The Village of Peoria Heights is looking for a new fire chief.
Or, the Village is looking for a new way to deliver fire protection altogether.
Those issues were the centerpiece of discussion at a June 27 special meeting convened by the Village Board in the wake of the recent resignation of Heights Fire Chief Donovan Thompson after about two and a half years on the job.
Though the Village has a long history of delivering fire protection and other emergency services with volunteers, since at least 2019 the fire department has struggled to do that with call volumes rising and volunteer ranks shrinking. In early 2021, the Village went to a hybrid model with a first-ever paid chief and assistant chief, combined with intensified recruitment efforts for volunteers.
For a time, operations seemed to be improving, but those challenges have returned, and the Village is back to square one. Fire operations are “stressed” if “getting by,” according to Village officials, who again are exploring multiple options to address the situation.
Those include staying with the hybrid model by hiring another fire chief complemented by volunteers, employing a day crew backed by volunteers, creating a fire protection district, contracting out for fire service with the City of Peoria, or doing some combination of Peoria firefighters/Heights volunteers/AMT paramedics. Cost, response times and service reliability are the primary considerations.
Before a packed house, Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger explained the city’s proposal, while emphasizing that Village leaders reached out to Peoria City Hall, not the other way around. “This is not the City of Peoria trying to push their way into Peoria Heights,” he said.
Fundamentally, Peoria Heights residents likely would receive emergency services from five of the city’s 12 firehouses -- the closest two being on Wisconsin and NE Adams Street, respectively -- with a 4-minute response time for most of the Village, said Sollberger. Minimum response times in Peoria Heights now can be more than double that.
Based on some 1,775 calls received in 2022, 192 of those fires, the a la carte cost for fire protection only would be in the ballpark of $307,000, on average about $1,600 per call, said Sollberger. The cost could be more, or less, depending on the number of calls, the severity of the blazes and the manpower – from seven firefighters up to 16 for a full working fire -- necessary to extinguish them, he added. Emergency medical services would bring additional cost. The city would be looking for a three-year agreement.
The Village spends about $407,000 annually on fire protection now.
In terms of priorities, “we would respond to the Village of Peoria Heights just like we do Peoria,” assured Sollberger. ZIP code 61616 emergencies “would not be second fiddle.”
Meanwhile, residents and trustees also heard from Village Attorney Mark Walton, who outlined the procedure to get a referendum on the ballot for the creation of a fire protection district with paid firefighters. The latter would require at least 50 signatures from registered local voters on a petition requesting a referendum. A local judge would have to sign off on it. At this juncture, the earliest a measure could ask voters for their preference is March 19, 2024, said Walton.
Should the referendum pass, the mayor and trustees would have to appoint a fire protection district board. That board, acting independently of the Village, would then convene to levy a tax to provide the revenues to operate a fire department. It’s “at least a two-year process,” said Walton. Realistically, the earliest a fire protection district could be up and running would be calendar year 2025.
The various proposals met with mixed reaction.
Trustee Brandon Wisenburg questioned the city’s cost estimates and expressed skepticism that outside emergency protection could be provided at the listed prices, especially over the long term given some of the city’s fiscal challenges. “We may not have gotten it right the first time,” but that doesn’t mean the Village should give up on a local volunteer fire force, he said.
Trustee Matt Wigginton, as chairman of the board’s public safety committee, said he is “not for the discontinuation of the volunteer fire department” and raised the question of whether state statute even permits the dissolution of a municipal fire department without voters first getting their say. He said he favors a hybrid model that would have Heights volunteers working with the Peoria Fire Department and AMT, though he acknowledged it would likely be at a higher cost.
“I don’t see another legal way to do it,” he said.
Trustee Sarah DeVore questioned how workable that hybrid model would be, with conflicts between City and Village firefighters having arisen previously regarding jurisdiction in certain instances and the city warning about the overuse or misuse of the mutual aid system in place, known as MABAS.
That state statute wrinkle – which Walton indicated has not been tested in Illinois, to his knowledge – gave Trustee Mark Gauf some pause. For Gauf, public safety trumps all other considerations. “In situations where seconds count … The City of Peoria is telling me they can be here in four minutes. That appeals to me,” he said. “We still need more information.”
For Trustee Jeff Goett, “everybody I talk to wants Peoria Heights’ volunteer fire department to stay.” Nonetheless, if a fire protection district is what’s needed to keep fire service local, “let’s get goin’,” even if it means higher property taxes, said Goett.
Ultimately, no decisions have been made. Trustees did ask for more legal clarification on how much latitude they have regarding local fire services under Illinois law, and there was a consensus to post the fire chief position and to begin taking applications to potentially fill that vacancy.
Otherwise, Mayor Michael Phelan urged the board not to delay.
“This is an emotional decision. We’re all torn about what we need to do,” he said. But the Village is in a healthy financial position and public safety is too important to let slide in indecision. “We need some direction … as to where you want to go.”