WEST LIBERTY, Iowa — The West Liberty Volunteer Fire Department said it cannot continue to be governed by the city after two and a half years of "an ugly battle" for operational and financial control of the department.
In a memorandum of understanding, the department expressed a desire to create a 28E Agency to oversee it, as opposed to the city. It called for a new governing board comprised of officials appointed by the city, retired volunteers and the West Liberty Rural Fire District.
The department sent a letter to West Liberty Mayor Katherine McCullough, City Manager David Haugland, City Clerk Lee Geertz and three members of the city council alleging that the city has micromanaged the department, deliberately stalled attempts to hire EMS personnel and mixed department funds with the city's general account.
"The city has actively waged a war upon the department through dangerous bureaucratic moves that endanger the community," read the letter. "In addition to making it more difficult for the volunteers to help the community when seconds matter, multiple unfounded grievances have been filed against volunteer members of the department, with the intent to manipulate the process while attempting to cover their tracks."
The letter also stated that the city's actions have made it impossible to continue recruiting volunteers and the department will be without any within the next five years.
"The men and women of the department have made a reasoned - but difficult - decision. These men and women will not continue to volunteer in this environment," the letter said.
If a resolution is not found by May 1, the letter continued, the city will need to find other arrangements for medical and fire protection.
In response, the city said all of the department's allegations were "either wrong or wholly unfounded."
West Liberty also announced it was in talks with other protection options, in the event that a resolution cannot be reached by the department's deadline.
On Tuesday, April 19, the bimonthly city council meeting was filled with community members and volunteer firefighters who took up over an hour of public comment.
"For my own mental health, I needed to know that we have somewhere to move forward," said Mindy Sickels Sterbenze, the department's secretary and treasurer. "Being in this limbo is just too much for me, emotionally, and with my fellow volunteers as well. There's approximately 11 of us that are now certified medically to provide care, and that's a lot of stress when you're dealing with 600 calls a year."
Volunteer Dillon Christensen told the council things had gotten to the point where he didn't know if he wanted to be a part of the department anymore despite it being a lifelong dream of his.
"This about what you will do if this isn't resolved. What's your plan?" Christensen asked the council. "You're not gonna get a bunch of new volunteers here in West Liberty."
His father, Tom Christensen, also a volunteer, addressed the council as well. He said it was up to the city and the department to protect West Liberty's residents.
"You really need to look through this (memorandum) and tell me why it won't work," he said.
Resident Lynne Zeman said what confused her the most was the lack of transparency from the city.
"What I haven't seen in any meeting from the city is their side of the story," Zeman said. "No one has ever explained what's going on, and I think that's part of the problem."
Chief Kirt Sickles spoke to News 8 shortly before the meeting began and said the past two and a half years had been "a lot."
"When this pager goes off, I worry who’s showing up, what we have to do," Sickles said. "The city council’s not the folks saying you’re going into that fire or you’re climbing underneath that car to help rescue. It’s me. So I worry about their safety and the community’s safety. It keeps me up at night. And unfortunately, what we’re going through does the same thing. It’s been real tough."
"When we sent that letter to the city council saying that, as of May 1, you’ll have to look for other fire protection," Sickles said. "We were serious. But at the same time, we hope that doesn’t have to happen."
He worried about rising insurance and Insurance Services Office rates if the city was left without protection, but he said the whole department made the decision to give the ultimatum together.
"The bottom line is this agreement needs to be done so we can move on and move forward. We think it's the fairest thing we can do," Sickles said. "End of the day, we are volunteering. Many of us have other jobs, you know, we work during the day. But when that pager goes off, it’s a different show."
The city did not make a decision regarding the department during Tuesday's council meeting.