The Demorest City council held a work session tonight continuing the discussion on the budget for 2015 and more specifically, the fire department budget. Fire Chief Ken Ranalli opened with an emotional introduction as he spoke about how thankful he is for the current fire department and his love for the City of Demorest. He then reviewed the proposal he has submitted that would give the City of Demorest full-time coverage. He gave several examples of the problems with delays in responding to fires and other calls. Currently the City operates a volunteer fire department with a full-time Chief. While Ranalli lives in Demorest, many of the volunteers live outside the city and take valuable time in getting to the station.
City resident Elizabeth Pyron commented that she “is horrified that we are staffed by part-time volunteers. I can’t think of anything more important in Demorest as most of the homes in the downtown area are old wood frame houses.” Penny Stevens recounted a story of noticing smoke rising from the basement of a house. She called the fire in and went to alert the residents to the fire. “By the time the fire department got there, the house was fully engulfed. I couldn’t believe how long it took for them to get there.” Councilman Sean Moore, who dealt with a fire at his home in Demorest, commented that “you can’t put a price on it” in reference to having the fire department service. Other discussion dealt with the ISO rating and how much the homeowners might save. Chief Ranalli noted that the City currently has a rating of 5, the same as the county. The City of Clarkesville has a 3 and Cornelia is at 4. Ranalli mentioned that the City is due for a review of the rating in 2015 and that with the addition of the staff, “we would be closer to getting a 3.”
Councilman Donnie Bennett brought up comments that citizens have made to him about the fiscal responsibility of the City. “We need to account for every dime.” Jerry Harkness noted that the salaries requested amounted to about $93,000 but that with insurance it would be closer to $100,00 to fund the three full-time positions. Mayor Rick Austin summed up his postion, “the citizens deserve a fully staffed fire department.”
The Demorest City Council will hold their regular meeting on December 2 at 7pm. The agenda will include the budget as well as a public hearing on the proposed alchol ordinance revision based upon the vote in November’s referendum.
