Representatives for the city of Logansport and three surrounding townships have come to terms on an interlocal agreement for a proposed fire territory.

“I think it’s a good agreement,” said Scott Kraud, the chairman of the city council’s finance committee. “I’m really pleased with it.”

Tom Weatherwax, a former state senator and current member of the Clay Township advisory board, agreed.

“I think honestly it’s a pretty darn good arrangement,” he said.

The two sides originally had planned to approve the agreement at a special meeting on Monday, but the negotiations took longer than expected.

Now, the plan is for the advisory boards from Clay, Eel and Noble townships and the city council to meet March 22 to sign the paperwork.

Kraud said he expected the deal to go through.

“I hope so,” he said. “We were kind of at a stalemate there for a while, but I think we’ve got it worked out.”

The agreement represents a significant change in the way the Logansport Fire Department operates.

“It’s not going to be the city’s fire department any more,” Kraud said. “It’s going to be operated by an executive board. The mayor will no longer be appointing the fire chief; that appointment will be made by the executive board.”

Weatherwax noted that the executive board would put control of the fire department into the hands of the townships.

“We’ll be taking a much more active role in the management of the department,” he said. “Before we’ve been content to contract with the city and let the city make the decisions about staffing and operations. Now we’ll have a much stronger voice in those matters.”

The five-member executive board charged with putting together the department’s annual budget and overseeing its operations will be made a representative from each of the three townships and representatives of the mayor and city council.

“That board will be all powerful,” Weatherwax said.

Kraud noted that the city council would still have authority to sign off on the annual budget.

“We can’t make any changes to it,” he said. “We just have to approve it or reject it and send it back to the executive board for revisions.”

The agreement calls for the board to form in July and to take over operation of the department in January.

The board’s makeup proved to be the biggest stumbling block in the negotiations.

“We wanted two representatives, and the townships were proposing that we just have one,” Kraud said. “I felt pretty strongly that we needed two.”

In exchange for the additional board member, Weatherwax insisted on some other changes. He wanted the equipment funds that the townships have generated to be set aside for at least two years.

“That means they won’t be dipping into that money right away, and if in two years, we decide to dissolve the territory and go our own way, we’ll have that money back,” he said.

The townships also insisted that the city hang onto the obligation for any debt related to the fire department.

“That includes pensions,” Weatherwax said.

Kraud said he had some initial concerns about some of the provisions the townships were proposing.

“But I eventually got comfortable with it,” he said.

Weatherwax noted language in the agreement that allows the fire territory at some point to recruit volunteer firefighters.

“I could have left that out because it’s really at the discretion of the executive board, but I wanted everybody to know up front that this is an issue we’re looking at,” Weatherwax said.

He said the townships were not pondering changes in fire department staffing overnight. At this point, the territory is being planned around a budget at the same level as this year.

But down the road, he said, as current firefighters begin to retire, the addition of volunteer firefighters could be a real possibility.

“I know a lot of volunteer firemen who do a terrific job,” Weatherwax said. “They have the same training as the professionals.”

Kraud acknowledged that with the creation of a fire territory decisions such as that would no longer rest with the city.

“I don’t think going in that it’s going to be a 3-2 vote on every issue,” he said. “You just have to trust that everybody will work together.”

• Kelly Hawes is managing editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5155 or kelly.hawes@pharostribune.com.



Want to go?

What: Meeting to approve a proposed fire territory made up of the city of Logansport and three surrounding townships.

When: 6:30 p.m. March 22.

Where: City council chambers on the third flood of the City Building, 601 E. Broadway.



Click here for the text of the agreement