10-28-2025 Council Regular Meeting [22:36-27:36]

I haven't been good for a long time. No, seriously. You don't know what happens in the volunteer part department. And every time we've got to run, there's three of them out there that's going to get paid. But those other guys that shows up when that alarm goes off and our part front goes out, our ambulance goes out, so do the volunteer part department. Those that pull out their bed, they're still coming. And so they get there, they get nothing. And they're still doing that. So we, to be able to take care of this county. We've worked over so many times, over and over. And I think they're doing a tremendous job. They've saved lives. They've saved houses. They say, well, how can you save the house when it starts on fire? They've got to put off before, the part is gone, before it got into the house. Come off the porch, whatever. And being there 24 or 7 makes all the difference in the world. But you still have to have more people than that sometimes when that alarm goes off. So those other volunteers, whether it's a man or a woman, but sure they are, they're going to the distance. They're going out there and meet them. So they need to get something. And I know they're volunteers. They've done it. But they do get an opportunity to be part of those that get paid. You see what I'm saying? That's a rotating. It's not the same three every night. Right now, we need some more people on. And then ambulance and the bar truck. Each and every time. No, no. So is that what this is about wanting to pay the volunteers? Not necessarily. It's not just a paying then. But the other stuff that needs to be brought into the bar station, whether it be food, whether it be whatever, there's more to it than just what the territory pays. The territory. Showswick Township funds the volunteer fire department, correct? Pardon me? Showswick Township funds the volunteer side of it. Showswick Township? No, but you fund the volunteer. No. Part of that. No, we do not fund the volunteer fire department. We take care of the territory. We take care of the equipment. So that changed when the territory came about? Pardon me? So that changed when the territory came about? Yes. That's right. Before that, we had like 120 thousand years. Our contract. So what happens to that money? They don't have it anymore. They don't have the contract. So it just goes back into your fund that Showswick Township? Into territories. It goes back to the territory. I no longer have the fund for that. It was taken out into the far territory. So the far territory takes care of far territory. That's all the equipment, the ambulance, the insurances, everything that comes down the pike, and it's getting higher all the time, that's beside the point. That's about the finances that needs to go to the volunteer fire department only. They will be coming through the township and go straight into the far department. The volunteer fire department. And I think it should be if I didn't think that I wouldn't be here. So I hope you can do it. Pick it up and see what we can do. It's worth a shot. We've had a big change in this county since the far territory came in. We have people that's mad at us because it costs $4 more a week or whatever in your taxes, or maybe $15 more month on your taxes. But when the ambulance rolls up and picks them up and takes them to hospital, saves their life. It's great. Or the farm rolls out in the house. Or they end up down the crash down there. It makes a difference. I know that the taxes went up back in 23, but it wasn't all on the territory, which I've been accused of. That was when you sit down in my office to find out how come their taxes got raised. Remember? And I showed the lady. You only payed $15 a month more. But that's all you pay on the far department. But her total went up a little bit higher. I said, yes, but your house went up $75,000 worth more. So it wasn't just on the territory. And I believe that we've been punished because some of the people don't like the territory. But when all the taxes come into same year that we started the territory, and the state raised the taxes.