The Wheatland Town Board did not vote to join a joint commission to explore fire department consolidation.
Instead, the board said it would wait until the Wheatland Vol. Fire Department chief and the Town of Randall Fire Department chief could meet and perhaps present an alternative to the one proposed by a consultant’s study.
The deferral came at the June 22 Town Board meeting after Wheatland fire Chief Lou Denko challenged the study’s conclusions on how to move forward.
Currently. Wheatland has its own fire department and contracts with Twin Lakes Rescue for emergency medical service. Neighboring Randall has the same situation. Both of those departments are all volunteer and have had trouble attracting and retaining members in recent years.
In May, a study commissioned by Randall with the cooperation of Wheatland and Twin Lakes and paid for by a grant was concluded and presented. The 98-page study was performed by consulting firm Public Administration Associates LLC. The study said the Wheatland-Randall-Twin Lakes area would be well served by a consolidated department with two stations — the current Twin Lakes Fire Department and Rescue Squad station in downtown Twin Lakes and a new station in Wheatland near Highway O and Highway 50.
The Randall Plan Commission and Town Board voted May 27 to form a joint commission with Wheatland and Twin Lakes to explore consolidation, if the other municipalities were interested in moving forward.
At its June 22 board meeting, the Wheatland Town Board and the plan commission were set to discuss whether to move forward similarly to Randall.
As part of that discussion, Denko criticized what he called the study’s emphasis on saving money over service.
“I don’t have much use for the study,” Denko said.
The PAA study called for some equipment owned by the three departments to be liquidated and for both Randall fire stations to be closed. Randall FD Station No. 2 in Bassett was built in 2004 and is the newest of the four fire stations for the Town of Randall Fire Department, Wheatland Vol. Fire Department and Twin Lake Fire /Rescue.
Denko said he feels losing equipment the departments already have would be a mistake.
“We can’t afford to lose anything we have out here,” Denko said.
Denko also pointed out the Wheatland department — with it’s all volunteer membership — is a bargain with a yearly expenditure of less than $100,000. That figure does not include the EMS contract with Twin Lakes Rescue.
Denko emphasized that all three affected departments already work very well together. Instead of moving forward with a process based on the study, Denko asked for time for him and Randall Fire Chief Matt Gronke to meet and propose something else,
“We have three incredible departmetns that work very well together … and that doesn’t happen everywhere. We do function very well together,” Denko said “Let us take this and let us put this together and make some recommendations and go from there.”
No one on the Town Board proposed joining the commission proposed by Randall. Supervisor Kyle Madsen asked Denko to get the three departments together and come back with their conclusions, which appeared to have he agreement of the other board members.
Earlier in the meeting, Randall town Chairperson Mark Nordigian addressed the study and moving forward with an exploratory commission.
With volunteerism being not “how it was,” Randall is at the point of “near desperation” to have a plan, Nordigian said.
“We are in support of putting a commission together,” Nordigian said.
The Twin Lakes Village Board has not discussed the study or joining Randall’s proposed commission. A discussion of the study is on the July 6 committee of the whole agenda.
