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Posts Tagged Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles

Barrington Countryside FPD updates

Nov 6

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The Daily Herald has an article updating changes to the Barrington Countryside FPD.

Less than two months before they’ll be operating independently, Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District trustees Monday [added an] automatic-aid agreement … with the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District to ones they approved two weeks ago with the fire departments of Lake Zurich and Long Grove.

Still being pursued are auto-aid agreements with the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District, East Dundee, Palatine, Carpentersville and the village of Barrington. The 48-square-mile Barrington Countryside district will stop receiving service from the Barrington Fire Department by contract on Jan. 1.

Despite a request from Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles, Barrington Countryside is no longer pursuing an auto-aid agreement with the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District to provide first response to the west side of Inverness. Barrington Countryside board President Tom Rowan said three offers for a deal were rejected by Palatine Rural, which is seeking only a significant portion of property taxes in exchange for service to that area.

Earlier Monday, Palatine Rural board President Glen Grosch said he still expected a further meeting with Barrington Countryside to discuss the possibility of a deal.

Barrington Countryside trustees Monday did authorize Fire Chief Jeff Swanson to hire three part-time assistant chiefs from private contractor Paramedic Services of Illinois, to work a combined total of no more than 48 hours a week. Swanson said these assistant chiefs, who will work full-time jobs elsewhere, will provide the next level of management in the department below himself.

Though a full-time deputy chief position is being created on paper, it will be left deliberately vacant to see if the department can get by without it, Swanson said.

thanks Dan

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Barrington Countryside FPD update

Oct 22

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The Daily Herald has an article about the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District and their ongoing plans for seperation:

Preparing to run their own independent fire department on Jan. 1, Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District trustees Monday discussed pending automatic-aid agreements with their neighbors and the potential site of a third station of their own. Among the evening’s accomplishments were the approvals of new auto-aid agreements with the Lake Zurich and Long Grove fire departments. Negotiations are under way with the fire departments of Fox River Grove, East Dundee, Palatine, Carpentersville, Hoffman Estates and Barrington for further auto-aid agreements.

A previously discussed auto-aid agreement that Barrington Countryside trustees said they’re no longer pursuing is one that would give the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District primary responsibility for the west side of Inverness. Such an agreement was requested by Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles. The two fire districts disagreed over Palatine Rural’s request for a significant portion of west Inverness’s property taxes for fire protection in exchange for service from its closer station.

Barrington Countryside trustees are also looking again for a possible location for a third station of their own. Such a station had been mulled for the area around Lake-Cook and Ridge roads in Barrington Hills. But trustees said the new and pending auto-aid agreements with surrounding departments might make a different location better to improve response times.

A previous post in this series is HERE.

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Inverness president wants new auto-aid agreement (update)

Oct 10

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The Inverness president has asked for an agreement between the Barrington Countryside FPD (BCFPD) and the Palatine Rural FPD (PRFPD) that would have the PRFPD respond to all areas of Inverness, even those within the BCFPD. The Daily Herald has an updated article on the matter;

Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles continues to urge Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District trustees to pursue an agreement allowing the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District to cover the west side of his village.

But both fire districts remain skeptical they can overcome financial differences to reach a deal.

“I don’t think this is going to be negotiated,” Palatine Rural President Glen Grosch said Tuesday. “I think this is going to be left as is or changed by a referendum.” Grosch said that he as a board member he can’t change fire district boundaries, but that citizen-driven referendums sometimes can.

Tatooles made his push Tuesday as Barrington Countryside trustees Paul Heinze and Marvin Hill held an informational meeting with community leaders to explain the impacts of the district’s Jan. 1 split from the Barrington Fire Department. Questions from Lake Barrington, South Barrington and Barrington Township officials about staffing levels and the impact of passing trains on response times weren’t as pointed as Tatooles’ on his desired agreement between the two fire protection districts.

Under the proposed agreement, the fire districts would respond to emergency calls within one another’s boundaries if they have the closer station. Tatooles said Palatine Rural’s station is only 1.5 miles from the west side of Inverness, while Barrington Countryside’s Station 2 in Barrington Hills is 5 miles away and Station 3 in Lake Barrington is 7 miles away.

The likelihood of an automatic-aid agreement appears contingent on the working out of a dispute over how much property tax money Palatine Rural would get from it. Grosch said Palatine Rural has rejected a paid-on-call arrangement and is looking for “a large share” of Barrington Countryside’s property taxes from that part of Inverness. Palatine Rural pays the Palatine and Rolling Meadows fire departments for similar coverage of distant corners of its own district, Grosch said. The agreement it seeks with Barrington Countryside would mirror those arrangements but no precise dollar amounts have been filled in, he added.

 

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Inverness president wants new auto-aid agreement

Sep 5

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The Daily Herald has an article featuring the Inverness mayor who wants the Palatine Rural FPD to cover all of Inverness.

Leaders of villages served by the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District are largely expressing satisfaction with the district’s plans to protect homes and businesses as an independent fire department after Jan. 1.

But Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles is asking for one more thing to feel comfortable. Given the distances to his village from the district’s stations in Lake Barrington and Barrington Hills, Tatooles wants to see a tweaked automatic-aid agreement that would have the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District respond to all calls in Inverness.

“That Pepper Road station (in Lake Barrington) is so far away it might as well be in Wisconsin,” Tatooles said. “I think Palatine Rural can better serve the western side of our town.”

While the Lake Barrington station is about 7 miles from the nearest part of Inverness and the Barrington Hills station just over 5 miles away, Palatine Rural’s station is only 1.5 miles from the west side of the village. Palatine Rural’s own jurisdiction covers the eastern two-thirds of Inverness. And while Palatine Rural already has an automatic-aid agreement with Barrington Countryside, Tatooles believes this agreement should be amended to reflect that the village of Barrington’s own fire station on Route 14 will no longer be affiliated with Barrington Countryside next year.

The fire district serves portions of Inverness, Barrington Hills, Lake Barrington, South Barrington and unincorporated Cook, Lake and McHenry counties.

Palatine Rural Fire Chief Hank Clemmensen said Tatooles’ request sounded reasonable and that the fire district has had a strong relationship with Inverness over the years. “When we do automatic-aid agreements, we want them to be equal in some way,” Clemmensen said. “It’s not fair to my residents to have a lopsided auto-aid agreement.” A fee can help make up the difference where there’s not much opportunity for reciprocation of service. For instance, Palatine Rural pays fees to the villages of Palatine and Rolling Meadows so they can respond automatically to a southeastern area of the district closer to their respective stations.

Though the village of Barrington has proposed an automatic-aid agreement with Barrington Countryside, the fire district’s trustees have expressed their belief that they could be giving more than they’d be getting. The fire district is significantly increasing its staffing from three firefighters at each station per shift to five or six. Trustees also recently agreed to offer jobs to the 19 Barrington firefighters to be laid off at the end of the year at their current union-level salaries.

Both Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin and South Barrington Village President Paula McCombie expressed satisfaction with the level of service and with the retention of experience in the fire district.

McLaughlin, however, said he would like to learn more about the financial impact of adding to the staff and wonders why the district would even contemplate a referendum to provide firefighter pensions without a significant increase in the district’s population.

thanks Dan

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