Posts Tagged Rockland FIre Protection District

Knollwood Fire Department news (more)

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

More than 100 people attended a Monday meeting to hear about a proposal for Libertyville to take over fire services for the Knollwood Fire Department.

“We feel there is capacity at Station 3 to provide services,” said Libertyville Fire Chief Rich Carani at the Knollwood Fire Station, 14 N. Skokie Highway, Lake Bluff. “There’s equipment there and there’s not a lot of calls, so it’s underutilized.”

In 2016, the Libertyville Fire Department received a total of 4,278 calls. Of those, Carani said, 1,716 were handled by Station 1, 1,802 by Station 2 and 766 by Station 3 at 13415 Atkinson Road, which is adjacent to the area covered by Knollwood Fire Department, which is just shy of a square mile.

Carani said the distance to calls would be up to 1.5 miles or about 3.2 minutes – assuming no delays due to traffic. Service, said Carani, would cost 30 percent less than that incurred by the Knollwood Fire Department and would be the same cost as paid by Libertyville residents. Specifically, the Rockland Fire Protection District, which is the taxing body for the Knollwood Fire Department, levies $620,000 and Libertyville would charge $380,000.

Station 3 is staffed by three firefighter-paramedics 24 hours a day, Carani said in response to questions from attendees. If firefighter-paramedics are away on another call – which he said happens 28 percent of the time – firefighter-paramedics would respond from one of the other two stations, which would increase response times.

Knollwood residents would not be responsible for existing pension obligations of Libertyville firefighters if an agreement is signed, said Brian O’Connor, attorney for the Rockland Fire Protection District.

The proposal by Libertyville is in the early stages, said O’Connor. Karl Snoblin, chairman of the board of trustees of the Rockland Fire Protection District, said it had also reaching out to Lake Forest, which is currently working on a proposal to take over fire services for Knollwood.

If another fire department provides fire services for Knollwood, Trustee Dan Rogers said it would be a long-term contract. He suggested 50 years with renewal scheduled for 40 years.

Residents questioned how Green Oaks Senior Living, scheduled to open at 14595 W. Rockland Road this fall would impact call volume at Station 3. Green Oaks will have 200 units, according to its website. Carani said that could mean an additional 200 calls per year for Station 3.

Libertyville has handled ambulance services for Knollwood the last two years – before that Lake Forest was responsible – and is currently in negotiations with Knollwood to renew that contract for five years.

Knollwood had a population of 1,613 in 2015 with 642 housing units, according to the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census. It has an all-volunteer fire department of about 50 people.

The proposal by Libertyville comes in a time of increasing costs for many North Shore fire departments. The city of Lake Forest, for example, is concerned about how to pay increasing pension costs for firefighters required by the state of Illinois and has recently begun discussion with neighboring municipalities on some form of sharing firefighting services.

In related news, a referendum will be on the April ballot asking voters in the Rockland Fire Protection District if the three trustees should be elected by voters rather than appointed by the Lake County Board.

thanks Dennis

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Knollwood Fire Department news (more)

From The Friends of the Knollwood Fire Department:

The Friends of Knollwood Fire Department are seeking the help of our community in the efforts to keep the Knollwood Fire Dept providing services to the Rockland Fire Protection District. The Knollwood Fire Department has been providing cost effective services to the district for the last 70 years.  The current Rockland Fire Protection District Board of Trustees are actively soliciting proposals that would outsource all Fire and EMS services, thus closing the doors of the Knollwood Fire Department. This decision is currently in the hands of a three person appointed board and not the residents of the community whose tax dollars are spent.  Moneys have been spent creating petitions, yard signs and retaining legal counsel. We expect to need future funds for more signs and mailers as information comes to light, as well as in anticipation of the referendum in April to have the Board of Trustees elected as opposed to appointed. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.  For more information please Like or Follow Friends of Knollwood Fire on Facebook.
Help spread the word!
thanks Dan

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Knollwood Fire Department news

Found at createsend.com:

Many residents found a letter on their mailbox a couple of days ago headlined “Save the Knollwood Fire Department.” Is the fire department really in danger? And can the petition the letter talks about really help?

The mission of Knollwood Neighbors is to keep residents informed of issues that may affect them, but not to tell people how to vote or what to support. In that spirit, we offer the following information.

The letter makes three main points, all of which are correct:

1. Currently the three Rockland Fire Protection District trustees are appointed by the Lake County Board President, not elected by the residents. We don’t have any direct say in who represents us. That can be changed by a legal process involving a petition followed by a referendum.

2. By a new state law, it is possible for the county board to dissolve the Rockland Fire Protection District, removing any local control over our fire services. We would still pay taxes for those services (at a rate to be determined by the county), but the county would outsource them to other departments.

3. If the Rockland Fire Protection District board were changed to an elected one, it would be exempt from that part of the law and the district could not be dissolved by an action of the county board.

The petition referred to in the letter would put a referendum on the ballot for April, in which voters would decide whether to change to an elected board. The petition requires signatures of 10% of the registered voters in the district.

The letter and the petition drive are the collaborative effort of a group of concerned residents.

thanks Dan

 

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Knollwood is on the site

Knollwood Fire Department patch

The Knollwood Fire Department covers the 1.5 square mile Rockland Fire Protection District in Division 4. They have one station at 14 Skokie Highway along Route 41 at Route 176. Knollwood is a volunteer department with two engines, a 75′ E-ONE quint, a rescue unit, utility, and a boat which they house that is jointly owned with Lake Bluff and Lake Forest. Knollwood does not have an ambulance and contracts with Lake Forest. Lake Bluff has the same arrangement. Both Knollwood and Lake Bluff have EMTs who respond on EMS runs to arrive prior to one of the ambulances from Lake Forest.

Knollwood Fire Department EONE Typhoon 75' Sidestacker quint

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