GUSTAVUS Trustees hope grant for firetruck will stand amid restructuring

The township's all-volunteer department formed nine years ago.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GUSTAVUS -- A $135,000 tanker truck is all that stands in the way of trustees' taking over the township's volunteer fire department.
Last month, trustees decided not to commit to funding the department for another full year. Rather, they decided to pay the department -- a private organization -- to provide fire protection for only 90 days more.
By then, trustees hope it will be too late for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revoke a grant for the new tanker. Trustees will pull the plug on the Gustavus Fire Fighters Association and start a new department run by the township.
"We want a paid chief, and we want a little bit of say-so," Trustee Robert Phillips said. "There are too many people who try to voice their opinions, and there is only one [trustee] board that was elected by the people."
The all-volunteer department, formed nine years ago, now has only three members who actually live in Gustavus, Fire Chief Ken Kopp said. Most live in surrounding communities, but a few members live as far away as Howland.
Trustees expect that without their $31,000 annual contribution to the Gustavus volunteers from the township's 2.8-mill fire levy, the department will go under. Then, under the organization's bylaws, all the equipment and property will revert to the township.
Reason for move
Phillips declined to elaborate on the reasons for trustees' dissatisfaction with the fire department.
"In two public meetings, they have said the problem is me," Kopp said.
Kopp is the seventh person to serve as fire chief since the department was formed in 1995. Before then, the township contracted with other communities for fire protection.
Previous chiefs were inexperienced, which led to friction with trustees, said Kopp, who lives in Greene Township.
He said he angered trustees for citing a township resident for burning 50 to 60 tires on the resident's property last year.
The fire department raises some of its own funds through chili dinners and a haunted maze.
This year, the maze raised $800, but Kopp said the fire department hopes to top $50,000 from the fund-raiser this coming autumn, another haunted maze using a Cleveland partner and more elaborate set-up.
The new tanker truck, purchased with FEMA funds, may be delivered within six months, but Kopp said he thought the fire department would have to stay in business for 2004 to meet the agency's requirements.
Trustees emphasized they won't do anything to jeopardize the grant, Phillips said.