Disagreement lingers with council

CLOVERDALE -- Lingering anger over an agreement reached in April boiled over the pot recently during the Cloverdale Town Council's regular monthly meeting.

At the meeting, council member Judy Whitaker asked council president Don Sublett how much money the town would save after agreeing to return fire protection in the hands of the Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Dept. in April.

"No comment," Sublett said. "I'm not going to comment."

The council voted 3-2 in April to place fire protection for the town in the hands of CTVFD. Whitaker and fellow council member John Davis voted no against the measure.

At the May meeting, Whitaker suggested Sublett call a town meeting for members of the Cloverdale Town Fire Dept. and explain to them in greater detail the situation.

"No," Sublett said.

At the April meeting, Sublett informed a packed house that the board had conducted an executive session to look over 11 lawsuits the town was facing.

He said four of the lawsuits had been "solved," including a lawsuit brought against the town by CTVFD. He said three of the board members met with town attorney Allan Yackey, CTVFD attorney Darrell Felling and mediator John Hanner, an attorney from Rockville, during the session.

However, Whitaker -- who did not attend the executive session -- said she wanted to know why it had never been addressed to the best of her knowledge that a mediator would be at that executive session.

But after a lengthy discussion, Sublett motioned to sign the contract between CTVFD and the town with council vice president Dennis Padgett giving the second. The agreement between the two parties, according to Sublett, dismissed all legal action between the two.

The agreement calls for CTVFD to provide all fire protection for the town for a calendar year. Following that, both the town and the department agreed to assess future budget needs and demands each year. The town, according to the agreement, will provide the fire department building through a lease agreement of 20 years for $1 each year. CTVFD had based its operations at 51 W. Market St., Cloverdale, since 1955, but moved to 101 W. Stardust Rd., Cloverdale, at midnight Dec. 31, 2004, and continued to serve the area.

The new agreement called for CTVFD to move its operation back to the original building, which had housed the Cloverdale Town Fire Dept. since 2005.

The town disolved its contract with CTVFD in September 2004.

Meanwhile, the council Tuesday tackled the subject of radios that had been ordered by the town for the now-defuncted fire department.

J&K Communications representative Roger Love approached the board with what Yackey referred to as a "novation."

Love offered the town a way out of the contract by paying $3,166. He added he had been notified that the contract was canceled.

The board voted 3-2 in favor of cancelling the order.

CTVFD Fire Chief Kerry Shepherd told the BannerGraphic at the meeting that the organization did not need new radios because they had already ordered new ones.

"There was no need for them," he said.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Cloverdale resident Diana Brumfield stated she felt "safer" with CTVFD back in charge of fire protection.