By Scott Pearson

Staff Writer

The Cornersville Board of Mayor and Aldermen came to an agreement with the Town of Cornersville Fire Department on new reimbursement rates at their monthly meeting on Thursday, Feb. 2.

The aldermen and the department worked to strike a balance that was acceptable to both parties.

“We have to find something we can all agree on,” said Alderman Mary Johnson, “or else we won’t have a fire department.”

“We’ll still have a fire department,” said Chief Josh Young. “We aren’t going anywhere. This is just an incentive to keep the guys going.”

Cornersville is the only department in the county that pays firefighters for responses, other than Lewisburg’s professional department.

The town and the department had worked for years under an unwritten agreement to pay firefighters $15 per call. The town budgeted $3,000 for pay this year and has already passed that amount. Currently the department has been paid through November’s emergency calls.

With an unpredictable number of calls per year, budgeting payroll for the department has been difficult to pin down.

The town agreed to increase the rate for structure fires from $15 to $18, while lowering the rate for brush fires or vehicle accidents to $10.

The department will no longer be paid for responses outside the town limits.

Cornersville will continue to pay $8 for each monthly meeting and has added $8 per day for training.

The town currently pays for required training and firefighters are required to train 40 hours per year to maintain certification.

The town agreed to reimburse for training after the 40 hours were completed.

One issue was pay for weekly checks of the department’s equipment.

Currently the department checks over the two trucks twice a week to ensure that they are ready for service.

At one point the town had been paying the $15 for the twice-a-week checks, but agreed to a $5 rate in the future.

Reinstating the agreement with Covenant Solutions to file insurance claims is part of an attempt to increase funding for the department without diverting money from the rest of the budget.

The town had used Covenant in the past to bill insurance companies for the cost of emergency responses to cover the costs of the department.

The board also worked on the language for a resolution in the renewed agreement with Covenant to move forward with renewed billing.

The issue of billing individuals as necessary instead of insurance companies still needs to be determined. Town Attorney Billy Ostermann said that the law had recently changed and he would need to do further research to reach a conclusion.

Aldermen voted to adopt the new rate schedule immediately instead of waiting until the next budget year.

“Very few people these days volunteer to do anything,” said Alderman Doris Arthur. “We need to show our appreciation.”