John Wells was elected to fill the recently opened seat on the Pine Grove Town Council in a five to one vote at the meeting held Monday night. Wells was sworn into office immediately and joined the council for the Aug. 8 meeting which turned into an evening of heated argument between the council and the local volunteer fire department.

Wells filled the council seat of Buck Leek, who submitted a letter of resignation following his election to the council in June due to family health concerns. Wells was under consideration to fill Leek’s seat along with Roy Justice and Charles Roberts.

Roberts, assistant fire chief of the Pine Grove Volunteer Fire Department, appeared not only to hear council’s vote, but to address issues pertaining to the fire department with the council.

First, Roberts asked the council to consider offering compensation to the local trained firemen. “Those who serve as volunteer firemen should be compensated,” Roberts said, noting these men go through between 100-150 hours of training in addition to risking their lives to help others. “Do we do it for money? No. But that doesn’t mean some gratitude couldn’t be shown for those who live in the city limits,” he added.

While council expressed their appreciation for the department, Mayor Dave Barr bluntly asked where Roberts thought that sort of money would come from. Roberts retorted that if there’s money to give the mayor and council members raises, “there’s money somewhere.” No council members made any motion per Roberts’ request. Roberts then charged out of the meeting.

However, later on Roberts returned with Chief Norman Streets to address another set of issues between the council and the department.

First off, council noted that Streets was never approved and sworn in by the town as required.

Roberts replied that the department appointed Streets when they were without a chief. He explained a chief was needed to retain state funding, without which the department would be shut down. Roberts went on to say he attempted to orchestrate a proper appointment with the council but things fell through on the town’s end.

Council then discussed how the fire department had failed to uphold an agreement between the two entities for the past several years. Part of this agreement was for the department to submit monthly training and finance reports to the council. “The fire department decided they didn’t work for the Town of Pine Grove,” Mayor Barr said. “They have ignored us ever since.”

Roberts interjected, saying the town had also fallen behind on their duties, particularly with the agreement to have a member of the council attend all fire department meetings to ensure open communication between the two parties.

Streets joined in the argument, stating the department was funded through the county and state. “Why do we have to give a finance report to the council when you don’t fund us?” he asked. Council replied the department was chartered within town limits and was a part of the town’s yearly audit. “The town gets a write-up on the yearly audit because the department doesn’t give financial reports,” Mayor Barr added.

This argument went on for some time before Councilman Tom Dulaney quieted the group, saying, “We’re not going to run your fire department. We appreciate what you do and everything the fire department has done in the Town of Pine Grove.” Dulaney explained the agreement that was made years ago under another fire chief, and eventually the two parties agreed to settle their conflicts.

Council officially appointed Streets as fire chief of the Pine Grove VFD and Streets agreed to supply monthly finance reports. Additionally, as agreed upon at an earlier meeting, Councilman Brian Price will act as the liaison between the town and the fire department in the hopes that such negative exchanges will be prevented in the future.