Tontitown Making More Fire Equipment Purchases

— The city's budget should soon reflect its change from paying the Tontitown Area Fire Department to its own Public Safety Department.

The City Council's Committee of the Whole voted Tuesday to revise the 2014 budget, allotting more money for fire coverage. The revisions would add $54,000 to Public Safety to buy more equipment and hire firefighters. The council will vote on the budget revisions at 6 p.m. May 6.

In the past, the city contracted with the Fire Department for fire protection. Mayor Jack Beckford and some of the council members pushed to create fire service inside city government. The council voted in March to change the Police Department to a Public Safety Department with officers responding to police and fire calls.

The money set aside for fire protection in the 2014 budget, $124,148, to pay Fire Department salaries and $50,000 for equipment, is being used to hire Public Safety officers and buy fire-fighting equipment, Beckford said.

The city bought a 1996 Pierce pumper engine in late March for $45,000. A new Public Safety officer focusing on fires has started work, said Kris Arthur, Public Safety chief.

The revisions would be balanced by cutting improvement to Taylor Road from the budget, Beckford said. The net effect is a reducing the budget $18,000, he said.

Taylor Road improvement could be cut because landowners along the street wouldn't donate right of way, Beckford said.

Art Penzo of the Fire Department board presented another fire service contract to the council at the meeting. The council took no action.

A $10,000 grant from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District presented to the city by Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, will go to the Fire Department, Beckford said.

The Fire Department applied for the grant but the check was made out to Tontitown/Tontitown Fire Department, according to an email between Beckford and Sunny Hinshaw, council member. The confusion came because a form wasn't filled out by the Fire Department, according to Woods.

Beckford said the city also applied for some grants and he thought the money came from those applications. The city will cut a check and give the money to the Fire Department, he said.

The city is also looking for a new attorney. Mark Dossett and J.R. Carroll, the attorneys who have shared city attorney duties, submitted a letter of resignation April 2, effective June 30.

NW News on 04/16/2014

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