Knight Township accepts city fire offer

Answer found on Knight fire protection


The Knight Township Board voted unanimously at 9 a.m. today to sign a contract for fire protection next year from the city of Evansville, sparking a raucous 90-minute debate with supporters of the township's volunteer fire department.

The one-year, $271,000 contract will go to the City Council for final approval at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Room 301 of the Civic Center.

Until the last seconds of a public meeting that went on until 10:40 a.m., volunteer fire department members and supporters pleaded with the township board to change its mind.

Each side accused the other of digging in its heels and bringing the township's 24-year relationship with its fire department to an end by being stubborn and unyielding.

A negotiating session on Tuesday ended with the volunteer fire department standing firm in its demand for a two-year contract that would pay $271,000 in the first year and $450,000 in the second.

But Township Trustee Linda K. Durham and board members Tom Shetler Sr., Norman L. Kniese Jr. and Suzanne Nicholson said the township would have to seek emergency borrowing to pay the second year of the contract with no assurance that the state would approve the borrowing and no notion of what would happen if it didn't. With the calendar year about to end, Durham said, it was imperative to get fire protection in place for 2008.

In the final half-hour of today's meeting -- more than an hour after Durham and board president Kniese signed the contract with the city -- Knight Township Fire Chief Chris Wathen produced a counteroffer.

The volunteer fire department would sign a one-year contract at $271,000, Wathen said, if the township board would agree to diligently pursue emergency borrowing options for a second year.

Citing their previous concerns about borrowing, the board declined.

Reporter Thomas B. Langhorne will have further details in Saturday's Courier & Press.


The city of Evansville appears poised to take over fire protection coverage for all of Vanderburgh County's Knight Township.

Knight Trustee Linda Durham will recommend at a meeting this morning that the township contract fire service in 2008 with the city at a cost of $271,000. The city made the offer Thursday.

That is the same amount as the last offer Durham made to the Knight Township Volunteer Fire Department for 2008. The volunteer department declined to accept the offer saying it did not keep pace with rising costs.

The offer from the city comes after months of stalled negotiations between Durham and the Knight Township Volunteer Fire Department, which is in the final weeks of a decadelong service contract signed in 1997.

Durham said Thursday the deal with the city &#8212; which Knight Township officials initiated this month as negotiations dragged on &#8212; was the only solution to a tough situation.

The volunteer department has served Knight Township since 1983, and Durham said keeping it was her first priority, but that the money simply was not there.

&quot;It was a difficult decision for me and one that I do regret (having to make),&quot; Durham said.

&quot;But in the end I had to do what is best for this township. And this is the way, the option that I have to provide fire protection and the one I need to follow.&quot;

Knight Township Fire Chief Chris Wathen declined to comment on the news, pending the official announcement today.

The Knight department still could try to negotiate a counteroffer to the city's, but Knight Township Advisory Board Chairman Norman L. Kniese Jr. said he expects the city deal will get done quickly, perhaps as soon as today. He said he supports it and expects the rest of the board will as well, especially given how little time remains in the current contract.

If it is approved by a majority vote of the advisory board and Durham, the contract would finally provide a firm answer on fire coverage next year.

The lingering impasse on contract negotiations had left some residents fearful about what would happen in the event of an emergency come Jan. 1.

But there are still a number of questions on how the service will change under the Evansville Fire Department.

At a trustee meeting Tuesday, some Knight residents voiced concerns over what city coverage would mean to response times, ambulance service and number of responding personnel, among other issues.

Stephen Dean, a 57-year-old truck driver who lives in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park &#8212; which is currently just around the corner from a Knight fire station &#8212; said the new deal will equate to a dangerous change in response times.

&quot;Lives will be lost,&quot; he said. &quot;The level of coverage of people out in the county is going to go down tremendously. It's just not possible for the city to cover those areas.&quot;

Durham referred questions on the specifics of the coverage to Evansville Fire Chief Kenneth Zuber, who is expected to be in attendance at the meeting today. He was not available for comment Thursday.

Durham said she believed the city would provide the same quality of coverage as the Knight department did.

Kniese said he expects the changeover to occur without any trouble.

&quot;Just common sense tells you you've got professional firefighters who've trained and that's their full-time job,&quot; he said.

&quot;I'm not knocking the Knight Township volunteers, because they've done a superb job. But we've got one of the finest city fire departments in the state of Indiana.&quot;

A spokesman for Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel would not confirm the contract offer and said only that a deal was expected to be presented today.

Durham said there was no discussion about a contract beyond 2008 with the city. Knight Township officials have said previously it is too difficult to forecast past that because the city hopes to annex a large portion of the township by Jan. 1, 2009, which makes future tax numbers uncertain.

Gov. Mitch Daniels' push to reform local government &#8212; which could vastly change how township governments work &#8212; also made long-term financial planning difficult during the negotiations, Knight officials said.

With those issues in mind, Kniese said the emphasis was squarely on 2008.

&quot;There's no crystal ball about anything that comes along with annexation,&quot; he said.

&quot;We don't know the answer to that. I'm not concerned about it. We wanted to get this deal done for next year.&quot;

The future for the Knight Township department remains unclear.

Wathen said at Tuesday's meeting that while the lack of a contract would prevent the department from making any fire runs, it would not immediately mean its stations were boarded up.

But he said exactly what the department will do is up in the air.

&quot;That remains to be seen,&quot; he said.

The meeting today is open to the public. It is scheduled for 9 a.m. in Durham's office, 1116 N. Weinbach Ave.


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Comments » 92

Allens_Angle writes:

Meeting at 9am is canceled due to lack of interest in the topic. haha. I'm sure the place will be packed.

Sancho writes:


How much will it cost the City of Evansville to provide this service?

Why not include in any agreement a provision that Knight-Out taxpayers will not oppose any attempt by Evansville to annex them.

I sympathize with the plight of Knight-Out taxpayers, but they are getting what they are paying for. They are getting what they ask for. I am sure they do not want to be looked upon as freeloaders. We taxpayers of Evansville should demand that the Knight-Out taxpayers include sufficient funds in their next budget to cover the full cost of providing the service, including any current year shortfall.

Any agreement for this fire protection should be for one year only.

It has been said that the tax money is not there. The only reason for the tax money not being there is poor budgeting.

Belly up to the bar boys and carry your own weight.

zaphrodesiac#179952 writes:

Once I saw that Linda Durham was involved, I didn't even bother to finish reading the article, because she has no business being in charge of decisions that affect the welfare of the public.

millerw322 writes:

Why couldn't every household, in the Knight Township give an extra $5.00 a week to the township, for the fire - medic service? I am sure that would be able to cover the extra so called needed funds for the department. I don dont think would be asking to much when it comes to this matter!!!

jones writes:

Vanderburgh County applied for a grant for a new fire station on Southside for Knight. They got the grant and now the city might take over.

If it is so easy for the city to take over, why did the county apply for the grant?

At some point, taxpayer money was wasted if this is such an easy transition.

DS0615 writes:

I wonder if Weinzapfel will consider bringing Evansville back to full staffing. I'm sure the guys won't see any of that 271,000 but he could at least fill the vacancies so they can work the areas they are supposed to.

ywdmn writes:

I hope these people realize that once you accept city services like this, you can not fight annexation. Another thought, who owns the stations the township or the volunteer department?

kakarott writes:

miller, $5 a week is over $20 a month. I could afford that, and I'm assuming you could afford that but not everyone can just throw around extra money every month.

soulcasserole writes:

Weinzappel wins by a LANDSLIDE....
KTFD you lose...
Durham next job? working for the City of evansville.
The EPD no new equipment or manpower to cover this area.. NO PROBLEM !!?
Everyone in the Knight township,take a cpr class,get a automatic defilbulator,and a fire extingisher for the home. It will be awhile before EPD gets there. They will not know the area,and the fire truck may not be the closest station.

ladder2cpt writes:

question was asked about the equipment. Knight Township fire department owns the equipment and buildings not the trustee. Warrick County is different in the way that the township actually owns the equipment and not the fire department. The city will not receive any of the equipment or buildings unless they are purchased.

JustaHoosier writes:

Price saw this comming. He refused to take on any debt for fire protection. The current trustee is only doing her duty, providing fire protection. All KTFDs stuff was paid for with our taxes, so the cant sell any of it. It is township property.

The Mayor has no control over this. It is a long term issue that finaly came to a head.

Face it, we are getting to large for part time fire fighters.

FACTS writes:

logger, EPD (e'ville police dept) does not put out fires. That would be EFD (e'ville fire dept.)EFD has seen this day coming for awhile, I'm sure they are ready. As for response time , there are about 15 stations, 20 trucks and some 275-300 full time firefighters. They will be there,probably faster than what your accustom

jakesetter writes:

KTFD is supposed to be a all voluteer fire department. In the past there were no salaries. Check it out now. What do we want, a full time fire department which has to honor its contract or a department of part timers which complain all of the time. KTFD makes sure they go out on every run even though they are not needed. This is called inflating the numbers. So when they put out the year end report the numbers look good. So lets quit whining and see what bang we will get from our tax dollar, from the City. Also remember the cut in property tax that our politicians gave the business inventory tax. This will deflate the revenue. So don't complain about the complainers.

frk_klb writes:

Linda Durham. Isn’t this the same smart one who was unemployed, filed for bankruptcy, and couldn’t find an insurance company to bond her for her elected position?

pipedream writes:

I watched LINDA on the news the other night. They should have called that segment "CLUELESS"

Sancho writes:

jakesetter wrote:


Guess again, jake!

The revenue that was lost because of the elimination of the inventory tax was made up by an increase in your real estate taxes. THERE WAS NO LOSS OF REVENUE. The only thing that changed was the source of that revenue.

Relating to Linda Durham, it is obvious that she couldn't properly budget in her personal life and this fire protection debacle proves that she is equally inept in budgeting for the public she "serves."

We owe her election to those who voted the straight Democrat ticket that elected her. We owe her election to the Democrat County Chairman and everyone else who encouraged the voters to "vote a straight ticket." Yes, everyone who didn't oppose a straight ticket vote helped engineer Durham's election.

ImnotEVILLE writes:

Facts , you don't know them.

The city is going to annex Burkhardt road east. The EPD will be responsible for this area now. King Johnny knew two years ago that dozens were retiring from the police dept. Some have been hired, but they are still short. This mayor has no idea how to run the police or fire departments. Just ask any fireman or policeman. Lawsuits have been filed and there are more to come you can bet.

EMT writes:

Cut 14 LT's out of EFD front line trucks out of service crews running in 1973 trucks TV looks good when you move things around but add more ground to cover BE SAFE Thankyou GOBC

1230bbcc writes:

I attended the meeting this morning just to observe. There were 25-30 non-media members their to represent the thousands who live in Knight Township. I would say 10-12 of those in attendence were volunteers. Those who argued seem to have some sort of mutual friendship or bond with the firemen in the room. I didn't think they argued for what was right or wrong, they argued on behalf of a friend.

I still haven't heard of any facts from Knight Township Fire on how and why they can provide better service than the city. If I were fighting for something that I felt passionate about, I would have facts showing why.

There are no facts to support their arguement. Many who argued had no clue what they were arguing about other than they wanted their own department. I can understand that, but is it the best thing for the community.

Here are some numbers to represent a few facts. These numbers were pulled from Central Dispatch if you would like to do your own survey. These numbers are response times to fire calls and motor vehicle accidents in areas that border city/county lines.

It takes EFD 5.0 minutes to arrive to the intersection of Pollack and Green River and it take KVFD 4.7 minutes. It takes EFD 5.1 minutes to respond to the intersection of Lloyd and Burkhardt and it take KVFD 4.8 minutes. It takes EFD 4.6 minutes to make a run at Green River and Spring and KVFD makes the same run in 5.8 minutes.

I know you are looking at these numbers and thinking Knight beats them by a few seconds in certain sections. The EFD numbers are a result of an actual truck arriving with 4-5 men. the KVFD number reflects the arrival of a personal vehicle, chief, or truck. On top of that, you have no clue of the manpower that will arrive. I would say the city would beat KVFD to 60% of the runs in their own territory. In the middle of the night, I guarantee you the city beats Knight to every run south of the Lloyd with plenty of manpower.

The men and women of Knight do a hell of a job with the lack of equipment they have and the budgets they have been given. They just don't have the equipment and manpower the city has. Nothing against them, but that is just how it is.

The KVFD has enough euipment to handle a small house fire to a small commercial structure fire with the equipment they have. Anything bigger would require support of mutual aid from other departments.

I would be ticked off if I was about to lose something that I have given numerous personal hours for and risked my life for on many occassions. It is nothing against the fine men and women of Knight, it is just a part of growth.

Walter1954 writes:

This is a solid bipartisan decision made by both the Knight Township Republican board members and the Democrat Township Trustee. The real issues here started long before the events of the past election and have not been reported at all by the local drive by media. If I were a member of the K.T.V.F.D., I would thank the actions of former County Commissioners Betty Lou and Richard Mourdock as well as long time Trustee Jim Price for today's actions. They are the ones who let you down and set the events of today into motion may years ago with their shortsighted T.I.F. district.

fire02emt#85845 writes:

you know everybody here is slamming EFD and KTFD...The real problem here is the Knight Twp Advisory board. They had their minds made up before they even walked into that room this morning. That's why the meeting was called to order at 9:00 and the vote was done by 9:02. There was NO discussion NO public input NOTHING!!!! And here are all these taxpayers trying to keep they service they have and Tom Shetler Sr., Norman L. Kniese Jr. sitting there chit chatting about something that was on the news last night about something that happened 30yrs ago and then in turn to have Suzanne Nicholson get up and walk out in the middle of the meeting because "she had an appointment" Why would you make an appointment knowing you already have a meeting that is the job you are elected to do?? ALL of this goes to show that their minds was already made up prior to the meeting this morning. No body is saying that EFD doesn't have the skills or the ability to do the job...everybody know that EFD does NOT make even half the calls that KTFD does....for an example if you live in knight out and you call 911 because your family member falls...all they are going to do is ask if that person is conscious and breathing...if you say yes then you will NOT get the fire dept. and 12-15 minutes later when AMR arrives your family member is dead because they bled out from a femur fracture or a pelvis fracture. SO LETS ALL THANK OUR KNIGHT TWP ADVISORY BOARD FOR NOT DOING THEIR JOBS AND NOT DOING WHAT'S BEST FOR OUR RESIDENTS OF KNIGHT OUT!!!! HELL LET'S EVEN THANK THEM FOR NOT LISTENING TO THE PUBLIC....and it's ashame that they won't even read these comments on here.

notuagain writes:

How can Linda K. Durham decide that she should control the safety of the residents of Knight Township??? She can't even control how many Big Macs she stuffs in her mouth...

Step down, fall down.. Whatever it takes Linda... Move away..

PurduePete writes:

I am wondering why KTFD is asking for a 40% budget increase from one year to the next. That does seem to be somewhat out of line. Does anyone know if any of the personnel are paid?

Sancho writes:

It appears to me that the root of the problem is funding. If Knight Township had budgeted sufficient funds to meet the needs (not wants) of the Knight Township Volunteer Fire Department, this dilemma would not have arisen.

My basic question is WHO PREPARED THE BUDGET FOR KNIGHT TOWNSHIP? Was sufficient budget capacity requested to meet the "needs" of KTVFD? If sufficient funds were requested, who cut the funds? Was the budget prepared by the Knight Township Trustee or the Knight Township Advisory Board or some combination of both? Was the KTVFD greedy in their demands?

No one seems to be willing to address the issue. Linda Durham says that tax money was not there. If my questions would be answered, we would know who is at fault.

notuagain writes:

Moose1am, how wrong you are...

I'm not bringing politics into this.. I'm talking about a person in general.. She's an idot.. always has been... always will be... She's not known for making good decisions...

As far as your river comment... Knight water rescue is VERY active on the river for our county as well as other counties including Kentucky. And not just river calls either. Know your facts before you type.

Maybe your house should get blown away by a twister and see how long until EFD gets to you.. The city couldn't have responded as well as without Knight Fire. I am not in ANY WAY associated with them, don't even know any of them. Heck, I don't even live in their fire protection area. You can NEVER have too much protection, period.

The EFD cheif says, "There will be a consistant number of firefighters responding to alarms, 19." Tell me how 19 firefighters beats out another 20-40 firefighters? It comes down to who swings a bigger bat and bragging rights.. That's all it is. Open your eyes and shut off your computer.


papergirl writes:

I saw the knight township's vehicle today on Lynch road,the one the chief drives while on duty, it had limo tinted windows and mag wheels, who paid for that??

FACTS writes:

You had better thank GOD that they (and I'm assuming you mean the Knight Twp Board and residents) DON'T read the comments on here because you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of what you're talking about. First of all, countless of public meetings have been held, all with Knight VOLUNTEER Fire Dept. trying to strong arm the trustee's office like threatening to pull fire protection if they aren't given an ungodly amoutn of money. You are right about something; however. EFD won't run on all the calls Knight does. For example, EFD feels people have a responsibility to change their own smoke detector batteries, rather than charge the taxpayers a fortune for doing it for them. I cetrainly don't mind a meaningful, knowledgable debate; however, keep your personal feelings for the board out of this. For your information, Mr. Kniese's son was on that plane 30 yrs ago. He has every right to discuss that any time he wants!!! Please DON'T EMBARRASS REAL men & woman that dedicate thier lives to helping others by signing on "fire or emt", because you are a discrace to an honorable profession. Your idiot chief said all or nothing right up to the last minite. If nothing else, at least the fine people of Knight Twp out (roughly 4,000) are getting rid of a loser like you.

FACTS writes:

Kight Twp does not touch the river , far from it. Knight Twp VOL. owns the equipment and the debt. It was reported that EFD had more personel & equipment at trailor park than any other dept !

austincr#79189 writes:

I am so disappointed the Knight Township Volunteer Fire Department has lost they contract. They have been a vital part of our community for many years. Linda K. Durham and board members Tom Shetler Sr., Norman L. Kniese Jr. and Suzanne Nicholson you are suppose to represent us. Instead you have fail us, I believe the vast majority of resident in Knight Township would have funded the fire department. I not sure what Tom Shetler Sr., Norman L. Kniese Jr. and Suzanne Nicholson were thinking when they voted. I wonder how many contracts Linda K. Durham has negotiated before. I would bet she has never negotiated a contract before this one.

Thanks writes:

Let's cut through the ****. The KTFD tried to strongarm the residents of Knight Twp. and lost. Their requests were unbelievable at best. The advisory board never blinked in this game of chicken.

To those that think the EFD protection will be less than they were receiving, GET REAL. It is professionally trained firefighters versus a bunch of guys with a hobby that liked to ride around with blue lights and stickers on the backs of their trucks. This is evidenced by some of the ignorant non-emergency runs these guys wasted taxpayer gas and equipment on. An anology comparing the EFD to KTFD is like comparing the New York Yankees to the Evansville Otters. The Otters are fun to watch every once in a while but if you want professional quality baseball leave it to the Yankees.

jay writes:

this was all just a little premeditated game played out by the mayor for annexization...just wait and the same thing will happen next year on the west side in perry township...knight township was not going to get that contract at any price...unfortunately they were backed into a corner by their run volume and costs and could no longer stay afloat on the pittance offered by the trustee of knight township...linda durham is nothing more than a one-term elected official that the mayor can blame anything negative that comes of someone said, she couldn't even count change at walmart, no way was she instrumental in all of this...

ladder2cpt writes:

moose I love following your comments.. Makes me realize how much you are a subject matter expert on fire departments. I bow down to you. I hope to one day have as much knowledge as you on fire departments in vanderburgh county and warrick county.
Ohhh and Facts knight township does touch the Ohio river. Where do you think angel mounds is?

jay writes:

as far as OSHA is concerned, (as well as NIOSH, ANSI, DOT, and NFPA for that matter) the only difference between a paid and volunteer department is the paycheck...all departments are supposed to hold a high standard as far as training and safety. some do, some don't, both paid and volunteer. KTVFD was attempting to do things right and to do things right it takes money. they are well trained and have a safe record. everyone thinks that flashy take home vehicles are an unneccessary expense but many of them carry vital life-saving medical equiptment like difibs on board. take that into account while waiting for AMR to respond to spring valley and green river roads on a saturday in december...

tbrown68#146261 writes:

The car that is being spoke about has been brought up in another article as well. But, if my memory serves me right the "pimped" out car was donated as is. No money from fire or taxpayers

jay writes:

oops, i almost forgot to respond to moose since i was reading ladder's response to moose; republican, democrap, whatever, it is nothing more than underhanded small-town, wanna-be politicians all reaching into the same cookie-jar...and the GOP in vandeburgh county is a joke...i think it now means "grab our purse" and head to the mall for new shoes!!!

EMT writes:

Moose you are an old school F.F. I will bet you at one time belong to a VFD In the past you talked about 1.5 in hose for the last 15 years 1.75 has been used in your day FD's made 50 to 100 runs a year now the FD's make 800 to 1000 or more in a year before you speek you should know what you are talking about

RiverRatWay writes:

I don't see how everyone can't see that this is Durham's,the Trustee Board's and KTVFD's fault. It is all their faults. KTVFD had to see this coming several years ago. Why was something not done sooner than this year. Did they ever go to Price and tell him they needed a raise in their budget? If they did not get it why did they not go to the media then? Why wait till the last year in your contract then want a double in budget?

However, it seems to me KTVFD should have agreed to a one year contract earlier with the $271,000 amount and then worked in 2008 to get a territory set. Not demand the township seek emergency funds. All along the township said they would not seek emergency funds and they should not have to.

I hope the city council rejects the contract then the trustee and give KTVFD a 1 year contract for $271,000 and work on getting a territory set. A few departments in Warrick County have set up a territory and it is working great.

headerm1133#98470 writes:

FYI..The grant for the new Fire station on the south end was a FEMA grant due to the fact that thier station was lost in the tornado. Yet they still responded. As far as EFD only being behind the KTVFD by a few seconds on runs I think it's pretty pathetic. EFD is manned 24/7 and KTVfD members have to respond from their own homes on thier own time. They aren't paid to drive a firetruck to the grocery store or to sit around and watch t.v. or work out. That's where the word "Volunteer" comes in. You make it sound like KTVFD members are the bad guys, yet they give up plenty of their time and money to train to save your butts when they don't really have to, but they want to. You guys should really learn the meaning of "Volunteer Department."

jay writes:

let's not make this a paid vs. volunteer debate...we are all on the same team here...the answer to the question "will fire coverage suffer?" is yes and no. it will suffer in the outlying areas and will probably not in the more urban area...only time will is a shame that they could not reach into an agreement...

austincr#79189 writes:

To Dismayed; get a live or at least take a chill pill, KTVFD saved the lives of both my mother-in-law and father-in-law more than once. Why you ask, because they live in our neighborhoods and can respond in minutes. I recall calling 911 because my father –in-law suffer a heart attack, within three minutes a KTVFD was there. Oh by the way do you live in the city or in the township, I would bet you live in the city.

EMT writes:

Jay you are right on this is not a paid Vs Volunteer this is the same old GOBC what I saw on TV they did not follow the order for a meeting (Roberts)

RiverRatWay writes:

KTVFD is a volunteer fire however they have people who stay on station 24 hours a day. So the first truck and medical can respond right away just like a full time department. The station that had a tree fall on it was not destroyed however it was in really bad shape to begin with and still is. This station was not manned before the tornado I'm not sure if it still is. Maybe EFD needs to step up to the plate and start responding to medical runs. KTVFD is a great department however I don't think fire protection will suffer.

papergirl writes:

thanks for the info tbrown68, I didn't know.
But what pimp around here could afford to "donate" his ride? lol, It was a sweet ride.

wetops4#32289 writes:

i find it repulsive that all of the KTFD supporters are bashing the EFD. do you think the any firefighters from the EFD had any choice in this matter? do you think that they will enjoy making runs in a "hostile" territory where misinformed patrons will expect them to wacth their houses burn or their loved ones die? come on people....firefighters do the job because they love what they do....paid or volunteer. as far as response goes...EFD has a less than 3 min average to anywhere in the city. and when there is an alarm or fire they arrive with 3 engines, a ladder and a rescue squad. 18-23 firefighters. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. i would also bet that with all of the speculation of annexation EFD crews that would be responding to runs in Knight township have been brushing up on the streets that they will now be responding on.

EMT writes:

3 man crews on a engion = 9
3 or 4 man crews on a ladder = 12 or 13
2 man squad crew = 14 or 15
1 cheif


wetops4#32289 writes:

you dont know as much about EFD as you think. i'm sorry...make that 18-23 firefighters, 1 chief and 1 safety officer.

EMT writes:

15 + 2 is still only 17

wetops4#32289 writes:

do some research....not math

6x49 writes:

Hello again.

For the last time- The "Pimped Out Chief's Car"
WAS DONATED- RIMS AND ALL!!! And just so you remember that get three friends together and sing it in a round to the tune of "Mary had a Little Lamb", then maybe you'll remember IT WAS DONATED!.... Maybe.

The KTFD board and administration have transparent financial records and if you really wanted to seek out every single cent that has been spent, our books have been open. KTFD has not, is not, and will never act in a malicious manner toward the public, nor in a fiscally irresponsible manner.

We have made huge sacrifices in our personal safety by bypassing purchasing new equipment, that we want, and even need. Some people have accused KTFD of being broad and general in our claims so here is just one example; Lakeside Manor fire- If you saw the video, the guy on top of the ladder, his mask straps failed and thick smoke was getting into his mask. One handed he kept pressure on the mask so he could breathe, refusing to unman his post so he could continue to control the master stream at the seat of the fire.

To the individual who claimed that KTFD had no specific facts: I wish you would have been to all the KTFD Board meetings and saw how our admin had poured over data, calculations, checking and rechecking numbers.... I wish you would have been at the 3 hour Emergency Funding discussion with the Representative from Indy and learned that information by Knight Board/Durham was incorrect. If you are really interested in finding out about Emergency Borrowing come out for a visit. We've got plenty of factual show and tell. Then you can truly decide who has accurate data....

Better yet- Why don't all of you come out and do a ride-a-long with KTFD. I personally will see to it that you'll learn a thing or two... I will also show you the meaning of "Outright Hard Work".
Outside of the whole Fire issue:

Knight In and Knight Out Residents:

The Knight Board and the Trustee pulled a very sly and unprofessional move to sign the EFD contract without taking discussion from the public. During the 1st minute Durham called the meeting to order and without announcement, quickly passed the contract to the board members who all signed.

Hiding the signing of a contract that effects 1000's of residents and businesses???

This act is grounds for removal of office.

Government officials are to act for and on behalf of the people, not for the sole benefit of themselves. The Founding Individuals of this country would be shocked at the Board's behavior and purposeful deception...which is nothing short of treason against the "We the People".

Good luck to the rsidents of Knight In and Knight Out! Prepeare yourselves for a possible significant increase in fire protection for 2009 and beyond- due to the Board's inability to plan over the long term.

Bah Humbug.

Kyle Kirkman 6X49 KTFD

austincr#79189 writes:

To wetops4, I think the only bashing should be directed to Linda K. Durham and the board. This is not about who's better KTVFD or the EFD, they are both exceptional departments. It's about who we have relied on and that would be KTVFD. I am still stunned by the actions of the board, I guess they have never had an emergency at there homes or they don't live in the township.
