In a series of meetings held on Tuesday, October 9, Kane County and Kanab City settled terms to continue the fire protection agreement for the unincorporated areas of the county. Emotions were high in the public meetings, with the Commission meeting at 10 a.m. to agree to their proposed terms, and the Kanab City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. discussing if and how to accept them.
The early commission meeting heard expressions of frustration from both the Commission and the protest group representing the community in the Johnson Canyon and Vermillion cliffs area. With Commissioners Meyeres and Heaton remotely attending while away on a conference, and County Attorney Rob Van Dyke calling in as well, Commission Chair Patty Kubeja was the sole commission member on the stand to conduct the meeting.
The commissioners had previously met with city council members to plan acceptable terms for such an agreement: an extension to the existing fire protection agreement, which either party could back out of with 60 days’ notice, and a promise from Kane County to have a more long-term solution in place by July 1. If the county fails to have measurable progress at that point, protection would continue after the county pays $150,000 to the city. This is despite Kanab City’s statements that last October’s extension would be the final such agreement offered, and similar language was incorporated in the City Council meeting that this agreement would not be renewed again. Said Commissioner Heaton on the issue, “This is very much a stopgap measure, a band-aid, this is not a fix. If the residents out there felt like their plan is to make the county continue to pay the city and that’s the solution … it’s not the answer. I hope everyone understands that the goal here is to buy us a few months so we can get a real solution in place.” Heaton followed with a statement that received vocal disagreement from the community group present, “I feel like some of the residents out there, particularly the ones who stopped the resolution from going forward, have the idea that it is the commission’s responsibility to solve this problem and it’s not.”
Commissioner Meyers said of the agreement, “This is not fair to the people that have been paying fire protection all along, and frankly it’s not fair to the county, but it’s the best we can do under the circumstances … I heard from a few of the protestors that their perception was that the lack of a fire district will stop growth, and that’s not the case … this is an ineffective tool that will hurt the residents out there.” Heaton then continued, “Kanab City’s patience and kindness and generosity on this matter will come to an end - they are not going to keep kicking this can down the road … we have a few months to solve this and then the people out there are going to go uncovered. This needs to be a community effort and those guys out there need to come up with a solution to this problem.”
With a few minor changes to ensure the contract with Kane County would persist if the $150,000 payment was made to Kanab City, the commission moved for and unanimously approved the agreement proposal, after which the meeting was adjourned. Discontent with the commissions’ statements was audible, with one citizen stating, “We need our commissioners to be willing to make big decisions, do big things … I pay property taxes with the expectation of the few basic things we need to live out there: water, electricity, police and fire protection!” Another citizen turned to the commission chambers and said to the crowd present, referring to Commissioners Meyeres and Heaton, “When are we going to get rid of those two idiots?”
The issue came to a head at the later Kanab City Council Meeting, when the agreement extension was brought before the whole council. Two of the council members, Chris Heaton and Scott Colson, had attended the meeting earlier in the morning to help set the plan in place - with Mayor Colten Johnson and Mayor Pro tem Arlon Chamberlain absent, the council was just able to hold a quorum, with Colson acting as Mayor Pro tem for the meeting, leaving only Heaton, Boyd Corry and Peter Banks as the deciding voters.
After expressing gratitude for the Kanab Fire Department’s hard work of late and their solid response to the RV fire on Sunday, both from the council and the public during public comment period. That event framed the only issue on the meeting’s agenda for the night: the agreement with Kane County to continue Kanab City’s fire protection agreement with Kane County.
City Manager Kyler Ludwig gave some historical context to Kanab’s fire service, the volunteerism innate to it from the beginning which is now in decline, as well as the dramatically increasing costs to run such a department - costs that have almost doubled year to year since 2018. The council reviewed the 2023 extension to the agreement, and confirmed this would be the last such agreement offered to the County; though future agreements could be made if an SSD or similar district could be set up and reasonable taxes or fees established so, in the words of Councilman Corry, “everybody can pay their fair share.” Corry goes on, “It is no longer fair to ask the people of Kanab to pay for this … the people of Kanab paid 1.5 million dollars last year for fire protection and that needs to be made right. We want to continue to ‘prevent bad things from happening …’ but how can we continue to ask the citizens of Kanab to continue to pay 1.5 million for someone else’s fire protection when we’re struggling to come up with 1.8 thousand for new breathing apparatus.” Corry asked, and Ludwig confirmed, that any firefighter who responded to a fire in the unincorporated area without an agreement would very likely be personally sued and liable by insurance companies, and would more than likely face termination by the City. Corry recited statistics from Utah State Officials showing that Utah is losing insurance coverage faster than any state in the west.
Council Member Colson clarified “It’s not Kanab City pushing this agreement, it’s not something that benefits us. Kanab City is acting to be a solution for a problem outside of our jurisdiction, it’s important to clear that up.”
Added Council Member Heaton, “The only reason I agreed to continue on this council was because of our firefighters, period … We just did a huge tax increase, and I’ve received phone calls from citizens, mad, that said ‘why are we paying so much more taxes to go out and fight someone else’s fires.’ They told me not to vote for this tonight, because they’re fed up … and I can tell you, I met with those county commissioners, and they are trying.” Upon stating his support for the county commission, Heaton responded to some cues from the crowd, rebuking members of the public criticizing the commissioners: “You can shake your heads all you want, and I can’t stop you because this is a free country, but we have sat with them, and gone back and forth with them and they are trying … you can blame the commissioners all you want, but there are two parts to this. I think the agreement we have is good, and I’m grateful the county met this morning so we were ready to do something tonight.”
Colson offered comments with a similar tone: “I was going into this set against this plan. I was going to vote against it, and I was going to speak up and encourage the others to vote against it … and I can tell you what changed my mind was the commissioners. The reason I am here tonight is because they came in, hat in hand, humbly, and begged for protection for all of you. It is, in my mind, absolutely not fair how this agreement has gone the last three years, it has not been fair for Kanab City residents. It is only due to the great partnership with the Hospital that this can continue on. Fire is not a pay-per-use service; it is an insurance policy you pay for and are glad when you have it. The other part of this is that in this agreement, the $150,000 is not coming out of a general fund that Kanab citizens pay into. It is a tax on those that create the need for use. It is not something being paid for by Kanab Citizens.”
Colson concluded, “And again, thank you to the Kane County Commissioners. They changed my mind. I was ready to say no and speak against this agreement.”
After confirming the resolution, including the minor wording changes by the Commission earlier that day, Heaton moved to agree to the extension of the fire protection agreement, and Banks seconded. Of the three voting council members, the vote was a unanimous aye: fire protection will continue until at least July 1 - either the city or county have until May 1 to decide whether substantive progress has been made on the development of a long term means of fire protection, at which point either body can submit 60 days’ notice to terminate. If such a plan is in place, the County may pay, on July 1, $150,000 to continue the protection until October 8, 2024.
