Morrison sells fire department building to firefighters

MORRISON – Morrison has an unusual brand of fire protection, and a real estate transaction finalized Tuesday between the city and fire department isn’t the kind you see every day.

The city is one of only a handful of municipalities statewide to have a private fire department. The department contracts with the city to provide fire and rescue services within the city limits. The fire company, a nonprofit corporation, also services a rural area of about 160 square miles. Rural residents are billed directly for operational expenses. The bills are mailed out June 1 each year.

“There aren’t very many private departments left – this is unique even for towns under 5,000 population,” City Administrator Barry Dykhuizen said. “This goes back a long way here, and the city just contracts for services and levies a tax for them.”

City officials say the rural residents are generally very prompt in making their fire service payments.

“If they don’t pay and there’s a fire, they’ll get billed by the department for the time they are there, so they’d be foolish not to pay,” Mayor Everett Pannier said.

The fire department, once known as Jackson Hose Co., traces its history back to June 7, 1876. The department started with 10 volunteers and horse-drawn equipment. Today, there are 30 volunteers and a modern well-equipped station for a town Morrison’s size.

Morrison has three engines, three tankers, two rural trucks, and a rescue boat.

Because the city has about 4,188 residents and a private fire company, Morrison escapes the financial pressure of escalating police and fire pensions. The city’s police pensions go into the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The IMRF takes out a lot of the guesswork by telling the city what its percentage contribution will be each year.

“The privatized fire department has worked very well for the city, and we had recently been in conversations with them about their future needs,” Dykhuizen said.

Those discussions led to the city’s sale of the fire department building at 206 W. Main St. That transaction was officially approved by the City Council on Tuesday. Sealed bids were accepted for the building, but there was one big disqualifier – only bidders that offered fire protection would be considered.

The bidding process was just a formality that gave the building to the fire department at the bargain-basement price of $250.

Dykhuizen said the sale has no impact on revenues. The fire department has been there for decades and has never paid rent. The fire company won’t pay taxes after the ownership transfer.

“This had nothing to do with money,” Dykhuizen said. “We didn’t need the building, and it’s served the city well to have them right next to City Hall.”

As a nonprofit, the fire department is out doing fundraisers, including its annual Firemen’s Breakfast held at the fire department. The extra money has helped the department keep its equipment updated and the community supports them in return.

“The department runs very efficiently and they are able to stay current with everything,” Pannier said. “One of the reasons they wanted the building was because they are considering future expansion.”

The fire department has a memorial to its first responders at Grove Hill Cemetery on North High Street.