The Sebastian County Quorum Court has voted to dissolve the Jenny Lind Volunteer Fire Department because it failed to relieve concerns that the lack of training and reliable equipment presented a safety hazard for neighboring firefighters who provide mutual aid.
The Quorum Court passed an ordinance 12-0 Tuesday evening that set up eight rural fire districts, leaving out Jenny Lind. Quorum Court member John Spradlin was absent.
Jenny Lind is an unincorporated community along U.S. 71 between Fort Smith to the north and Greenwood to the south.
In setting the districts, the ordinance parceled out coverage of the Jenny Lind area to the four departments that surround Jenny Lind: Greenwood Rural, EMP [Excelsior, Mount Zion, Palestine], White Bluff and Bonanza City.
The Quorum Court decided to vote on the ordinance after County Judge David Hudson reported that members of the four departments surrounding Jenny Lind rejected on March 9 a reorganization plan that was drawn up by officials in the Jenny Lind department.
For one, Hudson told Quorum Court members Tuesday, the plan didn't include a functional board of directors.
"There just appeared to be a lack of reorganization strong points," he said.
At its Feb. 21 meeting, the Quorum Court set up a committee consisting of James Butler, Johnny Hobbs and Shawn Looper to investigate what to do about the Jenny Lind department.
The committee met Feb. 28, and after a long discussion with rural fire officials,it called on the Jenny Lind department to change its management and devise a reorganization plan by the time of the Quorum Court's meeting Tuesday or face dissolution.
Fire officials of departments that had to work with the Jenny Lind department have complained that its members didn't participate in training with neighboring departments, that its equipment was unreliable and prone to breaking down, and that there was a lack of command and control at fire scenes that jeopardized firefighter safety.
On March 7, 15 members of the Jenny Lind department met at the fire station, where longtime Chief Charles Cossey; his son, Assistant Chief Shawn Cossey; and training coordinator Dean Allison resigned. Department members at the meeting elected Brian Allison as the new chief and Steve Ritter as assistant chief.
After the meeting, several members resigned.
No one spoke for the Jenny Lind department on Tuesday, but a few members attended the meeting. Outside the courthouse in Greenwood after the meeting, some said dissolution of Jenny Lind's department would lengthen response times to alarm calls for the community.
Freda Smith, treasurer for the Jenny Lind department, said Wednesday that residents in Jenny Lind were concerned about the loss of the department's first responders. She said the ambulance normally was five to 10 minutes behind Jenny Lind's first responders in answering calls for help.
People also were concerned about how the loss of the department would affect their Insurance Service Office rating and insurance rates.
"It's up in the air about what's going to happen until we get more answers," Smith said.
NW News on 03/23/2017