[12/12/89]
FIRE PROTECTION
AGREEMENT
THIS
AGREEMENT,
made and entered into on the dates set out at the foot hereof, by and between
the City of Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin, hereinafter called “the City,”
the Hillsboro Fire Department, Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin, hereinafter
called “the Department,” and the Townships of Hillsboro, Greenwood, Forest, and
Union, Vernon County Wisconsin, and the Township of Wonewoc, Juneau County,
Wisconsin, all of said townships being collectively referred to herein as “the
Townships,” WITNESSETH:
WHEREAS the parties hereto are
desirous of entering into a contract providing for fire protection to the areas
described in this agreement;
NOW
THEREFORE it
is hereby mutually agreed by and between the parties hereto in consideration of
the mutual promises contained herein as follows:
1. Formation
of Association. The parties do hereby form an association
for the purpose of
carrying out the objectives of this Agreement. The association shall be known
as the “Hillsboro Area Fire Association” and shall be referred to herein as
“the Association.”
3. Housing
of Equipment.
The Association’s equipment shall be housed in such building or buildings as
designated by the Association.
4. Payment
of Expenses.
The expenses of the Association shall be paid from the treasury of the
Association. The parties hereto shall contribute to the treasury in the
proportions set out hereinafter in this agreement. Expenses which shall be so
paid include purchase, operation, maintenance, and repair of trucks and
equipment, purchase, construction, and maintenance of buildings, and all
necessary insurance, as well as all other expenses approved by the Association
or necessary for carrying out the business of the Association. The Association
shall also pay the Workers Compensation insurance premiums for the fire
fighters. If the Association is unable to secure such coverage, then the City
shall secure such coverage and the Association shall reimburse the City for the
premiums.
5. Association
Procedure.
The Association shall be governed by a board of directors. Each Township, which
has, less than nineteen sections of its land protected by the Association shall
have one director. Each Township which has nineteen or more sections of its
land protected by the Association shall have two directors. The City shall have
four directors. The Department shall have one director designated by the
Department. Each director shall be entitled to one vote in the affairs of the
Association, and shall serve at the pleasure of his or her respective
government unit, with the exception of the President who may only cast a vote
in the event of a tie. Any vacancy in the office of director shall be filled by
the government unit affected by the vacancy. The
directors shall elect
a President, Vice-President, and Secretary-Treasurer, such offers to be elected
from the directors, except that a person not a director may be elected to the
position of Secretary-Treasurer, to serve with or without compensation, upon a
majority vote of the directors. Said officers shall hold office for one year
and until their successors are elected and qualified, except that the first
officers so elected shall hold office until the first annual meeting. The
Association shall hold an annual meeting on the first Monday of May of each
year, or at such other time as the Association shall determine. The Association
shall hold such additional meetings throughout the year at such times and
places as may be necessary to carry out the business of the Association. The
directors shall adopt by-laws, which shall govern the proceedings of the
association.
6.
Payment for Work Hours and Water Usage.
The Department shall file monthly with the Association
Secretary-Treasurer a bill for work hours for the firefighters, detailing the
work hours attributable to calls in each individual Township and the City
during that billing period. The City shall file monthly with the Association
Secretary-Treasurer a bill for water usage, detailing the amount attributable to
water usage by each individual Township during that billing period. These bills
shall be paid by the Association Secretary-Treasurer, who shall then bill to
and receive from the Townships and the City those bills paid on their behalf.
It is the intent of this paragraph that the ultimate cost for work hours and
water usage shall be borne by the City and each individual Township according
to the cost incurred by each of them, except that the City and the Townships
may pass these costs on to individual property owners as each may elect to do
and as provided by law. The rates and conditions for payment of work hours
shall be as agreed upon from time to time by the Association and the
Department. Said work hours shall be computed from the time when the trucks or
equipment leaves the station house in response to a call and shall continue
until said trucks or equipment has been returned to the station house,
serviced, and put in readiness for response to the next call. Work hours shall
be paid from and after the return of said trucks or equipment to the station
house only for those persons required to service said trucks or equipment. Each
fractional work hour for each individual firefighter shall be computed as a
full hour. Charges for work hours for meetings and drills shall be borne by the
Association treasury. The Association shall also pay a fee as agreed upon from
time to time by the Association and the Department for services of the fire
inspector.
7. Setting
the Budget. The Department shall present to the
Association at each Association annual meeting a proposed budget for the next
twelve months. The Association shall review the proposal and approve such
budget, as it deems appropriate. The approved budget shall be paid from the
Association treasury.
8. Funding
of Association Treasury. Contributions to the Association
treasury shall be made by the
following parties in the following proportions:
(a) City
of Hillsboro- 50.00%
(b) Town
of Hillsboro- 16.46%
(c) Town
of Greenwood- 15.46%
(d) Town
of Forest- 12.56%
(e) Town
of Union- 2.90%
(f) Town
of Wonewoc- 2.41%
The percentages for the respective
Townships are determined as the
percentage which all of the sections of land lying within each Township and
protected by the Hillsboro Area Fire Association bears to the total number of
sections protected by the Hillsboro Area Fire Association, the City not
included. All partial sections shall be counted as whole sections. The
Association Secretary-Treasurer shall bill each of the above parties for
one-fourth of its total annual contribution, quarterly. In the event that such
contributions prove to be insufficient to meet the expenses during year, the
directors shall approve such further contributions as may be necessary, and
such additional contributions shall be in the same percentages as set out
above.
9. Instruction
of Public.
The city and Townships shall instruct the populous of the areas covered by this
Agreement as to how and where fire calls shall be made. The City and the
Townships shall also establish a method of property identification designed to
assist the Department in determining the site at which response is required
when a call is received.
10. Mutual
Aid Agreements. The Association shall approve such mutual
aid agreements with
other fire departments and fire protection districts as the directors deem to
be in the best interest of the Association. In addition thereto, the Fire Chief
or other officer in charge of the Department may authorize the dispatch of
trucks or equipment to calls from departments with which there is no mutual aid
agreement if the judgment of the Fire Chief or said officer said dispatch can
be made without unduly creating an adverse effect on the protection furnished
to the members of the Association. The territorial limits specified in this
Agreement shall be absolute and no trucks or equipment shall be sent to any
call outside of said limits except pursuant to this paragraph. All costs
incurred pursuant to approved mutual aid agreement or responses to departments
with which there is no mutual aid agreement shall be paid from the Association
treasury. The Association hereby ratifies all existing and effective mutual aid
agreements of which the Department is currently a member.
11. Responsibilities
of the Department. The Department shall respond to all proper calls for its
services in the territorial limits specified in this Agreement. Response to
calls shall be according to the order received. The Department officer in charge
at the time shall withdraw trucks and/or equipment and/or firefighters from the
first call to respond to subsequent calls when that officer deems that such
withdrawal can be made without substantially increasing the likelihood of loss
at the site of the first call. The Department shall send an adequate number of
firefighters in response to a call, provided that an adequate number of
firefighters are available. The Department officer in charge may call in from
other fire departments or fire districts such additional trucks, equipment and
firefighters as said officer deems necessary under the circumstances and this
decision shall be final. The Department firefighters shall be trained in the
use and operation of the Association’s trucks and equipment. The Department
shall use all reasonable means to extinguish the fires reported to it, to
contain the same, to protect adjoining buildings, to make extrication calls
which may be part of its mission, and to maintain and properly use the
Association’s trucks and equipment. The Department shall not respond to a call
to any site in the territorial limits specified in this Agreement which cannot
be reached by a highway of good and passable conditions for the trucks and
equipment. While the Department shall make every reasonable effort to respond
to all calls, the judgment of the Department officer in charge as to when and
where roads are in good and passable condition shall be final. The internal
operation of the Department shall be governed by the Department’s own rules and
regulations, except to the extent that such rules and regulations are
inconsistent with or superseded by provisions of this Agreement, as amended
from to time.
12. Liability
and Insurance.
The Association shall keep in full force and effect insurance against loss or
damage to the Association’s trucks and equipment in such amounts as the
Association deems appropriate. The Association shall also keep in full force
and effect public liability insurance in such amounts as the Association deems
appropriate. Irrespective of whether the Association carries such public
liability insurance, the Association shall indemnify and hold harmless the
Department and all of its members from all claims made against them arising
while in pursuit of the their duties hereunder. The duty of the Association
toward the Department and its members in this regard shall be the same, as that
duty owed to public employees by municipal employers pursuant to Wisconsin
Statues.
13. Area
Covered. The
territory entitled to protection pursuant to this agreement
is as follows:
(a) The
entire City of Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin.
(b) The
entire Township of Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin,sections
(c) 1-36, except the 1 1/2 sections comprising
the City of Hillsboro.
(c) The
following sections in the Township of Greenwood, Vernon County,
Wisconsin: 1 through 28 and 33 through 36.
(d) The
following sections in the Township of Forest, Vernon County,
Wisconsin:
1,2,3, 10 through 16, and 21 through 36.
(e) The following sections in the Township of
Union,Vernon County, Wisconsin:
1,2,3,10,11, and 12.
(f) The
following sections in the Township of Wonewoc, Juneau County,
Wisconsin:
18,19,29,30, and 31.
This agreement may be extended to
cover such additional territory,
whether within or without the boundaries of the governmental units represented
herein, upon such terms and conditions, as the Association shall direct.
14. Term
of Agreement.
This agreement shall be in full force and effect from February 1, 1990, until
January 1, of each succeeding year. This Agreement shall automatically renew on
each January 1, for another year. Any part hereto may terminate its
participation in this Agreement on January 1, of any year, providing that said
terminating party gives written notice of its intent to do so to all other
parties hereto no later than 90 days prior to January 1.
15. Withdrawal
by Party or Parties. Any withdrawing party shall sell
its interest in the
Association’s trucks and equipment to the Association. The sale price shall be
cost less depreciation. Depreciation on trucks and other similarly long-lived
equipment that was purchased new shall be computed on a straight-line basis of
15 years. Depreciation on all other equipment, including that which was not new
when purchased, shall be computed on the basis of the regularly accepted life
for such equipment. The withdrawing party shall receive no reimbursement from
the Association nor have any further interest in any vehicle or equipment which
is either fully depreciated or which has no cost basis to the Association at
the time of withdrawal.
16. Priority
of Contract. This agreement shall supersede all existing
contracts for fire protection between the parties hereto.
The following amendments to the Fire
Protection Agreement were
agreed upon by the Association at the 1998 Annual Meeting, as changes to the
original Agreement dated 12/12/89.
(a) Removed
paragraph, 2. Equipment. The parties shall contribute the following
equipment to the Association at no cost to any party: (Equipment
List)
(b) Removed
from paragraph 3. Housing of Equipment “If such building or buildings
are owned by the City, the Associations shall pay the City the sum
of $300.00 per month as rental therefore.”
(c) Changed
paragraph, 5. Association Procedure. From “The City shall have
three directors”. To “The City shall have four directors’.
(d) Added
to paragraph, 5. Association Procedure. “with the exception of the
president who may only cast a vote in event of a tie”.
(e) Changed
paragraph, 13. (b) “the southeast Quarter (SE 1/4) of section
12”. To “southwest Quarter (SW 1/4) section 12”.
The following amendments to the Fire Protection Agreement
were agreed upon by the Association at the July 17, 2007 Meeting, as changes to
the original Agreement dated 12/12/89.
(a) Changed
paragraph 8. Funding of Association Treasury.Contributions to the Association
treasury shall be made by the following parties in the following proportions
from:
(a) City of Hillsboro- 50.00%
(b) Township of
Hillsboro 15.15%
(c) Township of
Greenwood 16.16%
(d) Township of
Forest
13.13%
(e) Township of
Union 3.03%
(f) Township of
Wonewoc 2.53%
(b) Changed paragraph
13. (b) The following sections in theTownship of Hillsboro, Vernon
County, Wisconsin: 4 through 10, the south one-half (S1/2) of section 11, the
southwest Quarter (SW 1/4) of section 12, and the sections 13 through 36,
except the 1 1/2 sections comprising the City of Hillsboro.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have set
their hands and seals to this Agreement pursuant to the specific authority and
direction of each Municipal Board and of the members of the Hillsboro Fire
Department on the dates set out next to said signatures.
City of Hillsboro, by:
Alan Picha, Mayor Date
Jane Alexander, Clerk
Date
Township of Hillsboro, by:
James Stekel, Chairman Date
John J. Amberg, Clerk Date
Town of Greenwood, by:
Dan Redington, Chairman Date
Kathryn Granger, Clerk Date
Township of Forest, by:
Thomas V. Spenner, Chairman Date
Deborah Ferries, Clerk Date
Township of Union, by:
Elgin Fanta, Chairman Date
Elaine Fronk, Clerk
Date
Township of Wonewoc by:
Richard Santas, Chairman Date
Kathy Retzlaff, Clerk Date
Hillsboro Fire Department, by:
Dennis P. Benish, Fire Chief
Date
Thomas Hotek, Secretary
Date
[04-01-98]