Canton Delays Fire Station Agreement With County

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Canton residents will have to wait another month before it will know whether their leaders will enter into an agreement with Cherokee County on its northwest fire station.

The Canton City Council on Monday unanimously voted to delay action on a proposed intergovernmental agreement with Cherokee County, which would have allowed the county to operate the station slated to be built in the Laurel Canyon development.

Councilman Bill Grant said the delay will allow Canton Fire Chief Dean Floyd and Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services Chief Tim Prather to collaborate on future needs to address growth patterns for both agencies.

The plan would be brought back for presentation to the council at its Feb. 19 meeting, Grant added.

Grant said Floyd and Prather will meet “independent” of elected officials to develop a five-year strategic plan to address mutual fire service needs. The plan would include operations at the northwest fire station, future stations and service areas that need to be addressed over the next five years.

Canton last week went out to bids on a design-build proposal on the northwest fire station. The delay comes on the heels of months of meetings and discussions between city and county leaders on a proposal put forth by the county.

That proposal entailed Canton building and insuring the station while the county would staff and operate the station. The proposal also involved Cherokee County relocating the staff from Fire Station No. 9 on Reinhardt College Parkway to the new station.

Councilman Hooky Huffman asked if the fire chiefs were tasked with discussing anything specific in their upcoming meetings.

“You really haven’t been, I don’t think, been given specifics as to what the plan should be,” he said, asking Floyd if providing equal services at a reduced cost would still be the goal.

Mayor Gene Hobgood added he believed that would be the main objective of developing the strategic plan. Hobgood added he felt the details of the operation, all along, were to have been ironed out by the two chiefs.

Huffman went on to say one of the concerns he had about the agreement is the changing number of years it would be active. County leaders initially proposed a 50-year agreement, but that number recently was changed to 25 and later five years throughout the discussion process.

Hobgood said one of the council members — which he did not name — expressed concerns about the agreement potentially lasting longer than the life of the northwest fire station.

City Manager Glen Cummins added both chiefs wanted to discuss what would be “mutually beneficial” to both entities, and will review a five-year plan “relative to projected growth.”

“Because it’s conceivable at the rate of growth we currently have, that a station could be built farther north of where we are currently planning to build a station,” he said, adding both men will look at the agreement from a “fire chiefs’ perspective” and report back to the council with what they think is best to provide the highest level of service.

Council member Sandy McGrew added she felt the delay and allowing the two chiefs to come together is “moving in a positive direction.”

“We sitting here really know nothing about fighting fires (or) public safety,” she said. “And I think it is the right thing to do to turn it over to the two chiefs to hammer out the details and then take their advice.”

Farris Yawn said working on details of an agreement between the two chiefs “is where it belongs instead of in the politicians’ hands.”

He added that he understands that both agencies have not had the best working relationship in the past, but are now working well together as fire departments.

“And I don’t want us to mess it up,” he said. “And I had feeling that we were on the track, the way things were going, to mess it up.”

Hobgood reiterated the decision will ultimately rest with the decision of the council and the County Commission.

“There was never any thought of not involving the chiefs in the details of operations of this thing, anyway,” he added. “So, there is no problem as far as I’m concerned.”

Council member John Rust asked if the chiefs were planning to accept input from elected officials. Floyd said he will accept any input from city leaders, but added he prefers that he and Prather be given the chance to sit down one-on-one ”and let us as the fire chiefs come up with a plan with no restrictions.”

“Let us look at it and then present to y’all with, ‘This what we think is best’,” he said. “Then, it comes to y’all and it’s ultimately y’all’s decision, along with the county. If y’all don’t like, we’ll do it again. I would like to be unrestricted by any boundaries and just let us do our job.”

In other business, council members were split on its support of a resolution requesting local legislation to allow the council to fill vacant seats by appointments if a special election is more than 90 days away.

Any request for the Cherokee County legislative delegation to carry local legislation in the Georgia General Assembly requires local entities to unanimously approve the resolution. Council members Hooky Huffman, John Rust and Jack Goodwin voted against the measure.

Council members also approved the 2015 qualifying fees for the Nov. 3 municipal election. The fee to qualify for the office of mayor is $300 while the fee to qualify for the council seats is $240.

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