By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Emergency Management Director Adam Weishaar recommended Tuesday that the county hire a fire service professional to oversee the county's rural fire chiefs and take some of those issues off of his desk. The intent is to find a formula to split up the cost between the fire districts.
Weishaar and County Administrator Randy Partington have been given the task of figuring out what compensation for such a professional would look like. In addition, the county commission has asked for staff to bring them a progress report in six months on how the fire districts are working.
The fire districts are already working on a strategic plan, this may be in an effort to hold off potential consolidation into one fire district, though there are some advantages to consolidation from an administrative perspective because it allows for automatic mutual aid to happen.
Until the job description and the compensation are completed and made public, it's hard to know whether someone local who already is familiar with the fire districts may have interest in the job or if it will need to be an outside hire. If there is an outside hire, it would take more time to get them up to speed on the issues.