When all the dust settled Wednesday, Fort Oglethorpe City Council members and officials with the Post Fire Department seemed to come to an understanding about the future of fire protection in the city.
"We made more headway today than we have in six months," said Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb at the end of a second special called meeting.
After about an hour of sometimes-tense discussion, spokesmen for Post, a non-profit group that has provided fire protection to the city for decades, told the city they had drafted a proposal that would add one part-time worker to the city's staffing plan. If the city would agree to that, they said, they would hand over all of their equipment and join the new city-run department.
Fort Oglethorpe leaders want a city-run department rather than the per-response reimbursement system now in place.
"The only difference in (the city's) proposal and the one you're going to see from the board is one person - that's it," Post member Larry Honeycutt told the council.
The city's plan was to staff three firefighters at one station 24 hours per day and staff another with two people two hours per day. Post's proposal would add a position and shift a person from one station to the other so both could be open with at least two firefighters 24 hours a day.
Larry Jackson, a member of Post's board of directors, said national standards require three firefighters to operate a truck but Post has been running them with two-man teams to save money.
"We're not opposed to coming on to the city, the only thing we're opposed to is the manpower in your budget," Mr. Jackson said.
At the end of the meeting, council members decided to postpone a decision on whether to accept Post's proposal until Monday night's scheduled meeting so they could review the proposal in writing.
Both sides were encouraged.
"We hope to put this to bed," said Mr. Jackson.
Mr. Cobb said the new part-time position, which would cost the city about $12,000, would be a worthy concession to move talks along.
"We'll find that $12,000 if we have to bum it," the mayor said.
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Article: Fire issues dominate Fort Oglethorpe City Council talks