Inverness resident to petition for fire-aid deal
Inverness resident Kathy Feingold is no longer a bystander in the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District’s preparations for an independent fire department that will begin serving her neighborhood Jan. 1.
Like Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles, Feingold wants the fire district to sign an automatic-aid agreement that would make the nearer station of the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District a first-responder to her subdivision on the west side of the village.
She’s planning to organize a petition among the 230 homes of her subdivision which she hopes will inspire trustees of both fire districts to reach an agreement in December.
Financial issues have made an auto-aid agreement with Palatine Rural harder for Barrington Countryside to come by than with most of its other neighboring fire departments.
Palatine Rural trustees have asked for a significant share of Barrington Countryside’s property tax from that area. But Barrington Countryside officials maintain they can serve that area just as well if not better without the assistance of Palatine Rural.
Barrington Countryside, which covers a 48-square-mile area outside the village of Barrington, will be separating from the Barrington Fire Department on Jan. 1. That leaves the fire district with two stations in Barrington Hills and Lake Barrington, which are farther from west Inverness than Barrington’s station is.
At this point, Barrington Countryside also hasn’t reached an auto-aid agreement with the village of Barrington, whose station is still a little farther from west Inverness than Palatine Rural’s is.
Feingold hopes to complete and submit her petition by early December, giving Barrington Countryside time to act at its meeting on the 16th.