Emergency services play a crucial role in public safety, prompting city and county leaders to revisit an agreement that determines which fire station responds to emergencies at homes and businesses.
WATCH BELOW: ‘It needs to be updated,’ Stuart Mayor Christopher Collins tells WPTV’s Cassandra Garcia
Stuart, Martin County to update fire station emergency response agreement
Officials in Martin County are working to update an interlocal agreement that governs fire rescue coverage between the county and the city of Stuart, with a focus on improving response times as the region changes.
“Glad that they’re looking into that, just because the city is growing so much,” resident Marsha Zack said.
At a county commission meeting Tuesday, Martin County Fire Rescue Chief Chad Cianciulli emphasized the need to prioritize public safety in any revisions.
“The principal of this interlocal agreement was public safety, was putting the public first and then you build the agreement around that,” Cianciulli said.
Cianciulli said the current agreement no longer reflects that priority. Stuart Mayor Christopher Collins agreed, noting the existing contract, established in 2021, has become outdated as the city has expanded.
“It needs to be updated, because we need to make sure that whoever is closest to the call responds, so that your response times are as short as possible,” Collins said.
Collins said Stuart fire rescue services have expanded, allowing the city to respond more efficiently across its boundaries.
“In the past, there was a point where the city only had one station and now we have three,” he said. “Now, we’re able to service with quick response times at all parts of the city. So, we no longer need that same level of coverage with the county.”
County commissioners voted to have fire chiefs, legal teams and select administrators from both agencies discuss updates to the agreement.
“If there’s any a-political document we can talk about. It’s this interlocal agreement,” Cianciulli said.
Collins expressed disappointment that those discussions would not initially include broader public participation or elected officials.
“I would think that the county commission would want to have transparency,” he said. “That should be the goal is that the public is able to see the conversations and ultimately decisions that are being made when it comes from their health and safety.”
In addition to improving response times, Collins said he would like to eliminate the practice of agencies billing each other when responding across jurisdictional lines. Under the current agreement, Martin County Fire Rescue and the city charge one another for providing coverage outside their respective areas.
Officials confirmed that both sides are working to schedule negotiations on a revised contract.
“In the case of emergency they do need somebody to respond as quickly as they can,” Zack said.
Portions of this story were assisted by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by a WPTV journalists to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards.