Village of Johnson City

FIREFIGHTERS CLAIM DISSOLUTION OF JC WOULD RISK LIVES:

A retired firefighter warned about the potential dire consequences of eliminating Johnson City's paid fire department Tuesday night as village trustees accepted a petition to dissolve the village into the Town of Union.

The village attorney will now review the petition and determine if it's valid, a process that could take a month. If the petition is deemed authentic, the trustees then will form a committee to create a dissolution plan that the public would vote on in an election.

The meeting, moved from the smaller municipal meeting room to the Village Justice Building, was heavily attended by Johnson City's paid firefighters, their relatives and retired firefighters who are concerned that dissolution would mean eliminating a paid fire department in the village, along with other services.

Bosh. The town can establish a fire district with paid firefighters and there would be little if any change in the delivery of services. It's understandable that these folks are concerned about their jobs, but that doesn't justify melodramatic scare tactics.