Lake City and Columbia County agree to pursue joint feasibility study on fire service consolidation

Lake City and Columbia County officials agreed in a Jan. 20 joint workshop to move forward with a jointly funded feasibility study to examine whether the city and county fire departments should consolidate or otherwise reorganize.

The meeting produced a straw poll indicating a majority of both governing bodies supported commissioning the study, which administration estimated would cost roughly $200,000 split between the two jurisdictions and would be returned to each body for a formal budgetary vote. "The study in question is gonna be looking at establishing the fire district and whether or not it's feasible to establish a fire district," Mr. Rosenthal said, while adding the feasibility review can be scoped to evaluate multiple consolidation options.

The discussion centered on sharply practical concerns raised by Jefferson (Jeff) Crawford, who identified himself as "the fire chief for the county." Crawford told officials he had reviewed the idea and warned of several possible negative consequences if consolidation were pursued without careful design. "Said by doing a fire district, a 1 department Countywide, city's ISO rating is gonna automatically drop to a 4," he said, arguing a higher ISO rating for the city could raise insurance costs for residents. He also highlighted differences between the city's and county's retirement systems and said cashing out or merging benefits could harm current employees and retirees.

Crawford outlined other financing constraints: he said roughly 80% of the combined fire budgets are personnel costs, that MSBU assessments cannot fund ALS (advanced life support) services, and that creating an independent district would require new HR and finance staff. "So the County residents are gonna be paying more for the same, sir, if you keep it the same... the city residents gonna pay a little less on that," Crawford said, describing trade-offs in assessment and tax burdens.

Supporters of the study argued professionals are needed to resolve recurring debates that surface every few years. "Do your own study. That's why you pay the professionals to come in here and do this feasibility study," one official said, noting the topic has resurfaced repeatedly and that a formal analysis could "put this to bed." Several officials and speakers said the study's first phase should determine whether consolidation is feasible at all; subsequent planning could address the operational and financial details Crawford described.

Other speakers urged caution about scope and cost. "I think $200,000 would be a much better down payment on a future fire truck," Councilmember Kevin Carter said, urging the bodies to weigh immediate equipment needs against consultant costs. Several elected officials pressed Mr. Rosenthal to ensure the feasibility study would not be narrowly limited to only one governance model; officials asked it to address multiple consolidation models (for example, city-led, county-led, independent district or other hybrids).

Officials repeatedly emphasized that mutual aid and automatic-aid agreements already exist between the city and county departments. Multiple speakers said crews from both organizations coordinate routinely on structure fires and major incidents, and several cautioned that consolidation could disrupt current working relationships.

The meeting ended with a majority consensus in a straw poll to proceed with the study and direction for administration to return with formal agenda language and budgeting items for both the county commission and the city council to vote on. No final vote on consolidation was taken at the workshop.

Next steps: administration will prepare a study scope and proposed budget language for formal consideration by both the County Commission and the City Council at their upcoming meetings.