting a petition to submit to council. Flint said the city employees were concerned about the future of their jobs.

As council entered into executive session, Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings told some city employees to take their "cue" to leave from a city building employee who was in attendance.

Many people turned out Friday in yellow T-shirts that read "Save Our Fire Department," as they had during council's regular meeting Monday. There were also multiple firefighters from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue in attendance.

Council exited the executive session around 8:30 p.m. but took a short break before voting to enter back into regular session at approximately 8:35 p.m.

While several members of the public had left during the executive session, others had arrived, and there were more than 40 people in attendance when council entered into regular session and heard the second reading of the resolution to contract for emergency services with the Paint Creek Joint EMS and Fire District.

No action was taking following executive session, and after the second resolution reading, the meeting was adjourned. 

While they said they could not comment on discussions that took place during executive session, following the meeting, Koogler and council member Dave Shoemaker said that it had been "very informative." 

"We were able to look at a lot of different information and will continue looking at information moving into the final reading," Koogler said. "A lot of issues have been cleared up, but that doesn't mean that we're not interested in additional information."

Shoemaker said that he has received a lot of feedback from constituents, and he hopes they will continue to contact them on their positions. Shoemakers said the phone calls and conversations he received have been "about 50/50." 

Hillsboro firefighters Ed Puckett said, "What really concerns me is the level of care."

"(Level of care) is the most important thing," Passet said. "And that is not putting down the firefighters of Paint Creek."

Puckett said, "And here is what I don't understand: We have been told the fire department is breaking the city. And now there have to be cuts across the board. If there have to be cuts, why do you start with the only department that brought in $700,000-$800,000, when there are other departments with bigger budgets that are not being cut. We might have made more, but it's because we work more hours. Then our overtime was cut. Now we've (proposed) concession. It's neverending. For us, it's like a vendetta to get rid of us, and it's never enough to make anyone happy. All we hear is cut, cut, cut. You never hear about increasing revenue, giving up property or giving tax abatements to get people in here."

Passet said, "Once all your grass is gone, all you're going to be left with is dirt."