Actually I'm very hopeful. Last night at a Joshua City Council meeting we reviewed a new contract from the Johnson County Emergency Services District for the 2012-2013 budget year. When I first looked at it this week my initial reaction was disappointment, but I took some time to let it sink in and gave it a lot of thought. The two major points are these:
1. $140,219.47
2. Much larger service area
For the last two years Joshua has only serviced, with automatic aid, the city limits of Joshua and Wildwood Estates just to the north of town. For that, the amount of Joshua citizen ESD tax money was returned to us at just over $120,000. At first glance this year my reaction was "They want to double our service area for $20,000?!", but like I said I wanted to think it through without reacting hastily so I reserved judgement until our meeting last night when Joshua Fire Chief, Wayne Baker and ESD Director Mike Johnston presented material to the council for consideration. I was surprised to learn that although the coverage area is much larger the estimated increase in emergency calls is only about 150 so it should not add a dramatic burden on our fire fighters or wear and tear on our equipment.
Over the last two years Chief Baker has made great strides in rebuilding the relationship between the City of Joshua and the ESD. Our department works well with the newly formed ESD departments and Joshua returned to ESD dispatch some time ago now. I have to credit Director Mike Johnston with being a very conscientious and reasonable leader of the organization. So much so that I'm almost ready to overlook the fact that the funding gap in this contract has increased over the current one in place. The tax revenue going to the ESD from the citizens of Joshua will be even greater than the revenue we receive back from the ESD to provide the services after administrative overhead is taken out. That was a major sticking point in years past, but the overall professionalism and services offered by the ESD has increased and therefore I find it to be of acceptable value for the citizens of Joshua.
Unfortunately we're not out of the woods yet. After our city legal counsel, staff and council went through the contract we had several tweaks to the language that we've sent back to the ESD for approval. None of them affect the general terms of the agreement, they are mainly just points of clarification. I think the take-away from last night's meeting that the ESD needs to recognize is Joshua's willingness to work together. Although there was a great deal of bad blood previously we've moved on and the fact that we're not really complaining about the funding or service area should not go unnoticed. My responsibility continues to be doing what's best for the citizens of Joshua and the firefighters that protect us, but I also want to contribute to a spirit of cooperation county-wide as we work towards a better, more integrated systematic approach to public safety and information in the coming years. I hope the ESD board members will not let some legalese and "comfort words" get in the way of what may be a new beginning.
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