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.
