by

Stu Clampitt

Hamilton County Reporter

On Tuesday morning, the Town of Atlanta gave 60-day notice that it is terminating its contract with the Jackson Township Fire Department for both fire protection and Advanced Life Saving (ALS) services.

A letter addressed to Trustee Miller and the Jackson Township Advisory Board reads in part, “The Atlanta Town council is providing notice of termination of the Fire Protection Agreement for 2018 effective as of July 1, 2018.”

That letter, hand delivered and sent via certified mail from the Atlanta Town Council, is signed by Fred Farley, John Phifer, John Benge, Pam Van Hook and Jody Price.

According to a press release given to The Reporter Tuesday afternoon, the Atlanta Town Council recently signed a contract with Seals Ambulance Service for Advance Life Support and Basic Life Support Services.

“We are pleased to partner with Seals and excited to tell our residents that they will be receiving improved services at a considerable savings,” said Atlanta Town Council Member John Phifer.

According to the press release, “With ambulances stationed in two locations, White River Fire Department and Tipton Hospital, residents can expect to see faster response times when seconds count.”

When asked what this means for the Jackson Township Fire Department, Trustee Christina (Chris) Miller said, “It means we are no longer in a contract with Atlanta to provide fire and ambulance service.”

Jackson Township Fire will now cover a smaller area, but also have a smaller pool of financial resources from which to provide services. When asked what – if any – impact this might have on township fire and EMS service, Miller said, “Service and response will not change for the areas that we serve now.”

Atlanta Clerk-Treasurer and Jackson Township Trustee candidate Robyn Cook told The Reporter she thinks this is good news for everyone in northern Hamilton County.

When asked, as a candidate for trustee, how this could impact the northern Hamilton County community given that there will now be a more complex set of agencies handling fire and emergency services, Cook said, “I think that we need to look at all those pieces and all the dollars involved, but I am confident we can work together to enhance services for the entire community including White River.”

Cook and Phifer both specified that this was a town council decision.

A contributing factor of the timing of this was that Seals has signed a contract with White River Township, which brings Seals ambulances close to Atlanta from two directions.

“When the [fire] territory first dissolved we had already looked at all out options,” Cook said. “We wanted to work out a deal with Seals but could not afford it, which is why we went with Jackson. But when Seals put the ambulance at White River, it is my understanding that they approached us.”

When asked if she was worried about the timing of this announcement coming only a week before a major primary election, Cook said, “The timing is such that we had the opportunity. My council, being as awesome as they are, asked, ‘Robyn, how is this going to affect you?’ My answer to them was, ‘You have to do what is best for Atlanta.’”

According Phifer, the Atlanta Town Council has not been pleased with their situation, their contract and their fees for fire and Advanced Life Saving (ALS) service since they began contracting with Jackson Township following the dissolution of the northern Hamilton County fire territory a few years ago.

When speaking of the contract the town just terminated, Phifer said, “Since we wanted to keep our community safe and provide them with ALS service, our only option was to contract with Jackson Township. There were no other providers close enough in response time to provide ALS.”

He explained that the fee to contract with Jackson Township has increased over the years.

“We were looking for other options to get out from Jackson Township basically holding us hostage for services,” Phifer told The Reporter.

That situation will change on July 1.

“We got a good fire chief, Jerry Liston,” Phifer explained. “We are forming our own fire department and we were able to contract with Seals and save the residents of the Town of Atlanta $20,000 as opposed to what we were paying in the current contract.”

Seals is the ALS service provider that has recently signed a contract with White River. They also provide service to Tipton.

“We were looking at different avenues and Seals was available,” Phifer said. “We will have better ALS service now – while saving $20,000 – there is an ambulance in White River that will respond up here and there is also one in Tipton that is part of our Seals contract for ALS. And we just put our fire department back in service.”

According to Phifer, Jerry Liston became Atlanta’s fire chief about two and one-half months ago and now has the town’s fire department ready to go online by July 1.

Phifer told The Reporter there is an issue to be resolved with radios that are in service and in the possession of Atlanta, but which are in the name of and under the control of Jackson Township. Phifer expressed concern that Jackson could turn the radios off at any time.

Assuming that is resolved in a timely manner and that the town’s new fire department received their state certification in the next 60 days, Atlanta is set to provide their own services to residents.

“Now that Seals has come around and we have Jerry Liston as our fire chief, we are getting back on our own feet at a big saving for the residents of this community,” Phifer said.