VILLA PARK : Fire Dept. Authority Decision Postponed

The City Council voted this week to delay action at least for a month on whether the city should join a proposed joint powers authority overseeing the county Fire Department.

Mayor Barry L. Denes was among council members who charged that organizers of the proposed authority have not fully responded to Villa Park’s questions.

“Clearly, to me, you have to have everything on the table before you can say it’s the JPA” for Villa Park, Denes said.

The proposed authority would be composed of county government and all the cities served by the county Fire Department. The new governing body for the Fire Department is scheduled to be launched this fall. Its supporters say the joint powers arrangement would give cities more say in the department’s funding and administration.

About a dozen of the 17 cities that would be in the joint authority have so far approved the proposal. Most cities approved the plan with little debate.

But the Villa Park City Council announced Tuesday night that it has some serious reservations. The council sidetracked a scheduled vote on the authority after hearing a critical report on the proposal from Councilmen Joseph S. Barsa and Bob Patchin.

Barsa and Patchin said organizers of the proposed authority have rejected Villa Park’s suggestions for revised wording of the cities’ agreement in joining the pact.

Patchin said he could not understand how so many cities have already approved the plan. “They are signing blank checks now, with unlimited revision rights by two layers of unknown people, forever into the future,” Patchin said. “I, for one, cannot support this JPA until we know a lot more about it.”

Barsa also criticized the proposed authority. He said it is unwise to “enter into open-ended contracts.” Barsa also said that he and Patchin will later propose something other than Villa Park’s joining the joint fire authority.