Upcoming Election Solution to Fire Department Problems, Says Richland City Councilman

RICHLAND – On July 17, more than 60 people gathered in Richland for a public hearing about the future of the Richland Fire Department. Due to the size of the crowd, the meeting was held outside, in the shelter across the street from city hall. Among the crowd were Richland firefighters, firefighters from surrounding communities, representatives from the townships, concerned citizens, the city’s insurance agent, and Councilmen Micheal Hadley and Brei Beam. Notably absent were Richland Mayor Tom Hoekstra and Councilmen Alisa Tolle, David Balster and Kathy Brower. It should be noted that, according to attendee Sue Gill, Brower and Tolle were busy taking care of a sick relative and dealing with a death in the family respectively. The reason for Hoekstra and Balster’s absence was unknown to the meeting’s attendees. The News-Review asked Hoekstra about his absence after the meeting; he declined to answer.

The meeting began with a lengthy presentation by the city’s insurance agent, Wolene White, explaining how the city’s current workman’s comp insurance provider, Iowa Municipalities Workers' Compensation Association (IMWCA), functions. IMWCA is an insurance pool created by the Iowa League of Cities that works with counties, cities, and local governments across the state. IMWCA has worked with the city for years. However, they require firefighters take physicals every five years, something many members of the Richland fire department dislike.

White noted that, because insurance for fire departments is hard to obtain, the department’s only options are IMWCA or an Assigned Risk Pool. According to White, Assigned Risk Pool insurance costs 25% more. In addition, because the city has worked with IMWCA for so long and complies with site surveys, IMWCA gives the city an additional 19% discount, with further discounts being given because the city is highly rated. White stated that the Assigned Risk Pool cost is $56.23 per $100 of payroll, while the city only pays $30.50 with IMWCA.

White noted that physicals allow fire departments to tell when a firefighter is injured, by comparing their vitals to their standard levels. White also noted several cases of physicals identifying problems with firefighters and allowing them to get medical care they did not know they needed. Longtime Richland Fire Chief Mitch Ehrenfelt countered by stating that these physicals are expensive, noting that it cost around $11,000 the last time the department received physicals, money that could have been put towards new equipment.

“It just depends on what your viewpoint is. The reason why the physicals were put into place was to ensure the safety of the firefighters,” said White. “Bottom line. That’s it. I’ve talked to different fire chiefs around the state, and they say ‘You know, the worst thing I ever had to do, in my entire career of being a firefighter, is when one of my firefighters was injured or killed and I had to go to his house, and knock on his door, and tell his spouse or her spouse they aren’t coming home because of this.’ I mean, it’s a risk, and they accept that when they become a firefighter, but anything we can do, to ensure their safety, we should do.”

Ehrenfelt stated that the several other fire departments in the area, namely Brighton, Packwood, and Jackson Township, do not work with IMWCA, and that the other fire departments shake their heads at Richland for having to do physicals. White countered that Delta, Agency, and What Cheer all have IMWCA as their insurance provider and speculated that the fire departments Ehrenfelt listed do not qualify for IMWCA. “Every single policy and procedure that’s in place is to keep every single firefighter safe,” said White.

“I have nothing against physicals, but I think it’s everybody’s own responsibility to take care of themselves,” replied Ehrenfelt.

White stated that the spouses of deceased firefighters could sue the department for not doing their due diligence. Councilman Hadley, who worked as a firefighter for 17 years, noted that only a “small handful” of firefighters actually go into burning buildings, with most of a department doing the vital task of  working the hoses, and asked if the physicals account for this. White stated that the physicals are the same for all firefighters. An attendee asked who is given access to the private medical information in the physicals. Ehrenfelt claimed that this information had been given to the city in the past, something that angered his men, although City Clerk Susan Carrol disputed this. White stated that the information is supposed to be given to the fire chief.

White was asked how much IMWCA costs yearly. She replied that workman’s comp premium costs the city $1830 yearly, the general liability costs $603 yearly, the liability for the trucks costs $311 yearly, and the fire station’s property insurance costs $689 yearly.

“The town of Richland’s got a great fire department,” state senator and Packwood firefighter Adrian Dickey said, eliciting a round of applause. “It’s not because of that building, and it’s not because of those trucks, it’s because of these men and women that protect this community. And I don’t give a damn what the cost difference is between two policies! I don’t. You’re not paying them. If they say ‘We don’t want this one’ you pay the policy so they don’t have the physicals. Period...There is a pissing match between the city council and the mayor towards the fire department. And if they just say ‘Screw you’ and leave, guess what your property rates are gonna do? If your property rates are going up and you don’t have any fire department, period, then don’t plan on (Packwood and other departments putting out fires). You’re making a big assumption if you think we’re going to come and cover without you talking to us first...We’re not going to provide fire protection for the City of Richland if you screw over your own damn department that you have here right now. So think twice about getting protection from somebody else, when we got a very good department here right now and it’s really come down to the cost of some physicals that they may not want to take.”

Ehrenfelt then thanked everyone who had shown up in support of the fire department. “It’s a disgrace that the people that need to be here are not,” said one attendee.

Ehrenfelt noted that, between the 25 men on the department, there are 287 years of service. He explained that it takes 200 hours of training to become a firefighter and that each firefighter spends a minimum of 24 hours working, spends 12 hours at meetings, and shows up for 50-60 calls every year. Ehrenfelt explained that, currently, the department’s equipment is paid for by the township trustees, while day to day expenses are covered by the department’s 501c3.

Ehrenfelt again explained his desire to create a fire board to make decisions about how the fire department is run, with the City of Richland, Richland Township, Clay Township, Dutch Creek Township, and Black Hawk Township each given a seat at the table. He sees the plan proposed by the city, where the townships are given a seat on an advisory board but all final decisions are made by the city council, as unfair.

Beam asked Ehrenfelt about the fact that the 28e Agreements between the townships for fire protection had not been filed with the state. Ehrenfelt stated that they can be easily filed and that the township was working on it. The controversy over the fire department’s vehicles possibly being bought with the city’s tax number was brought up; Ehrenfelt stood by his belief that, because the trustees wrote the granst and title, license, insure and maintain the vehicles, they are still property of the trustees.

One attendee asked Hadley and Beam how the situation with the fire department will be resolved, noting that there had been constant meetings and saying the community was sick of hearing about it. “I personally want us to all work together for our community and for everybody’s sake. And if that takes the city giving a little and the fire department giving a little to work together, that’s what is going to happen,” said Beam. “This is my opinion, so it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but from what I’m seeing and what I’m viewing, it looks to me like some people on the city, and in some situations on the fire department, they’re butting heads. And they’re not wanting to work together. They’re not listening to each other. They just want it my way or the highway.”

“I’m all for doing what I can to make it work. A lot of the leg work has been done already. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel, I think we just need to sit down and iron some things out, and that’s gonna take a little bit of work,” said Hadley. “But it’s also going to take enough people deciding to do that within the confines of the council.”

One attendee asked what they needed from the public. “There’s an election coming up,” said Hadley, leading to cheers from the crowd. Hadley stated that people would have to be patient until the November election, although he did recommend they reach out to the council members who did not attend the meeting.

“But they don’t listen to us,” said one attendee.

“Micheal, we’ve had enough,” said another.

“Mitch gave every (member of the council) the opportunity to sit down and show them the vision. Micheal and Brei are the only ones who took him up on that offer. The other three refused. Tom will not allow this type of thing, the vision to be shown to the city council,” said Richland firefighter John “Bob” Capps. “Second of all, those two, they’re here. Now, I understand Alisa. I get it. But when you have something like this, that you got the public this involved now, and they’re not here? That’s a slap in your face. That’s the way I see it...Come election, I’m running for mayor.”

“Here’s another thing to consider. It’s why we want a fire board and we want all taxpayers represented, not just the city, but every township. Everybody should have a say in this. The city council and even the trustees...that position changes every two years. Or every four years, whatever. The positions are always swapping,” Capps said later in the meeting. “But when you have one entity over everything...and they don’t like you, they can tell you ‘Oh you can’t do that.’ They’ve already done it to Mitch...You know, I’m willing to get up at two in the morning to go to your house and do whatever I got to do to save your child. So who is Tom Hoekstra to tell me I can’t do that? Who is he to tell Mitch that he can’t do that? That’s why it should not be up to one entity.”

One attendee questioned how the city can fire a volunteer. Another attendee brought up frustrations towards the city, in his view, wanting to prioritize fighting fires in the city over in the country, something he sees as a slap in the face. Hadley brought up a story of the Richland fire department managing to handle three separate fires at the same time, stating that no firefighter is going to leave someone else hanging.

  “The firemen are there to help their community and do what they can for their community because they love their community and they want to help their community. That’s the frustrating part of all this, for me,” said Hadley. “Having been on the department for 17 years before just having enough dead bodies in front of you that I just had enough, that was it, knowing and training a lot of the guys who are on the department, Mitch included, and other guys on there, I know what the intent is. I know where their heart is. And my goal is to work with them to make this as stupid easy as possible...I want to make this easy and streamlined. And I think, at some level, it’s going to take things changing with the personnel in those positions come November.”