The Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department regained full access to the building after a meeting with city leaders on Monday afternoon.
The fire department regained full access to the building at 2:15 p.m. when it met with the city and agreed to continue negotiating a contract between both parties.
“I’m a little bit discouraged about what happened first. However, as I told fellow firefighters, board members and officers in charge, we will never coverage," Hamilton Volunteer Fire Chief Paul Gomez said.
On Monday morning, Gomez said he received a phone call from a fire chief from a nearby department stating that he had been asked to respond to any calls for the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department.
When firefighters went to the fire station, police officers were blocking the entrance.
The volunteer fire department asked concerned citizens to gather outside of the station at noon. At that time, they learned they would be able to access the department only for emergencies.
“We [were] not given any legal notice that we are being locked out or anything," Deputy Fire Chief Terry Griffin told the crowd.
Those who attended questioned the actions of the city.
“How are these guys not going to service the trucks? You can just jump on a truck and don’t do service on them," Hamilton resident Chelyn Shaw said.
City council member and volunteer firefighter Cody Morris hoped that he could bring the fire department and city to come to an agreement on a contract that complies with both parties.
“I've been steadily talking to both sides, trying to come to some kind of an agreement. Maybe get everybody to come to the table and talk, it hasn't happened yet, but I'm optimistic and I'm hopeful, maybe we can get everybody together and we could get something agreed on,” Morris said.
City Administrator Paul Kampfer said the city had notified the fire department about doing inventory at the station at 8 a.m. Monday. However, he said it was not possible for employees to start that process.
“At the facility, if anyone tried to take something. We would say what do you own and do you have proof of that. Making sure that we have a good basis for understanding what is going with the volunteer and assets of the fire department." Kampfer said.
Gomez and Griffin both said they were never notified about the city doing inventory. However, they did receive a contract drafted by the city several months, that would add more tasks to the fire department while increasing the funding from the city.
“It’s one-sided. It’s a corporate contract and it doesn’t fit here," Griffin said.
The fire department has operated for 100 years in Hamilton without a contract.
"The quality of suppression has been good and the response is good and there are no complaints for that. We’ve never had an agreement and is a change," Kampfer said.
Under the agreement, the fire department would have to transfer its assets to the city, if the service provider dissolves or the agreement is terminated.
"These are our trucks. They don’t belong to the city. They belong to us. We bought them off of donated money," Griffin said.
According to Kampfer, that clause is intended to protect the equipment bought with taxpayer money. However, assets bought through donations would remain under the ownership of the fire station.
"In some of the cases by donations, we have to be able to ascribe that by receipts so if they produce receipts. If they produce receipts, that is purchased through their funds and then it’s appropriate to call it theirs," Kampfer said.
The city and the fire department agreed to continue its negotiations on the agreement in the next two weeks. Initially, the city put a deadline for the department to sign the contract by Sept. 30.
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