Council OKs fire service agreement with Goodyear

Saying it wanted to play its part as a good neighbor while also helping Maricopa residents, the City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement to provide fire service for a section of land within Goodyear’s city limits during Tuesday night’s meeting.

The deal calls for Goodyear to pay almost $73,000 annually, as well as $50,000 to help pay for the relocation of a Maricopa fire station to the western portion of the newly annexed portion of the city. The agreement covers 365 dispatches in a calendar year, with Goodyear paying $1,000 for every call over that threshold (see related story).

“We believe this is an innovative way of meeting the financial problems that everyone is having right now. It will provide improved, more effective fire response to both western Maricopa and the city of Goodyear’s Sonoran Valley area,” said Wade Brannon, assistant chief for the Maricopa Fire Department.

Prior to the 6-0 vote, Mayor Anthony Smith said the agreement gave the council a chance to maintain good relationships with Goodyear, which might pay off in other future projects.

“We have to keep in mind we have regional partnerships. We may be asking for various considerations from Goodyear in transportation items and other areas,” he said. “… It is an opportunity to partnership in a very concrete and real way with the city of Goodyear.”

“This helps us to better our service to the new area of Maricopa that was recently annexed,” Councilman Joe Estes said. “Having fire protection our there and having Goodyear pay for it, you can’t beat it.”

Brannon said the city has narrowed down to a site for the relocated station, which will house the new brush truck the department will be getting soon to fight rural blazes, but it haven’t signed a contract yet with the landowner yet.

The council also approved changes to the city code to ease some of the restrictions on purchasing. For example, the new code increases the purchasing director’s authority from $10,000 to $25,000 in buying goods and services without having to seek council approval and city staff is now required to get just three verbal quotes for purchases between $5,000 and $10,000 (see related story).