A decision made five years ago about a hazmat team has sparked confusion, a legal meeting and questions of compliance for Hamilton County for about a month.
The county’s hazmat team, called the Hamilton County Special Operations Division, received a fire department designation in 2020, according to the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office. But according to state law, any new fire department has to be approved by the local elected governing body, which would be the Hamilton County Commission.
For the past five years, there has been no resolution approving the 2020 designation, according to the county’s online resolution search system.
There was, however, a resolution passed in 1990 approving an agreement between the county and the hazmat team describing its services, which included fire protection. But the resolution was passed over a decade before the state law requiring registry with the state and approval from the local governing body. That statute went into effect in 2003.