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Listen to both sides of the fire protection discussion for the new Towns of Geist. On one side you have Stu Easley, Fishers Town Council member from last Friday’s press conference at the Hamilton County courthouse. On the other side you have Chief Blackwell with the Castleton Volunteer Fire Department. Watch the video and come to your own conclusion.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/zrk5ZLU1b80" width="300" height="250" wmode="transparent" /]
I find this video very misleading. The Chief from CVFD is showing you pictures of Lawrence Township FD stations and describing run times and fire insurance rates based on the full-time career department. The Castleton Volunteer Fire Department is a small portion of volunteer members who supplement the full-time Lawrence Township FD on weekends and evenings. LTFD does not service Hamilton County and would not crossover in Hamilton County as a first response.
In addition, due to a lack of funding, LTFD is one of two departments in Marion County next expected to merge with IFD. At that time, IFD would take over the department at CVFD would no longer be a part of those firehouses. A merger with IFD, which would be good for that department would make this conversation moot. This is expected to possibly happen within the next 6-12 months. If the Indy Unigov project goes through, this merger will be forced as consolidation and would occur anyway. Something significant to think about for the future of Geist fire and medical protection.
Please note that I am not a member of either department or their governments. Just a well-informed resident.
Christopher, you haven’t seen the letter of intent from CVFD nor are you privy to the discussions that we’ve had with LTFD. I’m sure you’ve seen the issues that LTFD is facing financially, this deal with E/W Geist would help them dramatically. You are correct in the fact that they do not cross county lines, now. That could obviously change in the coming years.
The Town of Fishers is adding a Stormwater Utility to the mix. If Fishers gets its way not only will property taxes go up but Geist residents will be paying a stormwater utility fee every month ($4-5)