Fire departments under strain, OEM director tells JPs

Carroll County officials used part of last week’s quorum court meeting to highlight county emergency services, hear a report from a statewide county-government conference and approve additional courthouse annex security funding.

Carroll County Office of Emergency Management Director Mike McKelvey told justices of the peace that the county’s emergency management office handles a broad range of responsibilities beyond disaster response, including emergency planning for businesses, active-shooter plans, chemical reporting oversight and administration of state fire-department funding paperwork.

McKelvey also used the presentation during the quorum court’s regular meeting Tuesday, April 21, to emphasize the strain facing Carroll County’s volunteer fire departments, noting that all county departments rely heavily on volunteers.

“The fire service and the critical fact of the stage that we’re in right now … I don’t think a lot of people realize,” McKelvey said.

He noted that county’s volunteer firefighters must complete significant annual training while balancing jobs and family obligations.

McKelvey said modern firefighting equipment is increasingly expensive, with radios costing roughly $2,000, turnout gear and breathing apparatus adding thousands more per firefighter and new fire engines approaching $500,000. He said some rural departments operate on less than $50,000 annually.

District 3 Justice of the Peace Harrie Farrow also briefed the court on her recent attendance at the Arkansas Association of Quorum Courts meeting.

Among the topics discussed, Farrow said conference speakers addressed emergency preparedness, jail overcrowding, Medicaid coverage for incarcerated individuals and a proposed constitutional amendment concerning economic development districts.

Farrow said the proposed ballot measure would allow Arkansas counties to offer certain tax abatements for economic development projects such as housing, grocery stores and retail developments, while stressing it is separate from the more controversial industrial development authorities that have generated local concern.

Farrow also reported discussions at the conference regarding renewable-energy development, including battery-storage facilities tied to solar generation, saying county officials were advised that such projects may become more common in Arkansas.

Later in the meeting, the quorum court approved supplemental funding for security services at the courthouse annex.

District 6 Justice of the Peace Craig Hicks said the county had previously eliminated one courthouse security position after adding a sheriff’s deputy at the main courthouse, but county officials requested renewed security presence at the annex across the street.

Hicks said the cost will not come from the county’s general fund, with the assessor, collector and treasurer instead paying through their automation funds. The expense will be split 50 percent to the tax collector, 38 percent to the assessor and 12 percent to the treasurer.

JPs also approved the reappointment of Sean Michael to the Lake Forest Subordinate Services District Board of Commissioners and the appointment of Bill Robertson to the board of commissioners of the Eastern Carroll County Ambulance District.

The next regular meeting of the Carroll County Quorum Court is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the courtroom of the Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville.