Alvaton Volunteer Fire Department trucks sit outside the station off Scottsville Road last September. The Alvaton VFD is one of nine Warren County fire departments looking at solutions to the growing volume of emergency calls even as volunteers are harder to find and funding is less than adequate.

Changes are coming to Warren County’s volunteer fire departments, and you may be able to influence that change.

Connecticut-based consultant MissionCIT LLC, hired by Warren Fiscal Court last October to conduct a study of the fire departments and recommend possible changes in how they’re structured and funded, is seeking public input as part of its study.

“Representatives (from MissionCIT) will be in town next week doing on-site visits, interviewing fire chiefs, and meeting with stakeholders,” Fifth District Magistrate Eric Aldridge said during Thursday’s fiscal court meeting. “They have also put out some external surveys to the public. They’re trying to collect as much data as possible.”

The survey can be found through a link on the warrencountyky.gov website.

MissionCIT, which is being paid $48,300 to study the fire departments, is expected to wrap up its work by mid-May and suggest some changes that will help the VFDs keep up with the county’s rapid population growth.

Currently, the nine departments are funded largely through fire dues that have been part of county tax bills since 2004, but those dues of $50 for households and $70 for businesses are seen by some as inadequate to meet the needs of fire departments that face a growing number of medical and fire responses.

Aldridge, who joined five fire chiefs on a committee that studied the fire departments last year, said in October that the nine VFDs reached 4,672 responses in 2022 (up from 4,321 in 2018) and were on pace for a 15% increase in 2023.

“This is a very important issue for the fire departments and the community,” Aldridge said Thursday. “I’m sure there will be some tough decisions.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they (MissionCIT) recommend some funding increases in the future. We all need to be open-minded to their suggestions.”

Both Aldridge and Sixth District Magistrate Ron Cummings said that county residents wanting to influence the consultant’s recommendations should complete the online survey.

“When constituents ask me about the fire departments, I tell them the best thing they can do is fill out the survey,” Cummings said.

Action on the consultant’s recommendation is months away, but the magistrates took action Thursday on a number of spending and zone change items.

Among them:

•Final approval of issuing Hospital Revenue Bonds totaling up to $180 million, to be used by Bowling Green-Warren County Community Hospital Corporation to fund building projects that include a 5-story patient care tower on The Medical Center’s Bowling Green Campus and a combined emergency department and urgent care located at The Hub on Lovers Lane.

•Acceptance of the bid of vendor ADP for software for payroll, timeclock and human resources in the amount of $63,016.24 annually.

•Approval of the $6,500 bid of Runner’s Tree Service for tree cutting and stump grinding needed by the county parks and recreation department after the December storm damage.

•Approval of spending $4,500 for Executive Elevator to repair the dumbwaiter at the Warren County Regional Jail.

•An expenditure of $11,770.66 to purchase rubber fill and turf to complete the sensory playground adjacent to Paradise Playground at Basil Griffin Park that was funded largely by the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club.

•An expense of $16,939.80 to Motorola Solutions for the purchase of batteries and microphones for radios used by Emergency Services.

•An expenditure of $8,679.50 to Stewart Richey Fire Division for the purchase of a new fire panel and firmware for the fire alarm system at Phil Moore Park.

The next scheduled fiscal court meeting is on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 9 a.m.