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HOPE – The same type of tension that surfaced years ago between the Hope Volunteer Fire Department and the Hope Town Council began to emerge again during a Monday afternoon council work session.
After HVFD firefighters requested $93,500 from the town for next year’s budget, the council voted last month to provide $90,500 – the same amount as this year. The department also received $39,000 from the Hawcreek Township trustee.
Also during the November meeting, the council requested a more detailed financial report than what firefighters had provided. They also scheduled Monday’s special meeting to examine and discuss the report.
Council members began the discussion by asking several in-depth questions of department treasurer Ed Cottrell and Hope Fire Chief Chad Emmitt about line items from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1. For example, they asked what made up the line items listed as donations, and what was the apparatus that cost $106,990 this year. The response was a new aerial truck and a broom truck, Cottrell said.
Council member Herby Asher asked why the fire department did what he considered a minimal fundraising effort during the year.
“You act as if its a great inconvenience to have to fundraise $13,000 for the year,” Asher said to the firefighters.
Council members were told the firefighters raised $21,467 since Jan. 1 on food sales, according to a cash flow sheet. When the Hope firefighters also receive $4,500 in grants, the treasurer said the department was turned down after applying for several other funding opportunities.
Cotrell, senior pastor at Hope United Methodist Church, was also questioned about checks given to firefighters based on responses on fire runs.
“It’s my understanding that during your Christmas Party Saturday night, you gave out five $1,000 checks to the five people who responded most often to calls,” town manager Jason Eckart asked. “Where did that money come from?”
“That came from the budget with the hope of getting more people to make runs,” Cottrell replied.
“So you are giving $5,000 of the town’s money to get volunteers to volunteer?” Eckart asked. “And then I hear your turndown equipment (protective gear) costs $4,000 apiece, and you have several firefighters who haven’t even been on a fire run in the last 10 years. That’s a helluva lot of money at the town’s expense when you buy gear and they don’t even make fire runs.”
The response from Emmitt is that his department has 19 active members and five young volunteers who have not yet completed mandatory training. The fire chief said there are only three inactive firefighters who will be on their way out if they don’t participate in the next three months.
After answering several more questions, Cottrell said he had no problem giving the council the financial details they requested.
“But the way it was requested to me? I’m sorry, but my integrity was being questioned,” Cottrell said. “It is the way the request was being presented. I took offense to that.”
The discussion, which Eckart admits got heated at times, was reminiscent of the tensions between the town council and the fire department nearly 10 years ago.
Due to a dispute over what financial details should be provided to the council, firefighters worked most of 2015 without receiving any funding from the town. The only income the fire department received for more than 10 months was $50,000 from the Hawcreek Township Trustee’s office.
The stalemate eased in mid-October 2015, when a memorandum of agreement was reached that provided the department with $69,000. In 2016, the department was paid $72,000 by the town, which seemed to significantly reduce the tensions.
It appears town leaders and firefighters are determined not to let their relationship deteriorate as it did eight years ago.
Eckart assured Cottrell his only intention was to get answers to questions posed by the council.
“If you took offense to that, I apologize,” Eckart said. ” It was nothing personal. There is no question of your integrity, Pastor Ed…”
Eckart also stressed he is not accusing anyone of cheating or mishandling of funds.
It wasn’t just the council’s questions that were irritating Cottrell. The pastor explained he was also bothered by being approached by a Hope resident not affiliated with either the town or firefighters who began criticizing an upcoming HVFD expense that had not been released to the public.
Asher also deescalated the situation by expressing his appreciation for the service that Cottrell and the firefighters provide the community.
The discussion ended with the council asking that clauses be placed in the fire department’s 2024 contract requiring a monthly run report and a quarterly financial report.
Emmitt also announced that he will be succeeded by Adam Mathis as fire chief on Jan. 1.
