Emotions were high Thursday evening as members of Post Volunteer Fire Department in Catoosa County gathered to discuss the future of their fire and rescue services.
Unanimously, 46 firefighters voted to reject a proposal from Fort Oglethorpe to turn over its operations to the city.
“We’re willing to negotiate,” said Battalion Chief Safety Officer Gary McGhee, noting he would let the city manager know of the department’s decision. He said Post hopes the city will come up with a revised proposal on or before the next City Council meeting on July 12.
“We want the citizens to know we are not walking off,” he said. “We will do the same thing that we’ve been doing since 1951, we will serve.”
Board members addressed the small room full of men and women, outlining the events that led to a proposal from the city asking Post to turn over about $2 million in trucks, equipment and other assets and apply for jobs in the new city-run department.
Fort Oglethorpe City Council decided in a special meeting Monday that it would no longer pay Post $31,000 a month to cover personnel and operations costs. The city agreed to pay the volunteer department the monthly sum in February, but elected to let the money run out Wednesday, prompting Thursday’s meeting.
Capt. Larry Honeycutt explained Thursday why he felt the department should not turn over its services to the city. The department currently runs the city’s five-person paid department, as well as its own force, which has recently switched to pay-by-service employment.
“Our mayor does not want us here, and I don’t know what his agenda is, but it doesn’t include us,” Capt. Honeycutt said. “And I’m tired of that … if we stay as a body, stay as a unit and do everything together, we’ll accomplish our goal, we’ll keep each other safe and above all we’ll protect the public.”
WHAT’S NEXTThe Post Volunteer Fire Department will take its decision to the Fort Oglethorpe City Council meeting on July 12.
Post’s board chairman, Robbie Tester, said he would not elect to turn the department over “to people who don’t know what they’re doing.”
Before Post’s decision was known, Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb said the city was ready to take over if the organization made that decision.
He said the city could no longer support Post the way the organization wanted.
“Our council is realizing more and more that we can’t deplete our budget just for the sake of saying we’ve got Post and fire and rescue working together,” Mr. Cobb said.
Staff writer Andy Johns contributed to this report.
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