Weiser Fire Department transfers to Rural Fire

About two weeks ago, a sign appeared on the front door of Weiser City Fire Department, indicating that the station is now closed.
 The notice, seen at 55 W. Court St., caught a few residents by surprise, pictures of it popping up on Facebook and other social media accounts and leaving some to wonder what is going on with the city’s fire services.
 “The sign has been changed because it implied that we are not providing fire services,” Mayor Randy Hibberd told the Weiser Signal American last week. “The new sign says that if people need to contact the city fire department, they can call the Rural.”
 The Weiser Rural Fire District is located at 167 W. Commercial St. You can contact the district at (208) 414-2379.
 “The end goal, what we are working toward, is creating one district, one fire district that includes the city of Weiser and the rural area,” Hibberd said.
 For that to happen, according to Hibberd, the Weiser Rural Fire District would eventually be dissolved, and a new district created that would blanket both Weiser and surrounding areas that the district already covers.
 Consolidating the agencies has long been a consideration and when Weiser City Fire Department Chief Kerry Nyce retired in September 2021, he was not replaced, Weiser Rural Fire Chief, Tim Atwood, becoming chief for both departments.
 During a regular city council meeting on June 13, councilmembers approved a contract allowing Weiser Rural Fire to provide services in non-rural areas.
The need for consolidation
 Financial considerations and manpower are two of the main reasons for the consolidation.
 “Both departments are trying to have at least 30 people, and relying on volunteers is getting harder and harder,” Hibberd said. “People are less willing to volunteer than they have been in the past and we were recruiting from the same pool of people. Most of the volunteers have to live in the area to be effective and get to the station on time, so if you are competing for those volunteers, and they are getting fewer and fewer, that means you are getting further and further behind on staffing.”
 Weiser Rural Fire has one and a half full-time staff, according to Hibberd. That would increase to two once the consolidation is complete.
House Bill 389
 A roadblock, however, stands in the way of a new district. It comes in the form of House Bill 389. Passed at the tail end of the 2021 legislative session, the complex bill, among other things, caps the total allowable budget increase for a taxing district at 8 percent per year.
 The problem is that consolidating fire services in Weiser will require more than the current allowable increase.
 “For Weiser Rural to cover the city, it’s going to take more than 8 percent of their budget to do that,” Hibberd explained. “And then you have inflation on top of it, increasing costs.”
 Theoretically, combining the departments would result in some savings, but Weiser Rural Fire would still need a large portion of the city’s $180,000 fire services budget (2021) to fund consolidated services, which means it would need to increase taxes by more than 8 percent.
 The city is currently paying Weiser Rural Fire $15,000 per month until the end of the fiscal year to provide services. The funds come out of the city’s general fund.
 “We are working on another agreement that is more in depth, that spells things out,” Hibberd said. “Basically, we would share expenses.”
 Hibberd said that HB 389 was written in less than two days and was passed hastily, at the very end of last year’s legislative session. It would appear that unless the bill is updated in future sessions, the city’s interim agreement with Weiser Rural Fire would continue to be extended.
 Hibberd said there is currently an effort to have the bill updated.
 “Myself and some other cities around the state are working toward that,” he said.
 Hibberd provided further explanation about the consolidation:
 “The cost of sharing expenses with the Weiser Area Rural Fire District is uncertain at this time. Unfortunately, for various reasons, the City Fire Department and City had not been keeping up with replacing/upgrading equipment and vehicles on a programmed and timely basis,” he said. “The city was in a position of needing to increase the City Fire Department budget to make up for the prior years of postponing purchases. Therefore, when allowance for equipment purchases and upgrades are taken into consideration, the cost of providing fire services for Weiser was going to increase, with or without consolidation with the Rural District.  
 “Although the merging of services and increased allowance for equipment purchases leaves the exact cost to the City uncertain, as with any merger, the opportunity for lowering overhead by not having two buildings, two administrative services, and duplications in equipment purchases, etc., will allow for a combined reduction in overall cost for both the City and Rural residents and better service with updated equipment.”
New digs for police
 Now that the city fire department is no longer occupying the station on West Court Street, the city is working on plans to move the Weiser Police Department into that location.
 Currently, the department shares space with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 262 E. Court St.
 The arrangement works, but it’s tight and the two departments have long been in need of an alternative arrangement.
 “What we are thinking, is turning it into the police station,” Hibberd said of the city fire station. “They are cramped over where they are; and the Sheriff’s office is cramped. We want to try to work out a deal where the Sheriff’s office would buy that space from us because we own that.”
 Hibberd said there is no estimated timeframe when that would occur at this point.
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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