Fire and Rescue group seeks return of $38,000 to Amissville volunteers

Rappahannock Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association President Jack Atkins of the Jackson District passed out a thick stack of papers to each supervisor, before asking them to reconsider their January decision to keep nearly $40,000 generated by the Amissville company making out-of-county emergency response calls as part of the county’s cost-recovery program. He said that the action was in direct conflict with state

law and with its own county ordinance, referencing highlighted portions in the paperwork. Returning the money to the insurance companies also defies the county’s memorandum of agreement with Culpeper and Medicare policy, Atkins said, adding that he spoke with someone representing Medicare who was taken aback by the county’s decision to take the money from the volunteers.

Atkins was referencing a motion to return $38,103.35 to (Fidelis) passed in January by a 4-1 margin, with Piedmont supervisor Ron Frazier the lone dissenter. The vote followed a heated barking match among attorney David Konick, county administrator John McCarthy and county attorney Peter Luke, regarding what to do with money obtained by the Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue squad when it made emergency service runs outside of the county. Frazier’s motion to allow the Amissville company to keep the money died at the table, for lack of a second.

Patrick Lawler of Wakefield District, a 44-year Flint Hill resident who served the Flint Hill Fire and Rescue Company for 28 years, said that public safety should be the number one issue. Lawler expressed concern that people in Flint Hill are having trouble getting emergency assistance, and that Flint Hill residents shouldn’t have to pay the fire levy tax since they aren’t getting good enough service, that no one in Flint Hill is running calls, and that responders to emergencies are coming from other county volunteer companies much farther away. “I think they need help,” Lawler said. “And I think that if you have problems with one [company], you’re going to have problems with the rest later on down the road.” He added that the difference between a 10-minute response time and a 25-minute response time could mean life or death, and at minimum will affect insurance rates for homeowners.

Lawler said that there is a need for a paid part-time fire chief to train volunteers. “It’s not a question of money for the department, it’s about young blood,” Lawler said, noting the aging volunteer population and the lack of young, able-bodied volunteer support. When he finished, Lawler turned to Sheriff Connie Smith and stage-whispered, “You can shoot me now.”

Chris Parrish agreed with Lawler and Atkins.

“Once we hire a fire chief in one company, there’s going to be no end to it -- and the next thing you know, we’re going to be paid [ fire and rescue] county-wide, and it’s going to cost a fortune,” Parrish said. “And unless we get some more volunteers, we’re going to be up against the wall . . . If we don’t get some volunteers within the year, I think it’s all over, and we’re all going to be paying a lot more taxes to have a paid department.”

Parrish noted that EMT training is free of charge to volunteers. Ron Frazier added that of the eight students in an EMT course last year, not one took their final EMT certification test.

David Konick, BZA representative and former county zoning administrator in the early 1980s, began by seconding Atkins remarks on disputing the supervisors decision to take money earned by the Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company (his pro bono client in that case) making emergency calls to out-of-county areas.

“What you put in the county ordinance, about the requirement that the calls have to originate in Rappahannock, is not authorized by state law, and arguably it’s in violation of state law, and I made that point back in January,” Konick said.

When public comment closed, supervisor John Lesinski said that in regard to the volunteer fire and rescue system, the problem is that not everyone is pulling in the same direction. “It seems like everybody’s fighting against each other, and we’ve got to figure this thing out in the next 60 to 90 days, in time for this budget cycle,” Lesinski said, adding that no one from the volunteer fire and rescue system has produced a strategic plan to solve the problem.

Ron Frazier said that the board has not taken enough time to address the EMS cost-recovery issue with Amissville.

Peter Luke introduced a motion to increase the personal property tax credit for active volunteer fire and rescue members from $300 to $574 dollars. Ron Frazier had asked about covering the entirety of volunteer personal property tax, but Luke said that keeping the credit under $600 means there will be no IRS trouble. Luke said he did an analysis of volunteer exemptions from 2015, and that of the 88 members that applied, only 16 would have exceeded $574 in personal property tax. Luke did add that only 50 percent of active volunteers exceeded $300 in personal property tax.

Jack Atkins and Richie Burke, when asked for their take on the motion, said that many of their volunteers have personal property taxes well under the current $300 credit, and so they are in some cases only receiving tens of dollars in credit as a reward for volunteering. Atkins said, “The board should find a better way to cover the $574, because that increase isn’t going to help several of our people at all.”

Luke warned the board, “Don’t talk about giving stipends, because you want to avoid having employees.”

The motion passed unanimously, and then board chairman Roger Welch said, “It seems that no good deed goes unfunded.”

The board also approved the county’s updated Emergency Operations Plan, a 417page text that EMS coordinator Burke said only contained minor changes from the fiveyear-old plan. “Anybody read it all?” Burke asked. It was unanimous that none of the supervisors had, and the plan passed unanimously.