GUSTAVUS TWP. Fire squad revision begins

Surrounding townships will provide fire protection in the short term.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GUSTAVUS -- The eight members of the Gustavus Volunteer Fire Department have announced they will resign Feb. 29, a month before the department's contract with the township was to expire.
The resignations pave the way for trustees to create a new volunteer fire department that will be directly under their control, which they had expected to do at the end of March, said Trustee Steve Ragayli Jr.
Trustees have already interviewed candidates for chief, and eight to 10 people, many former firefighters, have said they will be volunteers in a township-run department.
"The only thing we have been waiting on is they aren't going to show up while the old people are around," Ragayli said.
Protection
In the meantime, surrounding townships have agreed to provide fire protection to the township, he said. Gustavus had three structure fires last year, but two were set by the department as training exercises, he said.
The Gustavus department has been organized as a a nonprofit association run by members, although its equipment is owned by the township.
Tension between the association and trustees goes back years, people on both sides say. Trustees complain that the association is made up mostly of outsiders who enforce regulations too stridently, and Ragayli had few kind words about resigning Fire Chief Kenn Kopp.
Kopp said he resigned in part because he was tired of being bad-mouthed in the community.
"I'm tired of the conflict, tired of not being appreciated," he said. "I just got tired of the baloney."
Levy
He said he would come back, however, if trustees offered the association a two-year contract, for the rest of the life of the township's 2.8-mill fire levy. The levy collects about $30,000 a year.
Trustees discussed terminating their contract with the fire department association in December, but instead renewed it for 90 days because they were concerned a change could jeopardize a federal grant for a $135,000 firetruck.
Trustees have since been reassured that the firetruck will be delivered regardless of which Gustavus department will use it, Ragayli said.
siff@vindy.com