Fiscal Court met with Daviess County Fire Department chiefs and assistant chiefs Tuesday for an open discussion about a recent decision to limit the use of the fire stations due to insurance liability, which had many firefighters across the county upset.
DCFD firefighters, paid and volunteer, took issue with the list of events prohibited to take place at the fire stations, including washing personal vehicles, studying and family celebrations like birthday parities and baby showers.
DCFD Chief Dwane Smeathers said the meeting with Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, County Commissioner Charlie Castlen and other county employees was amicable.
“The Judge said, ‘don’t hold anything back,’” Smeathers said of the meeting.
What was discovered was that the list limiting use of the fire stations ultimately caused confusion.
“A lot of it was a big misunderstanding. It was easily construed in two different ways,” Smeathers said of the list.
According to Jordan Johnson, purchasing agent for Daviess Fiscal Court, fire services were previously insured through a third party provider. Daviess County was selected as the first county by the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo), which provides other insurance to Fiscal Court, to begin fire service coverage.
The first step in that process was a risk assessment in which each chief of the 12 stations were asked to provide a description of all activities that take place within their respective buildings.
KACo found that events like baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, family reunions, scout meetings, church services, washing personal vehicles, studying, hosting the homeless and various community meeting purposes not to be appropriate uses of the fire stations.
“The overarching response was anything funded with public money has to serve a public purpose,” Johnson said. “The issue comes with the line drawn between public and private use of those buildings.”
The County owns all but three Daviess County Fire Department stations, but Jordan said even those buildings that they don’t own the County insures the equipment and vehicles housed in all of them.
“That liability lies with the County,” he said, opening the public to a potential lawsuit.
Smeathers said several confusions were cleared up during Tuesday’s meeting.
Firefighters are allowed to wash personal vehicles after returning from the scene. This was of particular concern to volunteer firefighters that often use their own vehicles while on duty.
It was also unclear if a firefighter would have to be present during elections where fire stations are utilized for voting. While they will have to unlock the station on election days, a firefighter does not have to be present for the voting process.
“The meeting worked,” Smeathers said. “It cleared the air.”
