Hanover appoints new fire chief as funding remains uncertain

Hanover Township trustees have appointed a new fire chief following former chief Fred Stitsinger’s retirement.

The appointment was made amid funding uncertainties for the Hanover Township Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services.

Chief Paul Smith was appointed following an executive session at the end of a regular trustees’ meeting on June 17. Former captain Jeff Goble was also promoted to deputy chief.

Smith has served at the Hanover Fire Department for more than 30 years in various capacities, including as a lieutenant and then a captain for nearly 20 years.

“I just look forward to trying to keep the department going,” Smith told the Oxford Free Press.

Smith said what’s important for his department right now is ensuring the proposed levy – which would make up the overwhelming majority of the fire and EMS budget – passes during the Nov. 3 general election.

“I try to convince the residents that we need this levy in order for us to keep operating and helping out residents in Hanover Township,” Smith said. “Without the levy, there’s a possibility of having to make cuts. Then we won’t have the personnel in order to be able to go out and help our residents when they need (it).”

The voters of Hanover Township have rejected the levy to support their fire district during the past two elections. 

The new levy, which Hanover trustees agreed to proceed with placing on the Nov. 3 general election ballot during a meeting on July 15, would generate $1,147,528 based on taxable property valuations for a period of five years.

The proposed levy would collect at a rate of 3.5 mills, or not exceeding about $123 for each $100,000 of the appraised property value for a homeowner per year.

Since this year was the last collection for the previous fire district levy, the department will have a hole in its budget moving forward of about 98% without a new levy.

Hanover Township Administrator Bruce Henry said around 43% of the funding from the levy goes toward paying personnel for EMS and fire runs. The rest goes toward paying for the facility, equipment and fuel among other expenses.

During a board meeting in April, Hanover trustees voted to divert $300,000 from the general fund to the fire department to help cover a gap. During a meeting on June 17, the trustees voted to end the contracts for two Butler County Sheriff’s Office Deputies to save the township around $261,000 annually, according to Henry.

Although Henry said cutting the contracts wasn’t necessarily meant to cover possible future funding gaps at the fire department and could be used instead to cover any budget holes in township operations, Trustee Douglas Johnson said of his vote to end the contracts, “We had to supplement the fire department to keep people on station, and with the budget we had, we couldn’t do that.”

After the fire levy failed for the second time during the May 5 primary election, Stitsinger told Hanover trustees during a May 20 meeting people at his department were asking if they needed to find new jobs. 

Now, Smith said changes have been made at the department as far as organizing staff since Stitsinger’s departure. He said, “Everybody’s pretty positive right now” and, “Morale is really good.”

He said of the possibility of the fire levy failing again in November, “I think we would have to look at making cuts.”

“We would either have to brown out the station, which would mean we wouldn’t have people here 24/7 like we do now,” Smith said. “We may run three per shift. We may have to cut it down to two. And there’s all kinds of options in order to save money to make it to where we can still respond and help our residents when they’re in (a) time of need.”

Without a fire department, Hanover residents would have to rely on mutual aid coming from nearby departments, like the Reily Volunteer Fire Department or Oxford Fire Department, meaning a longer response time, Smith said.

In the past two years, Smith said the Hanover Fire Department and EMS have made 903 runs, including mutual aid runs, fighting fires like that which overtook the front building of Rice Auto Body in March.

Smith said there are around 45 to 50 employees at the department, all firefighters and EMS workers, who are paid an average of $20 an hour. He said it's also common for his employees to work multiple jobs or at several different fire departments to make ends meet.

Back when Smith started at the department, he said there were only about three to four men working there. The department took over EMS operations in 1997 that were formerly provided by a private ambulance company, and the fire squad has since tripled.

“We got just as much equipment as some of the city fire departments do,” Smith said. “We maintain it, keep it rolling. If something’s wrong, we get it fixed, and that costs money. Without the money, we won't be able to update our equipment, get the latest and greatest stuff to help our residents.”

Smith said of his years at the department, his team has been “like a big family.”

“We are here to help our residents when they need us, and we just really need this levy to pass so we can continue to do that and grow,” Smith said. 

Ultimately, Smith said, “If it comes down to where I don’t get paid anymore, I’ll still be here because I’ve been doing it for 31 years, so I’ll still be here doing it until I can’t anymore.”