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Fire district voids contract with Clinton Township VFD
VAN BIBBER LAKE — Following the voiding of its contract with the Walnut Creek Fire Protection District, the future of the Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Department is now in limbo.
With its attorney Charles Hostetter present, the move was finalized by the district’s leadership at a public session Tuesday evening. The meeting was held at Clinton Township VFD’s station near Van Bibber Lake.
Citing the department being a separate entity from the district and unable to operate without a chief, the board unanimously approved to void the contract, with a stated intention of the district selecting a new chief.
The meeting as a whole was attended by community members and the department’s current membership, as well as members of the Bainbridge and Madison Township volunteers. The Bainbridge Volunteer Fire Department is part of the district.
Following the resignation of Chief Jack Giles, the board held an emergency public meeting on June 30 to announce that the department would not respond to emergencies as such. It was assured then that the closure was temporary as a replacement was being sought.
District Board President Rusty Burch said Tuesday that five people had expressed interest in the position. As such, he said the board was “pretty hopeful” that one could be tapped within the next week. In the meantime, potential candidates would fill out applications and be interviewed.
The crux is that, according to Burch, the new chief would be responsible for establishing a completely new entity and membership. He added that anyone in the local community, including the department’s current members, could put in.
“It’s hard to find volunteers, but I also believe that there’s a lot of people in this community who agree with me that Clinton Township deserves better than what they have,” Burch said.
“I would like to make sure that everybody understands that this is not simply Rusty Burch doing all of this,” Board Secretary Richard Cope added. “We have reached the general consensus that this is the direction we gotta go.”
“I’ve been on this board a short period of time, but I think from what I’ve seen with the process that’s happened, I think it’s due now,” Board Vice President Mike Mahoy provided, “and we’re gonna make the change to make it (the department) a better part for your community.”
Apart from voiding the contract, the meeting also focused on assets at the station which either belong to the department itself. Burch said they could be turned over to the department’s current president Jack Smith and its board, emphasizing a point that they were taxpayer-funded.
In terms of the department’s finances, he said its checkbooks would be released to Smith or the department’s treasurer Lydia Chubb. Meanwhile, the department’s charitable auxiliary has an account as its own entity apart from the department.
“Where it goes from here is the tricky side to what happens with that,” Burch said about potentially shedding any of the assets. “If it gets sold, it can’t just get sold. That money is taxpayer money.”
While the department could still exist, Burch said the main difference is that it would not operate out of the station, as it and the apparatus are owned by the district. As such, the district itself cannot shut it down and take its name, as the department is a nonprofit organization.
“Our contract with Clinton Township is not simply funding; we also provide this,” Cope said. “They’ll still operate here; they’ll still operate this same equipment. The only things really that’re gonna change are the faces and the name on the side of the truck and the name on the building.”
Responding to comments about it remaining as is from Clinton Township Fire’s secretary Buffy Wilkerson, Cope said the department could disband, reopen on its own and then keep its name.
For his part, former Clinton Township Fire Asst. Chief Douglas Chubb put forward that the department has been unfairly criticized. This is even as he said that it has made all of its dispatches in the last year-and-a-half.
Chubb also claimed that the board accepted Giles’ resignation and locked the membership out of the station before he himself was contacted. As such, he insinuated a hostile relationship between him, wife Lydia and leadership, as well as within the community.
“I’ve been put down by this community. Not all of them, because there’s some great people out there,” she said. “I still gave my 100 percent, even on the ones that attacked us.”
Looking to the near future in terms of emergencies in the area, Burch said that Bainbridge VFD would get the immediate call. If Bainbridge would not be able to respond, the call would then go to another department.
“We’re hoping it’s not going to be shut down too long,” Burch summed up. “But we’re a volunteer fire department, so we need the community to band together with volunteering your time.”