ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 3/30/2009
HAWTHORNE – Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR) personnel rolled back into Hawthorne Wednesday morning. The move comes after Hawthorne officials negotiated an agreement with the Alachua County Commission to have ACFR resume fire protection in the small town of some 1,600 residents.
The deal was sealed Tuesday when Hawthorne Mayor Deloris Roberts and Interim City Manager Linda Rice-Chapman delivered the first payment and an agreement for the fire services. The agreement has been in the works for several weeks, but county commissioners had not approved it until Tuesday.
Under the agreement, the City of Hawthorne agreed to adopt a Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) which will begin Oct. 1. Until then, Hawthorne will pay Alachua County $4,600 each month to cover the cost of providing fire services. That money is coming from a fire assessment fee paid by property owners.
Beginning in October, the MSTU will replace the fire assessment fee. Alachua County expects to collect about $55,000 annually from Hawthorne property owners via the MSTU, Rice-Chapman said.
As for the Hawthorne Fire Department, the fire chief submitted his resignation, which was effective April 28. That prompted ACFR to roll into town and deliver fire service a few days before the planned May 1 takeover. The remainder of Hawthorne’s part-time firefighters continues working on projects at the department.
“My boys are still down there working on inventory,” Rice-Chapman said.
The now-unemployed firefighters are being paid through the end of the month, and commissioners agreed to give each of them $1,000 for sticking with the City through the hard time, Rice-Chapman said.
“They didn’t even know until Tuesday if they would be employed or not,” the city manager noted, referring to the County’s approval of the agreement earlier this week.
“This is a symbol of a new partnership between the City of Hawthorne and Alachua County,” she added.
To that end, Rice-Chapman said ACFR Assistant Fire Chief and Operations Branch Manager Harry A. Collins, Jr. will be attending an upcoming City Commission meeting. Collins is to speak with commissioners and residents about fire prevention and ACFR’s role in the community. He will also pass out smoke detectors to those who need them.
Despite seemingly growing tensions between Hawthorne and County officials in recent years, Rice-Chapman said the County has been helpful in resolving several issues for the town.
The Hawthorne Fire Department took over services from ACFR in 2007 after a quarrel between City and County officials. At that time, Hawthorne commissioners were reluctant to adopt the MSTU and opted instead to take over fire and police protection. Since then, Hawthorne has found itself in a financial pinch, leading to the closing of the police department in January and now the fire department. Hawthorne commissioners blamed much of the hardship on mismanagement by former City Manager Chad Shryock, who they fired earlier this year.
