Horn Scratching Head Over Contract’s Rebuff

Hunt County Judge John Horn was taken aback, dumbfounded and shocked at the rejection of its own contract by the Hunt County Fire Association (HCFA).

Those are the descriptions County Judge Horn used late Tuesday to describe his response to The News to the association’s press release in which it stated it had rejected the fire protection agreement contract previously approved by Hunt County and the area volunteer fire departments.

Horn said the fire association itself had established a committee to redraw its agreement with the county. "The previous contract time limit had run out," he said. "Having knowledge of that, the association itself established a committee to redraw the agreement."

He said the committee presented the contract it had prepared to commissioners court on Jan. 11.

Horn said the commissioners approved the contract. He said, personally, he was excited the association had control over its own destiny. Then he learned the association in a press release had rejected the contract it had prepared itself. "It was shocking to say the least," the judge said.

received a copy of the release Tuesday afternoon. "The agreements were formulated by an appointed HCFA committee at the request and direction of the association and later submitted to the commissioner’s court for legal review and agreement preparation," the release states. "The new purpose of the new contract was to improve and enhance the fire protection services throughout the unincorporated areas of Hunt County."

Before contacting Horn, The News contacted Quinlan Fire Chief Steve Bowen who serves as president of the fire association and whose name was on the release as a contact as well as that of Vice President Jim Davenport.

Bowen acknowledged that it was the fire association that had put the committee together. But he said no volunteer fire department in the county could have afforded to comply with the unfounded mandates in the contract.

"On final review, we started realizing it was wonderful stuff and wished we could do it. We can’t do it," Bowen said.

The press release states, "The contract was rejected by the fire departments due to language, which in essence mandated service enhancements and improvements far beyond the current financial resources of the volunteer fire departments. In the HCFA’s final analysis, the new criteria approved by the commissioners court in the fire protection agreement contract were unfounded mandates, which would have been impossible to achieve based on the proposed monthly payments to the volunteer fire departments."

The release goes on to state, "Although every volunteer fire department in the county supported the proposed criteria in the contract, none based on levels of county funding proposed could adhere to the technical criteria as specified in NFPA 1720…"

"These specifications, if met, could have potentially saved homeowners and businesses a substantial amount of money in their insurance premiums through a reduction in the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification Program (PPC)," the release states.

According to the release, "The fire protection ratings schedules are especially critical in unincorporated areas of the county where water supplies are limited and the physical distance from a structure to the nearest fire station exceeds five miles. Those residents and businesses outside the five-mile radius of a fire station are potentially burdened with costly insurance premiums. It was the goal of the HCFA to reduce those costs by an enhancement of services and improvement of overall fire protection capabilities. Unfortunately, due to current funding restrictions, the technical requirements as called for in the proposed contract from the commissioner’s court are unattainable."

The release ends, "The HCFA acknowledges and appreciates funding through the Hunt County Commissioners Court and hopes future funding will address standards compliance for communities throughout Hunt County. The HCFA is currently revising the language of the proposed contract and hopes to provide the highest level of service based on the current levels of funding. During this process the volunteer fire departments will continue to operate without interruption of services to our communities."

Bowen said the fire association would send a letter to the commissioners to notify them of its decision and would try to have representatives at the next court meeting. He said everyone had fulltime jobs. He said his own job had not allowed him to attend the court meetings in some time.

Bowen said the departments would continue to operate without a contract under the terms of the previous contract.

He said departments would answer fire calls, attend wrecks and answer medical calls. The fire chief said he wanted to make it clear that the calls would be answered. He said they would return to the table and put together a contract they could afford.

Horn said he would assume the county would continue to honor conditions of the former contract as it would not be a very pragmatic decision to stop the payments.