AMERICUS — Andersonville’s City Council voted to sign on with the Sumter County Fire Department Monday.

The Andersonville City Council held a special called meeting Monday to discuss the proposed fire services contract with Sumter County. After an hour long discussion of contract details, a motion passed by the Council to approve the intergovernmental contract for fire services. Several citizens observed and gave input from the hallway outside of the Council’s chambers. The residents of Andersonville will now be subject to the same per structure/parcel fee as the unincorporated areas of Sumter County.

The meeting was called Monday and “deemed to be an emergency” because of time restrictions for entering into an agreement with the County as well as a recent structure fire within Andersonville that resulted in the total loss of a home. County Administrator Lynn Taylor, Sumter County Fire Chief Joe Pollock and Board of Commissioners Vice Chairman Al Hurley were on hand for the discussion of contract.

During the meeting, one citizen raised a question about the response time to Andersonville by the County Fire Department. “Ask Ed Hill” was heard from a few residents observing the meeting from the hallway. Hill was the owner of the Andersonville home lost to fire on July 17. According to Andersonville Resident Donna Wooden, fire trucks did not arrive at the scene of the July 17 fire for 55 minutes after the call was made. According to the Sumter County Fire Department’s incident report, the 911 call was made at 8:42 p.m. and County fire trucks arrived at 9:02 p.m.

Since the Board of Commissioners approving its proposed fire fees July 15, it has sought to get the municipalities of Andersonville and Plains on board in order to continue the development of its fire department, including the completion of sporadically placed substations in preparation for ISO evaluation.

ISO ratings have been one of the main focus points for the County in its discussion with the municipalities over the fire fees. County Resident and Americus-Sumter County Payroll Development Authority (PDA) Chair Paul Hall shared his research concerning the impact of  ISO ratings on home owners insurance at Monday’s meeting. Hall said that with Andersonville’s current ISO rating of 7, insurance on a $160,000 home would cost $780; if the rating goes up to a 10 the cost would jump to $1800 according to Hall.

One issue plaguing Andersonville is the its lack of a volunteer fire department according to the City’s Mayor, Marvin Baugh. Monday he told the crowd in attendance that “we are up against the wall,” referring to the inevitable ISO evaluations that will drive up insurance costs. “We’ve got three years to turn this around and get a volunteer department going,” Baugh said. The three years Baugh referred to is the term of the initial contract that Monday’s resolution authorized the Mayor to sign.

As of Monday evening, the Sumter County Fire Department will formally be the primary responder to emergencies and fire services in Andersonville. Other details of the intergovernmental contract include

• Andersonville will allow for the use of SPLOST funds will be applied to an existing loan obtained by the County for a new fire truck that will be used in the City.

• The County staff will actively recruit and train volunteer firefighters in Andersonville.

• The County will be responsible for the continued maintenance and operation of the Andersonville fire station.

• The County will be responsible for natural gas costs while the City of Andersonville will be responsible for water, sewage, electricity and telephone service at the Andersonville station.