As we welcome a new year, we tend to look back at years past and look into our future as residents of West Liberty. This newspaper, The Index, has informed residents since 1868. Our Volunteer Fire Department and EMS has been protecting our town since 1875.
However, that does not mean that these institutions are guaranteed to always be here. This year, we have a new mayor and two new council members.
This year, our (West Liberty) Mayor and City Council will be tasked with making a permanent difference, which will either help or hurt our residents in a lasting way. The City Council and mayor presiding for the last two years have put us into a dangerous position and we are nearly out of time to correct course. We now put our faith into the hands of this new group and those remaining from last year.
If you live in town, you can hear the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances every day. We have a volunteer fire department and ambulance with very limited paid positions as we always have. We would not be able to have a department without our volunteers.
Due to the recent problems between the City and the Department, I look 10-20 years into our future. If the city pushes through the unnecessary changes it has wanted, in 10-20 years our residents will need to pay and rely upon either Iowa City’s or Muscatine’s paid fire department and their ambulance to save us during emergencies.
Instead of being saved quickly by our neighbors that are volunteers, we will need to wait for fire and ambulance staff from a half hour away when minutes count. Thousands that have had their houses and lives saved by the Department will be houses and lives lost if we do not have our Department.
Please let our Mayor (Katie McCullough) and City Council members (Diane Beranek, Kara McFerren, Dana Dominguez, Omar Martinex and Jose Zacarius) know that you do not want this to happen. Tell them that you do not want change from what we have always had.
Otherwise, we will no longer be able to have enough people or equipment to run a department. This is a scary thing to write about and to think about, but I must bring this to your attention.
In the meantime, these volunteers will continue to go out on calls to save lives and property until the State of Iowa says they do not have enough people or equipment to continue.
Please contact your West Liberty mayor and council members to tell them that it is a top priority to fully fund the department and allow the department to run itself as it always has in the past without trying to micromanage it.
The city can allow this and still be in “compliance,” which is the excuse that has always been given without details when there is only a small amount of change necessary to be in compliance. This has been a grab for control of the department and its funds which doesn’t help residents but instead will hurt us (as local residents) in the worst way.
This situation is so important that I have done all legal work and representation for free and will continue to do so until this is resolved. Money is of no importance if it is at the cost of the lives and property of friends, family, clients, and my fellow residents.
There is no reason for the city’s position at this point that can be justified. Let’s just go back to the way it has always been with the very few and small adjustments necessary instead of unnecessarily forcing change and losing our department in the process.
This year (2022) will truly make a difference in what it means to live in West Liberty since our lives will depend upon the decisions made.
William B. Tharp
West Liberty
William B. Tharp is a West Liberty attorney who operates Tharp Law Office in West Liberty and volunteered to represent the West Liberty Fire and Ambulance Department as well as the Rural Fire District in actions against the City of West Liberty regarding the signing of a 28E Agreement between the parties.