Two City Council meetings were held Tuesday with discussions on combining their fire departments, but the two sessions were very different. Officials from West Orange and Pinehurst met previously to work out an interlocal agreement to combine the volunteer fire departments from the cities under one chief.
Shawn Branham (right) the fire chief of the Pinehurst Volunteer Fire Department was the prospective chief to oversee both departments. This did not sit well with Terry Veitch (left) the current Fire Chief in West Orange or the volunteers in his department who attended the meeting.
Veitch said he was notified of the possible change only a couple of hours before the City Council met in West Orange. He claimed the way the potential change was handled was a stab in the back for him and his department’s personnel. Veitch indicated the change would hurt the citizens of West Orange because he does not believe the Pinehurst volunteer firefighters are knowledgeable of streets and other circumstances in West Orange.
The biggest complaint from the half dozen fire fighters in West Orange that spoken during the meeting was the lack of communication from Mayor Roy McDonald. The mayor indicated the reason for the agreement was the lack of response from the volunteers during calls for the fire department that occurred during the day when most of them are working regular jobs.
Mayor McDonald emphasized the agreement being considered was only to share manpower and equipment between West Orange and Pinehurst. Amid protest from the firefighters in attendance the mayor stated he was not appointing anyone to be fire chief Tuesday night. He did add discussions would be done in the future to possibly name a chief to head the combined departments.
When the vote was taken the interlocal agreement was approved 5 to 1 with only Alderman Mike Shugart voting against it. Shugart spoke earlier that he wanted to table the item for further study.
The Pinehurst City Council met later on Tuesday night. Alderman T. W. Permenter asked whether there would be any financial costs or savings for the city with the interlocal agreement. City Administrator Robbie Hood answered none was expected. The Pinehurst City Council then unanimously approved the agreement.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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