By Kara Moore
Charleston Daily Mail
PUTNAM COUNTY, W. Va. — Commissioners may have tabled the issue of whether or not to raise the fire fee in Putnam County, but that doesn’t mean the issue has been put to rest.
Glenn Whittington, a member of Putnam County Fire Service Board and a volunteer fire fighter in Buffalo, asked the commission Tuesday what he could do to move the issue forward.
“I was wondering if there were any plans for the fire fee increase at this time and what the association can do to help the commission with any information they may need,” he said.
Commission President Steven Andes replied, “Currently it’s been tabled, so it won’t come back up until the commissioners put it on the agenda.”
Andes is also president of the Fire Service Board and is in favor of increasing the fire service fee. The other commissioners, Joe Haynes and Gary Tillis, voted to table the issue at an earlier meeting.
Haynes was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, and Tillis didn’t comment on the issue.
“It’s politics,” Whittington said later. “They want to be sure that they have the political will of the group of people that they work with. I think the overall population of Putnam County, the majority, they want fire service.”
Teays Valley’s department recently announced its intention to withdraw from the fire board and operate as an independent, private, non-profit department. Teays Valley is the largest department in the county and other departments depend on it to help cover their areas. Losing it from the system could leave them in a bind.
“Now we’ve got one fire department who thinks they can move out and go on their own. That’s not going to work, not for Putnam County it’s not going to work,” Whittington said. “The longer it drags on, the worse it’s going to be.”
Whittington said volunteers around the county are getting frustrated and quitting, and they’re difficult to replace with the funding shortage because of the training required.
“If we’re not going to get any increase in our revenue, how are we going to deal with that?” he said.
Teays Valley resident Glen Dunlap, who attended the meeting, suggested paying volunteers when they go out on calls.
“If you have an increase, instead of having a paid fire department, have you thought about paying per call for the volunteers that do go out? Consequently, that would encourage people to join your department.”
“Yes,” Whittington said. “That’s one of the options.”
He explained the concept further. “That’s what it amounts to. You’re actually paying them when they come out to do something. As long as they’re out there working, they get paid.”
Whittington said volunteers are harder to find now than they were 25 years ago when the fire fee was instituted.
“The problem right now, we’re having trouble getting volunteers,” he said. “The volunteer community is changing. The younger people coming in don’t have the time or want to volunteer anymore. They have too much to do.
“We have trouble getting volunteers, so everybody is going to some other form of trying to lure them into volunteers. Just the excitement anymore is not good enough.”
Whittington said there are no current plans to pay full-time firefighters.
“We don’t have any hopes of that right now,” he said. “We don’t have enough money for full-time people. The increase we’re asking right now won’t cover that.”
Copyright 2011 Charleston Newspapers