Bean Blossom won’t join Monroe Fire Protection District until 2027 at the earliest

Bean Blossom Township, in the northwest corner of Monroe County, has been following a process that could have made the township a member of the Monroe Fire Protection District (MFPD) starting in 2026.

But now, the earliest the township could be included in the MFPD will be in 2027.

That’s the big news out of a remonstration hearing held by Monroe County commissioners on Thursday night at the Stinesville Elementary School. About a dozen property owners spoke at the hearing.

County attorney Jeff Cockerill, who attended Thursday’s hearing, told remonstrators that the process to add Bean Blossom as a member of MFPD, which was initiated by commissioners at the end of July,  would not be completed by the end of 2024. According to Cockerill, that’s because not enough postcards indicating support from township taxpayers will be returned by then.

The details of the procedure set forth by county commissioners for Bean Blossom to join MFPD indicate a threshold of at least 500 property owners who would need to return a postcard that indicates support for joining the MFPD.

Bean Blossom Township trustee Ron Hutson, had reported at an earlier meeting that around 1,600 postcards were sent out to Bean Blossom property owners. But at Thursday’s hearing, Cockerill reported that Hutson had told him the 500 postcards of support that are required, in order for commissioners to hold a hearing on adding the township to the MFPD, would not be achieved by year’s end.

Instead, at least 50 people did sign a remonstrance petition, which triggered Thursday’s remonstrance hearing, under the procedure set forth by the commissioners this year.

Based on Cockerill’s remarks at Thursday’s remonstrance hearing, commissioners could “renew” the process for adding Bean Blossom Township to the MFPD next year. That could result in membership starting in 2027.

Bean Blossom Township’s fire department is the only one remaining in Monroe County that is staffed by volunteer firefighters. The ranks of volunteers have grown thin.

At a late-August public informational meeting, MFPD fire chief Dustin Dillard said that there are just 10 firefighters who are active volunteers with the Bean Blossom department. Around half of the active volunteer firefighters work full time for another fire department, Dillard said—which means one third of the time those volunteers are just not available. (Full-time firefighters typically work 24 hours straight and then have 48 hours off.)

If Bean Blossom were to become a MFPD member, it would mean the township’s fire station in Stinesville would be staffed with two firefighters 24/7. The cost of staffing that station would come to around $980,000 a year.

The volunteer fire department operates on an annual budget of around $85,000 a year. Most of that covers insurance policies—on the building, on the trucks, on the workers compensation.

There’s a competing proposal, from Ellettsville’s fire department (EFD), for improving Bean Blossom Township’s fire protection.

EFD already responds to many calls in Bean Blossom. But those responses come with a 6-minute delay. After the first alarm, if there’s no response by Bean Blossom’s volunteer department after 3 minutes, then the alarm is sent again. Only after another 3 minutes is the alarm sent to EFD.

So just the step of contracting with EFD to make it the primary station for Bean Blossom fire calls, even without staffing the Stinesville station, could improve response time by 6 minutes for some calls.

In 2023, according to EFD chief Kevin Patton, EFD responded to 23 calls with such a 6-minute delay, stemming from a non-response by Bean Blossom. Overall, EFD responded to 62 calls in Bean Blossom. That’s out of 176 total calls to Bean Blossom.

EFD is proposing to cover calls in Bean Blossom under a five-year contract, without staffing the Stinesville station.

For the first three years, EFD would simply cover the calls from inside Bean Blossom at no cost to the township. For the fourth and fifth years of the contract, Bean Blossom would pay Ellettsville just what the township is currently paying for fire protection, from its existing fire protection levy.

At Thursday’s remonstrance hearing, county attorney Jeff Cockerill said there could be a “renewed” process next year to add Bean Blossom Township to the MFPD.

It’s not clear what the procedural requirements of the renewed process would be. Lee Jones and Julie Thomas will continue their service as commissioners, but the outcome of this year’s elections put Jody Madeira in the seat where Penny Githens now serves.

It was not arbitrary that the commissioners chose 500 postcards as the number required for this year’s process. The state law on the establishment and expansion of a fire district says the process can be initiated by a petition signed by 20 percent of landowners, with a minimum of 500.

But the same state law has been interpreted by Indiana’s court of appeals to mean that county commissioners can also unilaterally add a township to a fire protection district, based on a procedure of their own choice.