Dryden Town Board approves fire contracts after clerical errors lead to extra public hearing

Supporters of the Etna Fire Department attended the Dryden Town Board meeting last week in the hopes of changing town’s mind about the denied 2025 contract.

The town renewed contracts for the Dryden, Varna and Freeville fire departments for 2025 — but not Etna. A proposal was on the table to fund Etna’s department, but the proposal failed to gain traction.

The approved contracts for the fire departments are as follows:

• Neptune Hose Co. #1 of Dryden, Inc.: $595,503
• Varna Volunteer Fire Co.: $440,000
• W.B. Strong Fire Company, Inc. (Freeville): $397,448

Etna FD’s proposed contract, for $248,000, was denied by the town.

A handful of volunteers and supporters of the Etna Fire Department attended the Dec. 12 public hearing on the contracts. But a proper legal notice of the hearing had not been not provided, an omission that needed to be rectified.

The clerical error gave the Etna FD faithful a second chance to voice their opinions at another public hearing on Jan. 9.

Chris Doane, a longtime resident of Etna Road, hoped that the town could maintain funding for the department.

“The whole reason that the department began in the 1960s is because the area wasn’t getting timely responses,” Doane said.

Mark Bell, an Etna FD volunteer, said the department had 39 calls in December and 466 total in 2024.

“The town needs all of its volunteers. To take away its volunteers is just detrimental to the town,” said Linda Fenner, president of the Etna Volunteer Fire Department, Inc.

Fenner noted the town board’s lack of communication through contract negotiations and disputes.

“When you guys decided not to contract with us, we brought in paperwork to show the calls that we were on,” Fenner said. “I sent out emails to each of you … nothing. And those came with a compromise. It tells me that you guys don’t care. We need every fire truck in this community. There’s not any time there’s been a huge fire that every fire truck wasn’t on scene. Every department is there doing their part.”

One supporter named Karen questioned what will happen to the large FEMA grant that was recently awarded to the local fire departments.

“If the grant is intact and has Etna’s name on it, and the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) says it goes back if you take a department out of service, how do you still retain the grant?” Karen asked.

Town Supervisor Jason Leifer noted that, through Freeville FD treasurer Rebekah Moore, the grant will still be in possession locally. Moore spoke with FEMA to ensure the grant was still secure, Leifer added.

“It was looked into by folks administering the grant — W.B. Strong [Fire Company],” Leifer said. “The grant will not be going away.”

Board member Spring Buck spoke on behalf of the town to a disgruntled Etna crowd.

“This is such an incredibly important topic for the town, its safety and the volunteerism from everybody for the Etna Fire Department,” Buck said. “I’ll say right up front that there is literally nothing I can say that is probably going to make anyone feel better or feel the respect you deserve and should be getting for the passion, commitment and time you put in. I deeply admire what you all do.”

Buck continued, “My role is how do you help to make decisions for the entire community. We were asked to give Etna [FD] a quarter of a million dollars. In looking at the numbers that were provided by the fire departments and your leadership, it shows that other departments are the ones first on scene, often by a long period of time. I don’t see how we can put that much money into that program. These are things that weigh heavily, not because of my lack of respect for the volunteers, but because we seriously have to look into how we can spread these taxpayer dollars.”

The hearing concluded with Tom Lobdell, Etna fire chief, providing a statement.

“Last year, the town board gave Freeville $70,000 for their on-duty truck,” Lobdell said. “There’s no denying that it was great for them to get it. Let’s say that they’re en route to a call. If one of my members wants to go to the call, they have to go all the way back to the station and get a truck. You’re saying the other departments get there faster. Well, all three departments have on-duty vehicles. You’re trying to compare numbers, and it’s not right for the Etna Fire Department.”

Deputy Town Supervisor Dan Lamb, who reiterated his statement from mid-December, said the decision is “for the greater good.”

“What we want to communicate is that the protection is going to be there,” Lamb said. “The people in the Etna zones are getting served by tremendous volunteers and departments — and that’s going to continue. We want to make sure the public understands that no one will go unprotected in this town. But we’re doing the right thing. That’s why I resolved to make this decision.”

Leifer noted at the meeting that he will have a discussion with Fenner at a later date. The next steps for the Etna Fire Department are yet to be determined.

Dryden Dispatch appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.