The Anderson Fire Protection District board voted unanimously to contribute the $5,950 cash match needed for the Community Development Block Grant application the City of Anderson is writing. The grant would fund a feasibility study conducted by consultants to investigate the pros and cons of the fire district becoming a city fire department.

Although the board had voted at its Nov. 14 meeting against giving the city the $5,950, board member Butch Schaefer, who was not present at that meeting, requested the board revisit the decision at its Dec. 12 meeting.

“There is no hostile takeover of the fire district by the City of Anderson,” Schaefer said at the latest meeting. “The fire district and City Council have no knowledge how to do (this study). That’s why we want to have someone qualified do it.”

City Manager Scott Morgan, at the meeting to answer questions about the grant process, said the city and fire district would jointly develop the request for proposal (RFP). Working together both groups would craft questions that would be asked of the different consulting teams. A joint committee of the district and the city would score the teams’ responses to decide which they want to conduct the study. Morgan estimated that if the process went smoothly, the study results would be done by fall of 2007.

There has also been concern about what would happen to benefits for the paid staff at the district. The fire district has one parttime and five full-time employees.

“How are we going to protect benefit packages for fire personnel?” asked Schaefer at the meeting.

Schaefer said he wants to ensure that staff is kept informed of the RFP process to help address the benefits questions.

In other business, the board discussed the pros and cons of being an elected rather than appointed board. Although it was pointed out that this would be a moot point if the district becomes a city department, the board decided to move forward with the discussion, regardless of the study’s progress. The board decided to agendize this as an action item at its next meeting.