By Eric Curl
Sept. 3, 2023 – Chatham County is planning to form its own fire department and transition away from Chatham Emergency Services (CES) amid a funding dispute with the private service provider.
On Aug. 25, the Chatham County Commission unanimously approved a resolution to establish a county fire department and to develop and implement a transition plan for fire services from CES, which has been providing fire service protection for most unincorporated residents for decades. Meanwhile, CES recently retained legal representation after the county rejected multiple calls for mediation to resolve the budget standoff.
(Watch the discussion and vote on YouTube starting at the 45:00 at mark)
Commissioner Aaron “Adot” Whitely, who introduced the resolution as a “commissioner item”, said the plan to form a county department was not a “slight to Chatham Emergency Services or employees,” but a necessary move to prepare for anticipated population growth and zoning changes.
“We are looking towards the future in taking the safety of our constituents and our citizens very, very seriously,” Whitely said. “We are the fifth largest county in the state and I think it’s time we put on our big boy shoes and take on fire service in a more meaningful way.”
Adot did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Thursday morning.
The transition plan is expected to include an estimate for future costs for land, facilities, equipment and staffing as the transition plan proceeds. The county will need to use SSD Fund Balance and possibly other financing methods to cover costs, according to a staff report.
While support for the resolution was unanimous, Commissioner Dean Kicklighter said he would only support taking over fire service if it is paid for by using increased revenue from the Maintenance and Operations budget, supported by both unincorporated and city residents’ rising property values, and not the Special Service District, which only county property owners outside city limits pay into.
“I’m going on the record now to say that when this comes up as a big tax increase in front of me, no way,” Kicklighter said. “I’m not voting for that.”
The resolution’s approval comes after CES expressed concerns about its ability to fund fire service operations without substantial budget increases. In addition, CES requested dispute resolution pursuant to the service agreement approved by commissioners in Dec. 2021, when the county agreed to take on fire service funding and billing responsibilities.
The dispute stemmed from fire service expenses exceeding the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget by more than $500,000, according to correspondence obtained by Savannah Agenda. In addition, the county did not approve the funding CES said was needed for the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
The county’s current fiscal-year budget includes funding of $14.7 million for the CES fire services contract, while CES had sought $17.8 million in funding for operations this fiscal year, according to correspondence in April between County Manager Michael Kaigler and CES CEO Chuck Kearns.
“As my Board has frequently reminded me, when the County first began considering a service agreement with CES Fire, the FYE 2022 budgeted expenses were approximately $10 million,” Kaigler said in the letter. “Due to the inconsistent nature of the operating budgets CES has presented to the County, I have asked the County Finance Director to formulate a budget recommendation for my consideration.”
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Kearns responded with a letter invoking the dispute resolution of the fire protection services agreement with the county due to the “serious dispute.” However, Assistant County Attorney Andre Pretorius subsequently informed Kearns that CES could not call for such mediation because there was no breach of any material terms of the contract.
“As the Board of Commissioners has neither approved nor denied the budget for the total operation cost for the Fire Protection Services for Chatham County, this issue is not ripe for dispute resolution,” Pretorius said. “Your request for $17.8 million for budget year 2023/24 will have to be considered and denied by the Board of Commissioners for there to be a dispute that would invoke (Dispute Resolution) of the agreement, the County Manager’s recommendation is not the triggering effect for dispute resolution.”
The county commission adopted the current fiscal-year’s budget in June and last month Attorney D. Bobo Mullens, III notified the county that he and Attorney Patrick O’Connor were retained to represent CES.
“Should the County retain any good-faith dispute with the position of the CES Board of Directors on this matter, that may be resolved within the Dispute Resolution process,” Mullens said.
In a phone interview Thursday, Kearns said CES would welcome a study of the fire department and an analysis of what’s the best way to provide fire services to the unincorporated area and what’s the most fiscally efficient way to provide those services.
With regards to the county potentially forming their own department, Kearns said the CES’ “board of directors wants what’s best for our employees and what’s best for our community.”
“I would tell you that if even one job would be lost, my board would probably be against it,” he said.
Chatham County did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Friday morning.
Background
The county took over funding and billing responsibilities in January 2021 after Chatham Emergency Services approached the county for assistance because only about 65 percent of unincorporated residents and businesses were paying the nonprofit’s subscription fire fee, according to Chatham officials, and CES had limited options to enforce collection. The county initially passed an ordinance for a fire service tax to be imposed within the service area. The tax ordinance was later repealed in June 2022 and the commission instead approved a fire fee based on square footage of structures. In October last year, the first invoices for fire suppression were mailed out with a 30 day due date, which was later extended to Jan. 16. As of mid-June, about 88% of fire service fee bills had been collected, with about 5,000 property owners in unincorporated Chatham County summoned to court for nonpayment, as reported by the Savannah Morning News.
Dispute Resolution Timeline
April 5 – County Manager Michael Kaigler sends CES CEO Chuck Kearns a letter stating the existing fire fee rate structure, adopted in 2023, will not fully fund CES $17.8 million operating budget request, which is “significantly higher” than the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget of $13.1 million. In addition, Kaigler said the county commission has not approved a budget for the CES Capital Improvement budget request of $12.4 million for 2023-2024 fiscal year, up from $7.8 capital request for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
April 20 – Chuck Kearns sends letter to County Manager Michael Kaigler invoking the Dispute Resolution of the fire protection services agreement with the county due to a “serious dispute” in response to Kaigler’s budget letter from April 5.
April 26 – Assistant County Attorney Andre Pretorius responds with a letter stating that it is the county’s belief that CES may not call for a dispute resolution because there was no breach of any material terms of the contract.
May 1 – Kaigler forwards Pretorius’ response letter to Kearn.
May 25 – Kearns sends Kaigler a letter stating Pretouris is incorrect in stating that there is no dispute as he is referring to the upcoming budget approval process and CES is not. CES continues to have a serious dispute in our current Fire Protection services Agreement over current year funding, Kearns said.
Aug. 18 – Attorney D. Bobo Mullens, III sends Kaigler a letter stating he and Attorney Patrick O’Connor have been retained to represent CES after CES met with county staff and discussed fire operations actual expense for FY22-23 exceeding the county’s budgeted amount.
Aug. 25 – Chatham County Commission unanimously approves a resolution to establish a Chatham County Government Fire Department and to build, develop and implement a transition plan for fire services from the current provider, Chatham Emergency Services, to Chatham County.
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