Buck Creek Township fire chief Brandon Wilch and trustee Micki Simunek went before both commissioners and council members to start the conversation of future funding.
Lacey Watt | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — After witnessing continued growth throughout Buck Creek Township, fire chief Brandon Wilch and township trustee Micki Simunek went before the board with a presentation at the Oct. 17 joint commissioner and council meeting to start a conversation for future plans in regards to funding.
Wilch asked the board for the consideration to use funds from the TIFs on Buck Creek Township and requested a consideration of $3 million over the next 10 years, a total of $30 million. Wilch said he would like this consideration as they discuss the 2025 budget next year.
Wilch said that their staffing has only increased by one person in the past seven years and that over the past three years their budget had only increased by 13%. In those same three years, Wilch said their run volume to TIF areas has increased by 43%, and the commercial and industrial assessed value have increased by 84%.
“If you’ve driven through the township, you’ve seen that growth,” Wilch said during the presentation.
Wilch said that those funds typically go toward infrastructure, such as roads and utilities, and the fire department is a part of the infrastructure.
With the fund ask, Wilch said the township would also be applying for various appeals, and as the AV growth continues, that is something they will continue to work to get those funds.
With the ask of $3 million a year, Wilch said they would want to add seven staff per shift, for a total of 21 people, and additional administrator staff to help focus on inspections and training.
By adding additional staff, Wilch said this would improve the response times and also have equipment that is more readily equipped to respond to those runs.
Wilch also said that the funds would go toward training on different buildings, such as the growth of warehouses in the area.
“I think that we’ve had individual conversations sometimes, but getting everybody in the same room and to hear the same information is really important,” Wilch said.
The same presentation was also given at the RDC meeting the week before.
Council member Mary Noe said at the meeting she believes that as a board they enhanced the growth and then left them to take care of Buck Creek Township.
“I feel strongly that we now need to help them protect what we grew,” said Noe at the meeting.
Wilch said with the township’s current growth budget, they are looking at possibly adding two additional people at the beginning of the year. If they are successful in getting the AV appeal and extension of services appeal amounts that were projected, Wilch said they would increase the number to an additional six people.
Council member Kent Fisk said he would like to see a six-month plan for money they have already designated for next year that could be used for personnel. Fisk said that while Buck Creek Township brings on an additional two staff at their own expense, there are funds available to hire people next year out of the RDC.
“We’re already anticipating it and it’s already budgeted, why can’t we be on the ground running when January hits…,” said Fisk at the meeting. “It’s not going to be 3 million, but we can make a dent to start with.”
In response to the discussion, Wilch said the next steps will be gathering information on what their projected funding would provide and then use that as a jump point for future years. They will also include what would be provided with their ask of $3 million and what that would look like in future years.
“I’m grateful for the fact they’re willing to work with us and going forward to try and help support the township and the fire department,” Wilch said.
