Vance County Interim County Manager Scott Elliott has a unique vantage point as plans for the county’s fire services study makes their way from start to finish.
In his role as county manager, he’s responsible for providing guidance and support to county commissioners – the board voted to conduct the study – while making sure that the paid fire personnel are doing their job – he’s their boss, after all.
Elliott spoke to WIZS News Wednesday afternoon and acknowledged the fire services study has been the topic of some discussion in the community.
“It’s an issue that people are passionate about and have feelings about,” Elliott said.
Commissioners had discussion – rather heated at times – during their meeting last week, about whether the public safety committee should have oversight of the fire study.
Elliott recommended that this should be a matter for the full board, but most commissioners did not see it that way – the vote was 4-3 to have the public safety committee, the fire commission oversee the project, with Elliott’s input.
“They’re the decision makers at the end of the day,” he said, “We have to respect that.”
He said, however, that he and county staff have the responsibility of guiding the commission and leading them along the right path.
The path to a completed fire study is expected to take consultants AP Triton about four months to complete.
Elliott said he asked Vance County Fire Chief Chris Wright to direct any questions from the media to the county manager’s office instead of fielding the inquiries himself. That way, Elliott said, Wright can “focus on providing fire services he currently has on his plate.”
“Until we have results of fire study, we thought it’d be better … to not have county staff taking positions on things when we don’t know what the outcome of the study will be,” Elliott noted. Even once the recommendations are submitted to the full board, Elliott said there’s no way to know now if commissioners will implement them.
There are a lot of questions swirling around about what the fire services study will bring forth, but Elliott said he’s confident that it will be a comprehensive study of the existing system – including the Golden Belt Fire District and all the volunteer districts across the county.
“It shouldn’t be a complicated study or analysis,” he said. “They’re to give us their professional analysis of our system…and how to make it better.”