RFD1, city appear to resolve fire code enforcement issue

As a the deadline approaches for the Rural Fire District 1 Board to produce a contract that satisfies the city of Havre's demand for local fire code enforcement, it appears the issue may be resolved by the end of the day.

The RFD1 Board approved a contract to be sent to the city at a meeting Tuesday morning, and Havre Mayor Tim Solomon said this morning that he and the board werere going back and forth on wording about the enforcement of fire codes, which has been the city's request for the past year.

He said it seems like they're on the same page for now and progress is being made, which will hopefully result in a signed contract before the 12:01 a.m. deadline first thing Thursday morning.

"I think we'll get there," he said.

RFD1 Board Chair Steve Jamruska said later this morning the city and board have agreed to the discussed language changes and the latter will be announcing a special meeting to adopt these changes officially.

He said Solomon has confirmed that the city will provide fire suppression services between now and that meeting which Jamruszka will have more information on later today.

Rural Fire District 1 is essentially a ring around Havre in which the Havre Fire Department previously provided fire suppression services.

The city in December announced it would cancel the previous contract effective at the end of June to enable writing another contract which delegated responsibility for enforcing fire codes in the district.

Solomon has said there are buildings in RFD1 that are being built with fire code violations and they need someone local to handle enforcement of these codes.

The board and the city failed to reach a new agreement by the original deadline, leaving Rural Fire District 1 unprotected, at least on paper. After the deadline passed, Solomon gave an extension which would have run out July 15, then extended through the end of July and and again to the end of August.

The conflict came to a head two weeks ago when RFD1 allowed that deadline to pass, after which the district was again left unprotected.

After a tense meeting the day after the deadline passed, one last two-week extension was granted on the understanding that the RFD1 board would work toward appointing someone to enforce fire codes.

Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Amanda Frickel, who expressed significant frustration at the situation, as well as Kremlin Rural Fire Department Chief Kody Peterson offered at that time to cover fire code enforcement during the extension and have both since offered to do that through June 2022 in order to give the RFD1 board enough time to work out the specifics of an ongoing enforcement plan.

Last week, Jamruszka and Solomon had an informal working meeting where they agreed to language changes in a new contract that the board has since worked to make formal and voted two to one adopt in a meeting Tuesday.

After introducing RFD1's newest member, Neil Larson, at the meeting Tuesday, Jamruszka presented to the board a new contract for fire suppression with the city.

He said the contract was written using notes taken at last week's working meeting with Solomon and he hopes it will be approved by him and Hill County Attorney Karen Alley, who is reviewing the document to make sure there are no legal flaws.

Solomon said this morning that attorneys from the city and county are working out language issues in the contract.

The board voted two to one to adopt the contract with board member Courtney Tait voting against and Larson and Jamruszka voting for.

The board also unanimously approved a document stating that if the city did not accept the contract they request that the matter be moved into arbitration and suppression services be provided during that process.

After a 911 meeting later that day Solomon said the document is irrelevant, as arbitration is engaged in during conflicts arising from fulfillment of a contract, not adoption of a contract.

After the board voted to adopt the contract Tait announced his resignation from the board effective that afternoon.

He said he believes the appointment of a fire chief is unnecessary and ill advised, calling it a waste of money the district cannot afford.

"I don't really think I'm gonna be a help to you guys. I think I'm only going to be a hinderance," he said.

Tait also criticized the handling of the whole affair with the contract.

"This negotiation was extremely poorly handled, actually there wasn't a negotiation," he said.

Solomon said after the 911 meeting that it has never been a negotiation, that all the city is looking for is local enforcement of fire codes for the safety of the city's firefighters and the people of RFD1.