By Natasha Smith
The Macon Telegraph
BYRON, Ga. — Byron officials feel they need to hire career firefighters to join their band of volunteer firefighters to provide better coverage in the growing city.
The City Council passed a resolution Monday that indicated its intent to create a combination municipal fire department of paid employees and volunteers. The ordinance also created the position of a paid fire chief for what would be the city department. The resolution states that all current and active members of the Byron Volunteer Fire Department would be accepted at their current rank until decided by the person selected as fire chief.
The move is part of an ongoing effort to lower insurance ratings as well as provide benefits for firefighters, who currently receive pension and compensation for completing training.
Mayor Larry Collins said current budget requests call for funding two full-time firefighters and two part-time firefighters. Collins said the budget likely will not be ironed out until the end of the month. The city’s 26 volunteer firefighters likely would perform the bulk of the work, the mayor said.
To move forward with anything, Collins said Monday’s resolution had to be in place to allocate the funding. The resolution, he says, creates a structure. From there, he said the council has to select the type of structure and decide how to fund it.
“This is a resolution of what, in our judgment, we need to do,” Collins said.
The City Council also adopted the Peach County Service Delivery Strategy. The matter had been tabled since the City Council’s June 11 meeting due to concerns that arose from an annexation agreement between Byron and Fort Valley.
City Councilman Michael Chidester expressed concerns about Fort Valley providing water at a higher rate than Byron when supplied to land in the Byron area. Chidester said the additional cost averaged about $3.60 per month. An amended strategy calls for both cities to meet annually in an effort to eventually make the rates equal.
Copyright 2007 The Macon Telegraph
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News