Here are the various noteworthy meetings and events that took place
from the end of 2001 until the first of September, 2002, that involve the
Emergency Services Agency, the Thomas County Board of Commissioners, the City
of Thomasville and the issue of the finances of the ESA. In the various
paragraphs are links to a page that has more details of the meetings and events
noted in the paragraphs. For more information about a particular item of
interest, click on the link to find out more.
One of the items is about a meeting on
The board governing the Emergency Services Agency
met
The Emergency Services Agency board
of directors met
The Thomas County Board of
Commissioners voted to approve all budget resolutions for 2002 during a meeting
The Emergency Services Agency board
of directors met
Jack Smith, the Executive Director
of the Emergency Services Agency in
Richard Smith has resigned from the
Emergency Services Agency board of directors and
The board governing the Emergency
Services Agency heard about concerns with the 911 dispatching system during a
meeting
The Emergency Services Agency board
met
The Thomas County Emergency
Services Agency has decided to place the construction of a new volunteer fire
station for
The Emergency Services Agency
approved a bid to construct the
The Thomas County
Emergency Services Agency wants to spend almost a million dollars for software
and equipment for the new E-911 center being built in downtown
The Emergency Services Agency governing board has voted to borrow more money for operating expenses. Also discussed was the status of volunteer fire departments in the county and the status of new fire stations. The board met Thursday, June 27, in a regular session and heard Executive Director Jack Smith say, “Expenses for the agency are on track with the budget, but revenue collections are down.”
The governing board
of the Thomas County Emergency Services Agency held a morning long workshop on
Tuesday, July
9, in
The Emergency Services Agency
approved an application for an additional line of credit with a local bank to
provide money for operating expenses. Jack Smith, told the board that a $1.2
million line of credit was needed to provide funds for operating expenses until
the end of the year. Smith said the money was needed until property taxes came
in for the ESA at the end of the year. Smith also said an about $1 million was
needed for the purchase of E-911 equipment. The action came during a meeting of
the ESA Board Tuesday, July 23.
The board also discussed a shortfall in revenue from
The board governing the Emergency Services Agency met Thursday, August 22, and discussed financing for the agency. The consensus developed that board members had to seek property tax rates for the agency at least as much as previous years, an action that would require public hearings by a reluctant Thomas County Commission. ESA board members discussed other options for meeting funding needs.
In a set of
meetings over a week, the board governing the Emergency Services Agency
recommended that the millage in each of the three fire districts in the county
be increased by one full mill in order to meet a deficit in operating expenses
during an almost three-hour meeting Tuesday morning, September 3. On Thursday,
September 5, the Thomas County Board of Commissioners set tentative millage
rate for the county at a called meeting that included setting rates for fire
districts at less than recommended by the ESA board. Roy Campbell said Jack
Smith handed a letter of resignation as Executive Director to the chairman of
the ESA board, Earl Williams, before the county commission meeting.
The Board governing the Emergency
Services Agency met starting at
Thomas County Commissioners proposed a 3-2 county majority on the ESA board during a joint city-county workshop on September 16.
Thomasville City Council members heard Josh Herring say he was “disappointed” with the city council and was personally inclined to recommend to the county board that the Emergency Services Agency be disbanded. The remarks came during a city council workshop on September 18. City council members said they did not approve of the proposal for the county to have a majority 3-2 membership on the ESA governing board.
The Thomasville City Council discussed on September 23 the ESA and its future, deciding to send a letter to the county outlining the city’s opposition to calls by the county to control the ESA.
The City of
County Manager Mike Stephenson called local media to meet at his office Friday morning, September 27. There he gave the press an outline of the debt obligations of the Emergency Services Agency as compiled by the county’s auditor.
The ESA board appointed interim
chiefs for the fire service and
The Thomas County Commission answers a question from a citizen about fire coverage at his residence during a meeting October 8.
The Thomasville City Council decided to urge the ESA governing board to present a budget for 2003 to the city council and county commission for both bodies to vote on by mid-November. They did this at a workshop October 9.
The Thomasville City Council
decided in a workshop meeting October 17
that efforts to save the ESA were hopeless and called for negotiations with
The Chairman of the
The Thomas County Board of Commissioners voted to disband the Emergency Services Agency during a meeting Monday, October 21.
The Thomasville City Council had a workshop meeting Wednesday afternoon, October 23, and council members discussed the breakup of the Emergency Service Agency.
The Thomasville City Council discussed the Emergency Services Agency break-up during a workshop meeting on Wednesday, November 6. Council members said they were adamant that city citizens were not going to pay for the county’s fire protection outside the city’s limits and that a user board for 911 dispatching be established.
County and city officials met November 7 and agreed on a funding procedure for having the city provide fire protection for a portion of the county and agreed on a user board for dispatching.
On November 12 the county manager says that county commissioners need to postpone having hearings on setting the 2003 budget until the first week of December because of work that still needs to be done on 911, EMS and fire budgets.
On November 11 and 14, the city announces a new Fire Chief and reports the budget for the new Fire Department is coming along.
On November 20
the city told ESA firefighters who would be hired for the
On November 25, the Thomasville City Council passed the resolution that finalizes the details of the disbanding of the ESA and that was negotiated between the Mayor Singletary and Chairman Herring. However, during a separate meeting, the Thomas County Board of Commissioners decided in a closed session to not sign the resolution before them.
At the beginning of their budget hearings on Monday, December 2, Thomas County Commissioners
passed the resolution detailing the breakup of the Emergency Services Agency;
the Thomasville City Council passed the same resolution November 25. Before commissioners passed the resolution,
they held an hour-and-a-half closed meeting discussing the ending of the ESA
and the resolution.
The two major governments in the county marked up their budgets for
2003, finishing December 4. The
budgets included what the governments think they will spend on emergency
services for the year.
The Emergency Service Agency board
of directors met Thursday, December 12, for
one of the last meetings it will have. Board members took formal action to
officially terminate its employees at the end of the year as the Agency is
being disbanded and its functions going back to the City of
Thomas County Commissioners considered building their own fire department to provide fire protection in the current Fire Zones 1 and 2. To that end, they looked at hiring a consultant to tell them what they need to have the same fire rating those zones currently have, an Insurance Service Organization rating of three. Several commissioners discussed the hiring of the consultant during the first meeting of a new committee of the county board, the Emergency Services Committee, on Wednesday, December 18.
The personnel to man fire-rescue
equipment in
Talks began Monday, December 23,
between the City of
The board that has governed the
Emergency Services Agency since 1999 will still meet for the next 12 months
despite the agency being disbanded and its functions turned over the City of
On October 2, 2003, the Thomas County Grand Jury investigated the reasons for the demise of the ESA and recommended that it be revived.