Northside Volunteer Fire Department Chief Andy Hay addressed the Board of Commissioners Tuesday evening to present them with a list of needs for the Northside, Thurston, Rock Hill and Yatesville volunteer fire departments (VFD). Hay stated that they have been meeting monthly to discuss issues and maintain good relationships between the departments, and several times the issue of the SPLOST has come up.
“We feel like it will be cheaper to purchase equipment in bulk rather than for each of us to make a separate request,” said Hay. He submitted an itemized list to the board that included things like thermal imaging cameras, turnout gear, hoses and SCBA packs among many others. The list serves as a request for what the departments would like the $500,000 in the SPLOST to be used on.
Commission Chairman Maurice Raines told Hay that going forward, when the board makes a decision on the issue, each of the VFD’s will be asked to give input as to which direction they need to go. However, he noted that the board is nowhere near being able to make a decision on what purchases should be made.
“As for requests, there will be no requests coming to this board until they are ready to do any purchasing for any fire department,” said Raines. “By that I mean all together. We are not going to do purchasing for any individual department without making sure we are all on the same page for the entire county.”
Raines ended by stating that the board will accept the list as a letter of recommendation to the board and that when the time comes to buy anything, the VFD’s will be included in the decision making process.
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