READ FIRE COMMISSIONERS’ RESOLUTION

FIRE COMMISSIONERS

WANT TO GO IT ALONE

Independent Town Of Oneonta Department

Would End Professional Protection From City

ONEONTA – The Town of Oneonta Board of Fire Commissioners last night unanimously voted on a declaration of independence from the city’s Oneonta Fire Department.

The vote sets a public hearing for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, at Elm Park Methodist Church on whether to create an “Oneonta Town Fire Department,” a new non-for-profit corporation to serve townsfolks and businesses now served by the OFD.

Voting aye were Michael Butler, Donald Lamanna, Johna Peachin, Fernando Volpe and Eugene Molinari.

The vote is the latest step in more than a year of rancorous negotiations between the town fire commissioners and City Hall over the cost of fire-protection services.

In December 2015, with the contract about to expire, state Supreme Court Judge Michael V. Coccoma imposed a three-year contract, raising the annual cost to the fire district from $880,000 to $1.2 million, with annual increases.