Meansville council considers joining county FD

The county manager is no position to assure anyone that the ISO rating in Meansville will remain the same. Unless he has recently conducted a survey of the Meansville's Fire Department's capabilities, records, and certifications he cannot possibly know whether or not they meet the standard for a Class 6 rating right now let alone what will happen when they come in to the county. It is also unwise to make promises to the city council about keeping "its" equipment in the city limits without considering whether or not moving the station makes more sense to provide better coverage and a lower ISO rating to unincorporated areas of the county. We may not have the funds for a different location now but there is the potential for having them in the future. Of course, the kind of casual statement reported in the article doesn't carry much weight unless made in writing. In either case, I'm not sure that SPLOST monies should be paying for a fire truck that covers only the city limits of Meansville. To my knowledge, the former mutual aid agreement that made it possible for the City of Meansville to acquire the truck in the first place was allowed to expire by the City so that they wouldn't have to respond into the county with "their" new truck. In that case, it should be investigated to determine, based on SPLOST rules, whether or not Meansville residents should have been paying for the truck on their own for the last year since it no longer benefited all residents of the county. I am also puzzled by the county manager's statement asking the council to “Give us six months to try to prove we deserve to be teammates,” since they have refused to provide mutual aid while at the same time county volunteers have continued to respond to the medical needs of Meansville residents even though Meansville's own Department declined to respond. There have been claims that they couldn't respond due to EMS licensing issues but we can clear that up with a phone call the the Georgia Department of Community Health. If anyone has something to prove prior to consolidation I believe it is the City of Meansville. It makes me wonder what the real motivation is.