Riverdale to try again to pitch fire department merger with county

Residents can hear more at City Hall this afternoon.

Riverdale leaders will try again this weekend to explain the benefits of merging the city’s fire department with Clayton County’s fire operations.

Just days after attempting to lay out the proposal on Wednesday, the Clayton city plans a 2:30 p.m. meeting today at City Hall to argue that folding its fire department into Clayton’s makes sense.

City leaders maintain merging with Clayton County fire could save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars because Riverdale needs to spend at least $750,000 to $1 million to update equipment, trucks and facilities.

The county’s fire operations, on the other hand, are the gold standard in fire departments, Riverdale officials say. The Clayton County Fire Department has an industry-best Insurance Services Office rating of 1, compared to Riverdale’s ISO 3 rating.

City manager E. Scott Wood described the issue as a decision “to raise people’s taxes and stay a Class 3, or raise their taxes further to become a Class 1, or to not raise taxes and contract with Clayton County to provide those services.”

But if Wednesday’s meeting was any indication, it’s a tough sell to the public.

Residents at Wednesday’s meeting said the city’s explanation for the change fell short. Many said Riverdale was not transparent about how residents would be taxed if the merger happens — would Riverdale residents have to pay into a Clayton County fire fund if the departments were merged?

Further still, the residents wanted more clarity on whether Riverdale firefighters would keep their jobs and seniority in a merger.

“We don’t have a problem with everything combining or anything like that, but let us know so we can talk about it,” said Riverdale resident Jacqueline Taylor. “Give us options, give us solutions. Put everything on paper. But don’t leave us in the dark.”

Terri Benn, another Riverdale resident, said the city failed to prove its pitch that the merger would also improve response times. Instead they gave vague promises and assurances that the city has been studying the matter for weeks, but nothing concrete on how the merger would be executed.

“To me it was a lot of fluff,” said Benn, who added she thinks the council has already made up its mind. “Why do we need a Saturday meeting to get more information, when we could have had information tonight.”

Mayor Evelyn Wynn-Dixon pushed back on the criticisms, saying residents had received erroneous information and that the town halls were evidence that the city wants the public’s feedback.

But she spent a lot of time shushing the audience as it grew restless and trying to keep speakers from going over the one minute they were given to speak.

“Please be respectful,” the mayor told Benn.

Isaiah Lester, who spoke to Councilwoman Wanda Wallace after the meeting, said he felt more comfortable with the proposal after their discussion. She better explained the impact of the move on the city’s budget, the cost to taxpayers, grant money the city received for the city’s fire department and what would happen with firefighters.

She also suggested holding a referendum for residents to vote on the issue instead of leaving it in the council’s hands, he said.

“I had mixed feelings when I came, but I’m on board now with going with Clayton County,” he said.

Josie Singletary, who also huddled with Wallace, came away with hope that the situation could be resolved, but was still unsatisfied.

“I just think it’s an attempt to do away with services most people feel comfortable with,” she said. “The issue is how will this impact the taxpayers or Riverdale’s dollars, since we will be getting less service, but still maintaining the same taxes.”

LEON STAFFORD/LEON.STAFFORD@AJC.COM Residents listen Wednesday to an update on a fire department merger. Some were unconvinced residents would benefit.