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The directors for the independent Wake
Forest Fire Department are trying to
discover how much their share for 911,
800 Mhz and Computer Assisted Dispatch
(CAD) will cost in the future.
They think their share of
the cost for answering 911 calls, being
tied to the CAD network and using the
800 Mhz radio system will be $34,066 in
the next fiscal year.
However, Don Griesedieck
said, the cost could be more because the
911 and CAD center operated by Raleigh
plans to hire nine new employees in the
next year. The increase from the current
cost has been estimated at 8 percent,
but with the new employees it could be
16 percent.
Both Griesedieck and Fire
Captain Daryl Cash, who handles
communications, said they were not fully
aware of all the financing arrangements,
the different committees and the how
costs are charged back to fire
departments.
In the first two years of
the new financing plan, the county paid
part of the cost for dispatching and 911
service, which is $13 for each dispatch
“even if it’s a wreck right in front of
the fire station,” Cash said.
The fire department is
charged for each dispatch within the
town limits; for calls outside the town,
the county bears the cost. Not entirely
true, Cash said, “We are paying. They’re
taking it out before it ever gets here.”
Until this year, the Town of
Wake Forest had been paying for the cost
of fire department and EMS dispatches in
the police department budget. Now the
cost of the calls will be deducted from
the true-up at the end of the fiscal
year when the town calculates how much
10 cents of the tax rate is based on the
latest property tax valuation.
At the beginning of Tuesday
night’s meeting, President Stanley
Denton said long-time board member Lyman
Franklin had resigned shortly after the
last board meeting.
“He left with no
bitterness,” Denton said. Franklin said
he “had too much on him at this time.”
Denton said he hoped “we can
all agree to disagree and walk out of
here as friends.”
Denton has applied to the
county to be appointed to fill
Franklin’s seat, but that will still
leave a vacancy on the board.
Denton, who was elected
president late last year while he was
still experiencing a succession of
medical ills, presided at the December
meeting and this one. He said the metal
brace that haloes his head will be
removed next week “or I’ll take it off
myself.”
The board met for only 30
minutes in open session and then went
into a closed session to talk about
personnel and land purchase. The closed
session lasted about an hour and a half.
Secretary James Holding said
SunTrust officials had said the
department has too few transactions to
do a sweep account. Instead, they
suggested a zero-balance payroll account
to solve the recent problem of
insufficient funds at times. The bank
would transfer funds from the general
account to cover the payroll.
When the department burned
two houses on East Jones Avenue late
last year at the request of the owners,
the siding on attorney John Cook’s
office building next door was damaged.
The repair cost $1,500, and Denton asked
why the department paid for it.
Because you do not make
claims for small amounts but save your
insurance claims for the big things,
Holding and Thomas Walters, who owns an
insurance company, said.
The board agreed they do not
need to move the Jimmy Keith memorial as
quickly as first thought because the
town has not completed the engineering
for the roundabout at East Elm and South
Franklin that will compromise the
memorial location.
The board recessed to Feb. 8
at 6 p.m. |
