WFRD - green light? or not?

Last night the Woodstock Fire Rescue District was scheduled to receive a report (only) from its attorney on the consideration being given to providing fire protective services to the Village of Lakewood. I thought about attending and taking a copy of It's Like That Everywhere, George with me.

This book should be required reading for the WFRD Board of Trustees, the Chief and the attorney before going further into negotiations with Lakewood. The book details some of the problems that the City of Crystal Lake had in its contracted dealings with Lakewood.

Imagine my surprise to read this morning in the Northwest Herald that WFRD will provide services to Lakewood in 2011.

The paper explains that "WFRD board members Thursday night unanimously voted to prepare an intergovernmental agreement with Lakewood to provide protection to the village for the next five years, with the village paying the district for services on a monthly basis. The fire district board and the Village Board plan to approve the agreement at their December meetings."

Is it a done deal? If you only read the paper, you'll think so. The WFRD could not have voted last night to do the deal, because no Agenda item for this appears. The lawyers for both entities will sit down for ham & eggs and make a deal, and then the Board of Trustees of both entities will nod their heads.

Before they do that, they should examine Lakewood's track record for making deals. Didn't it settle a $150,000 debt to Crystal Lake with a check for $15,000? Isn't there some disagreement even now between Lakewood and Crystal Lake over protective services before Lakewood contracted with a private firm to provide them?

How did the reporter come up with "The fire district board ... plan(s) to approve the agreement..."?

Isn't the Village of Lakewood far outside the established boundaries of the service area for WFRD? How is WFRD expanding its territory? Can it do that without taxpayer approval?

The December meeting is a great place for a major financial decision. Will the public turn out on December 16 to oversee the Trustees' vote?

If you want a copy of this 550-page book, contact the author, George Wells, at gcwells104@att.net, and he'll be happy to send you a copy for $23.00, including shipping.