Currently, the
Maumelle Fire Department is among the youngest fire departments in the state
-- created by an act of the Maumelle City Council on December 20, 2004. However,
the department traces its history to before the city's incorporation nearly
20 years ago.
A New Town Is Born
In the late 1960s, businessman Jess P. Odom purchased 5,000 acres where the
heart of Maumelle now sits. Odom's vision was to build an ideal community
that included people of varying backgrounds, interests and income levels.
To do this, he formed Maumelle Land Development, Inc. and gained assistance
from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). His community
was one of thirteen "New Towns" that were created across the nation in the
early 1970s. Maumelle saw its first residents move into the Maumelle Club
Manor subdivision in 1974.
Department of Public Safety
In Maumelle's early days, the community was protected by a primitive version
of the Department of Public Safety. According to former City Clerk Beverly
Masters, the early DPS was mostly a security service. Masters says the employees
did not carry guns and did not have arrest authority. Firefighting services
at the time were provided by a volunteer fire department. The HUD New Town
financing that Odom used to develop the city was also used to construct the
original Public Safety Building and purchase equipment for the department
-- including a single fire engine. Residents paid a community service fee
to fund police and fire protection.
In the early 1980s, a home on Piney Cove exploded causing a fire that spread
to a neighboring home. Volunteer firefighters from Maumelle and Oak Grove
extinguished the fires. Following that incident, however, residents saw an
increase in their community service fee to $12 per month. The fee increase
allowed for the hiring of additional officers and for the cross-training
of those officers as firefighters. These changes at the Department of Public
Safety provided the community with full time fire protection 24 hours a day.
Maumelle Land Development and the Maumelle Residents Association also purchased
a second fire engine for the community.
In 1983, Norman Moseley was hired by Maumelle Land Development as the Department
of Public Safety's new chief. Moseley led an effort to improve the quality
of service provided by the DPS. He requested that the Pulaski County Sheriff
give police powers to Maumelle's officers. Moseley then trained those officers
to meet state standards in law enforcement and firefighting at the time.
As residents of Maumelle prepared to incorporate the city, they discovered
that state law did not allow for a Department of Public Safety in a city
of the first class. Legislation was introduced in the general assembly that
created a provision for cities incorporated after December 31, 1984 to establish
a Department of Public Safety. Under the new law, the DPS was to "perform
the functions of, and have all the rights, responsibilities and duties of,
a police department, a fire department, and any other department deemed by
the governing body of the city to be necessary for the public safety of its
citizens." Maumelle -- and it's Department of Public Safety -- incorporated
on June 21, 1985.
Separation Of The DPS
For nearly as long as there was a DPS in the incorporated City of Maumelle,
there was some sort of talk about separating it into police and fire departments.
A lack of money and manpower were usually given as reasons to prevent
conversation on the matter from becoming action.
The actual process of separation began when Public Safety Director Larry
Bell resigned from the post in 2000. City Manager David Huseman and the city's
Board of Directors launched a national search to replace the director with
separate fire and police chiefs. The search yielded Capt. Sam Williams of
the Little Rock Police Department as police chief and Chief George Glenn
of the Greater Brighton (CO) Fire Protection District as fire chief.
The initial separation plan was ambitious -- setting 2002 as the goal to
establish police and fire departments. However, the split required significantly
more personnel in the fire division than were in place. In 2000, the DPS
only had four personnel in the fire division. One driver/engineer was assigned
to each of the division's three shifts with a fourth driver/engineer floating
between shifts to cover for vacation leave and sick time. The department
also had an inadequate number of volunteer firefighters in the city during
daytime hours.
In 2001, changes were taking place at City Hall -- not in the fire division.
The citizens of Maumelle voted to abandon the manager/board form of government
in favor of a elected mayor and city council. On July 30, 2001, the new
government officially took over with an eight-member council and Mayor Burch
Johnson at the helm.
The first new members to the fire division were added one-by-one in June
2002 and March 2003 with the hiring of Engineers Michael Cossey and Perry
Hopman, respectively. The additional two personnel allowed the fire division
to plan for two-person shifts later in 2003.
In May 2003, Chief Glenn prepared multiple proposals at the request of Mayor
Johnson to proceed with the separation of the DPS. These included three options
that would ultimately lead to the goal of forming an independent fire department,
construction of two new stations to replace existing facilities and employing
a total of 24 career firefighters to staff two engine companies around the
clock.
The Sales Tax
Mayor Johnson first discussed the possibility of a 1% sales tax with the
city council in October 2003. He also met with members of the community to
generate interest in the topic as Maumelle had never had a city sales tax.
Members of the fire division began to collect data that would support spending
a portion of any possible tax on creating a fire department.
In November 2003, Engineers Drew Nichols and Michael Cossey presented the
firefighters's data to the city council. Their presentation included a survey
of nine other cities of similar size and/or population as Maumelle. It revealed,
among other things, that Maumelle had the fewest number of career firefighters;
had the fewest career firefighters per 1,000 population; and was the only
city of its size with a single fire station.
On November 17, the city council unanimously passed Ordinance #494 and Resolution
#2003-38. The ordinance called for a special election of the people for a
1% sales tax. The resolution provided a list of priorities for allocating
revenue if the tax was created. At the top of the list was the separation
of the Department of Public Safety.
While planning for a tax that would allow the fire division to make a large
increase in staffing, another lone member -- Engineer Paul Grove -- was hired
in January 2004.
Election day came February 10, 2004. As voters went to the polls at the Odom
Community Center, volunteer and off-duty firefighters held signs in support
of the tax outside. About 3:30 p.m., those firefighters noticed smoke near
the Edgehill Cove Condominiums -- just down the street from the polling place.
As the smoke grew in volume, it became apparent that the condos were on fire.
Firefighters dropped their signs and ran to the scene.
The fire required the efforts of on-duty public safety officers, the lone
firefighter on-duty, a handful of off-duty firefighters, volunteers from
Maumelle and Oak Grove as well as mutual aid from the North Little Rock Fire
Department. Seeing an abundance of firefighters at work across the street
and not knowing they were from three different departments, some voters
questioned the need for the tax and for the additional personnel. In fact,
more people voted against the tax on Election Day than voted for it. Fortunately
for the department and for the city, votes cast during early voting allowed
the tax to pass 1,082-889.
After sales tax monies started to be collected, the city council amended
the fire division's budget in April 2004 to allow for the hiring of five
new firefighters, for the promotion of three members to captain, to transfer
the position of fire marshal and to hire a full-time administrative assistant.
On July 1, the Office of the Fire Marshal was transferred to the fire division.
The fire marshal had been a position reserved exclusively for police lieutenants.
Additionally, it was not a permanent assignment. Three lieutenants served
in the post between late 2002 and early 2004. The fire division elected to
keep the position vacant until promotional testing could be established in
2005. Also, Tara Glover was given the position of full-time administrative
assistant for the fire division. Previously, she had worked part-time for
the fire division and part-time for the DPS's administration division.
Firefighters Scott Eaton, Shane Holmes, David Park, Adam Swalls and Josh
Woods were hired on July 12, 2004. The five were assigned to rookie school
at the Arkansas Fire Academy in East Camden. After reporting to East Camden,
Firefighter Park resigned his position. Austin Woody was selected to replace
him. The five hires brought the division's total to 12, which allowed for
the eventual minimum staffing of three firefighters on an engine company.
Being able to staff an engine company was the benchmark set to finally split
the DPS.
Engineers Eugene Stacy, Drew Nichols and Tim Bullard became the division's
first-ever company officers when they were promoted to captain on July 24.
Previously, members of the fire division had no opportunity for advancement.
Only police and public safety officers were able to test for promotion within
the Department of Public Safety.
All five probationary firefighters graduated from the fire academy on October
15 and were each assigned to one of the division's three shifts on October
30. A Shift was Captain Stacy, Engineer Hopman, Firefighter Woods and Firefighter
Woody. B Shift was Captain Nichols, Engineer Charles Watson, Engineer Grove
and Firefighter Swalls. C Shift was Captain Bullard, Engineer Cossey, Firefighter
Eaton and Firefighter Holmes.
Let Freedom Ring
In the final meeting of 2004, the Maumelle City Council completed a mission
began four years earlier and by a different form of government when they
passed Ordinance 540 by a 6-2 vote.
The
ordinance officially abolished the Department of Public Safety and the position
of Public Safety Director. In its place, it created separate fire and police
departments, each with their own chief.
Voting "aye"
for the ordinance were Aldermen Doug Ladner, Mark Leverett, Blake Butler,
Beth Rutledge, Brian West and Chris Plante. Aldermen Diane Miller and Kristan
McCullough were absent from the meeting, thus their votes were recorded as
no.
Little more than an hour before the ordinance was passed, Engine Company
1 (C shift) made the final fire-rescue call of the DPS era when Captain Bullard,
Engineer Cossey and Firefighter Holmes responded to treat an assault victim
on Crystal Hill Road. The first call of the new fire department came at 12:42
p.m. Dec. 21. Engine Company 1 (A shift) -- staffed by Engineer Hopman and
Firefighters Woods & Woody -- and four volunteers responded to a small
brush fire near the Odom Community Center.
Sources:
Former Maumelle City Clerk Beverly Masters
DINA:
Maumelle, Arkansas: History of
Maumelle
DINA: Maumelle, Arkansas: Council Meeting Minutes
Arkansas State Code, Title 14, Subtitle 3, Chapter 42, Subchapter
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