Willow fire crews seek upgrades

WILLOW — Local firefighters are advocating for change in their department, citing outdated equipment and a need for more support from the board overseeing them.

“We’ve had a board of supervisors that has not been very supportive when we come to them,” said Willow firefighter Kel Jacobs.

The grievances culminated in a letter sent last month to state and Mat-Su Borough officials outlining a list of complaints:

• Intransigence on building new warm-storage fire stations

• Procrastination on increasing the tax rate

• An urgent need to upgrade the main fire station

• A need for new equipment.

Jacobs pointed out that in terms of area covered, Willow is among the largest departments in Mat-Su. It also has one of the lowest mill levies.

An attempt in 2012 to up that mill rate failed. It currently stands at 1.37 mills — $1.37 for every $1,000 of a home’s assessed value, meaning a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $274. The Wasilla-Lakes Fire Service Area, home to the Central Mat-Su Fire Department, the borough’s biggest and busiest, taxes at 1.99 mills. Sutton taxes at 4.59 mills, the highest rate among fire departments in Mat-Su. The only department with a lower mill rate than Willow’s is the Greater Palmer Fire Service area, listed in borough records as taxing at .9 mills. It’s not a fair comparison, though, as Greater Palmer benefits from a city of Palmer department, which benefits from city revenue.

However, Willow Fire Service Area Board of Supervisors Chair Doyle Holmes — a hardware store owner and former Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman — said the board doesn’t have the power to raise taxes.

“We can’t make the people of Willow pay money. We don’t have that power,” Holmes said. “We asked the people two or three years ago if they would approve a mill rate increase and they turned it down. I think the vote was like 75 percent or so against it.”

Jacobs says that attempt failed because it was placed on the ballot at the 11th hour when there was no time left to educate residents about why it was needed.

Holmes said he thinks that a mill rate increase is bound to be unpopular until the Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services — which oversees the department — can provide a list of why it wants the money.

“We have consistently asked the administration to give us a meaningful list of what they thought they would spend the money for, and they have not done that,” he said.

Borough officials did bring a list to the last board of supervisors meeting, but Holmes said most of items on the list are already in the budget.

The board already agreed to money for training and for a new fire truck, which is on order, he said.

The only thing that wasn’t on the list was money to put toward a new fire station.

Jacobs said that three warm storage-style stations have received state grants. One is under construction and the other two need land.

It’s the one near Nancy Lake that seems to be at a sticking point. The borough has found land it wants to buy but it has a structure already on it.

Jacobs said that’s not a bad thing. An existing structure could house meeting space and workout equipment and buying it would cost well less than the average cost to build a new borough building — $400 per square foot by some estimates.

Holmes said he thinks that he’s getting so much opposition because the board has said no.

“No, on taking our money and buying a building down the road which we’re not real thrilled with and that set off a lot of this and also it’s election time and let the games begin,” he said, having previously mentioned he was eyeing a run for the assembly.

As for the existing station, the training room was a former portable classroom relocated from Trapper Creek. The firefighters’ letter said that it contained mold and asbestos. However, Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director Terry Dolan said the borough has investigated numerous times and found no mold in the building.

“The repeat inspection we did yesterday found exactly the same thing,” he wrote in an e-mail last week. “No visible mold, no mold smell. The ceiling tiles are stained by past water leaks but are not molding.”

As for asbestos, Dolan said the borough suspects there might be asbestos in the building but hasn’t actually found any, and as long as it’s not disturbed asbestos is inert.

The possible presence of asbestos means that something like a needed lighting upgrade is prohibitively expensive as it would also require asbestos abatement, Jacobs said.

“We really need more of a proactive board, a board that maybe helps come up with solutions, not just telling us why we can’t do something,” she said.

Holmes said the board has been supportive as it can be. He said he thinks the situation is overblown.

“It’s a lot of smoke and no fire,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.