Ruritans weigh in on Isle struggle

In a rare political move, Carrollton Ruritans have thrown their support behind the community’s volunteer fire department, which is resisting a push by Isle of Wight County supervisors to relinquish authority over its Bridge Road building.

A unanimously supported resolution during the Carrollton Ruritan Club’s Aug. 25 meeting calls on supervisors to “fully fund and support the Carrollton Volunteer Fire Department now and into the future.”

The Ruritans felt compelled to formalize their support for the volunteer first-responders after supervisors decided to withhold funding to volunteer agencies that have not signed the county’s Emergency Services Facility Use Agreement.

“I have been in this Ruritan club for 15 years, and I have never seen the membership do a resolution that’s politically oriented at all,” said Stan Clark, president of Carrollton Ruritan Club.

“This is one they felt they had to do, because it’s so against everything the community stands for.”

According to a letter to county attorney Mark C. Popovich from their legal representative, Smithfield attorney H. Woodrow Crook, Carrollton and Windsor volunteer fire departments have mainly taken issue with a clause placing control of activities inside facilities with the chief of emergency services. Both departments have refused to sign.

“We are not county employees; we are volunteers from the community,” explained Fred Mitchell, Carrollton VFD president.

“We built this building; we originally owned this building. We signed the building and the property over (to the county) when they did an upgrade, but we have raised funds and partially supported ourselves since 1966.”

According to county spokesman Don Robertson, “neither the agreement nor the lack thereof is intended to have any negative impact on the volunteers’ fundraising events.”

On top of the issue of authority over activities within facilities, Windsor VFD is also requesting an exception from the agreement, because it has an existing memorandum of understanding with the county Board of Supervisors and the town of Windsor.

Crook enclosed with his letter to Popovich a revised agreement that, among other changes, would see the station chief determine acceptable uses and activities within facilities, with concurrence of the chief of emergency services.

Robertson stated that contributions for the quarter ending Sept. 30, and beyond then, will be withheld if the agreement is not signed.

“The county remains committed to ensuring that emergency services are provided to the citizens, whether there is a signed agreement or not,” he wrote in an email. “No previous funds have been withheld.”

Mitchell is adamant the agreement won’t be signed until authority for the building is given to the station chief.

“They can withhold money as long as they want to, and we’ll get into the legality of it later,” he said.

As it currently stands, the agreement gives “two people in the county total control — the county administrator and the fire chief,” Mitchell added. “It’s a political agenda — it’s all about control.”

Clark branded the decision by supervisors “absolutely an attack on our volunteer fire and rescue department.”

“They get county money, but they always had the independence to run their own facility — and have done a heck of a job at it,” he said.