Residents of the Village of Brockport and the towns of Sweden and Clarkson overwhelmingly supported a measure to form a joint fire district to serve the three municipalities in a vote Tuesday, Nov. 29. The vote passed 1,455 to 337.
"The firefighters are really appreciative of everyone who came out in support of the action and voted yes to help us stay with the service we're providing to the community," Brockport firefighter Chris Martin said.
The district plans to form by June 2012 or January 2013 at the latest, according to a fire district news release.
Currently, the Brockport Fire District (BFD), which includes volunteers from all three municipalities, has protection contracts with the towns of Sweden and Clarkson.
Therefore, there will not be much change to the actual firefighters who serve the three municipalities.
"This will be a basically seamless and invisible change," Martin said. "Both the providers in the fire service and the members of the community who utilize the service won't notice any change in performance or man-power. The biggest change will be in who manages the [BFD funding]."
The Brockport village board currently manages BFD funding, making the board members fire commissioners by default.
Sweden and Clarkson town officials proposed the formation of a joint fire district after it was discovered the Brockport village board used $175,000 in surplus BFD funding on general spending.
"[The Brockport village board] provided that service (managing BFD funding), but they provided it as a side-interest to their primary function of operating the village," Martin said.
Under the current system, the BFD receives a fixed amount of funding each year and any funds not used go back to the village for general spending, BFD Chief Mike Henry previously told The Stylus.
With the formation of a joint fire district, five fire commissioners will be appointed and they will be able to ensure surplus funding can be used in the future for equipment purchases or other such expenses.
"The board of fire commissioners' entire focus will be fire protection, long-term planning for the fire service, [managing the] fire stations and planning for the future," Martin said. "They will be able to look at our assets — where we'll be in five years and where we'll be in 10 years."
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