By John Howell

The Batesville Fire Department (BFD) expects to pick up Engine 13, a pumper specially equipped to answer fire calls outside city limits, in late July, Fire Chief Tim Taylor said.

City aldermen voted unanimously to approve the final payment of $203,129 to pay for the truck when Taylor and two firefighters travel to the Iowa manufacturing facility to inspect the vehicle and drive it back to Batesville.

BFD, Batesville city officials and Panola County Supervisors have been discussing the purchase of the truck since early 2012 when the fire chief told the mayor and aldermen that a 1991 engine and a 1992 engine could no longer be used toward evaluating the city’s fire insurance rating.

In order to maintain a Class Six fire insurance rating, the city would need to replace both trucks, Taylor told city officials, if the BFD continued to respond to fire alarms outside corporate limits.

City officials, citing the large number of calls the BFD answers outside city limits, first asked supervisors to bear the entire cost of the second new $400,000 truck. 

After months of negotiation, during which the BFD’s application for a $327,000 Firefighter Assistance Grant from the office of Homeland Security was turned down, the city and county agreed to share costs with the city paying $299,000  and the county paying $100,000. Supervisors also agreed to waive claim to a $70,000 Rural Fire Truck Acquisition Assistance Program grant and allow those funds to go to the city when the grant is awarded. 

In other fire department business at the July 1 meeting, the mayor and aldermen discussed loss of career fire fighters to the Horn Lake Fire Dept. 

The discussion came after Chief Taylor asked city officials to accept the resignation of Troy Vest, who has accepted a job with Horn Lake, and to approve his application to remain with the Batesville department as a part-time firefighter. Taylor recommended approval of Vest’s request.

“How many people have we lost to Horn Lake so far? What’s up?” Alderman Eddie Nabors asked.

“Advancement opportunities and money,” Taylor replied.

Discussion among Taylor, the mayor and aldermen ranged from the cost of training a firefighter ($50,000 to $60,000, Taylor said) to the BFD staff hierarchy.

Taylor said that he had planned a staffing hierarchy that he would present to city officials. He also said that he had included an amount in recent annual budgets to better fund pay and positions for firefighters.

“We need the whole program,” the mayor said. 

“I’d like to see one example,” Alderman Eddie Nabors said, “where we can see what we invested in training, what we’re paying him currently, what it’s going to cost to replace him from a training standpoint and whether or not a sliding scale raising pay makes sense.”