Moyers Corners, Brewerton departments also part of agreement

By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

The village of North Syracuse has been awarded a $146,000 federal grant toward the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters for the North Syracuse, Moyers Corners and Brewerton fire departments. North Syracuse will administer the four-year Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant.

“Because we’re the administrator, the bills come to us, we pay the bills and we get reimbursed,” Mayor Gary Butterfield explained at the village board meeting July 12.

Normally, the North Syracuse Fire Department must seek prior approval to make purchases greater than $1,000, but the board voted to waive the purchasing policy for SAFER purchases.

The SAFER grant, which is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, goes toward hiring firefighters in paid departments and recruitment and retention efforts for volunteer organizations. Funds can go toward advertising and marketing materials, training and events aimed at attracting volunteers. This year FEMA is distributing about 300 SAFER grants totaling $345 million.

Trustee Pat Gustafson expressed her concerns about the village’s financial responsibilities as administrator of the grant.

“We, the village, are going to be paying these expenses out of probably the general fund,” she said. “When we get reimbursed we’re going to get 100 percent of the reimbursement back, but we’re not going to get that interest.”

Village Attorney Scott Chatfield said it is possible that the village could lose money, but ownership of any purchases would default to the village if the purpose of the grant is no longer in effect. Mayor Butterfield also noted that other grants work the same way.

Gustafson also asked about the logistics of three departments making purchases under the grant.

“How are you going to coordinate who gets what and when?” she asked.

North Syracuse Fire Chief Bob Liberatore said the agencies will split the responsibilities of researching purchases and must justify them to a committee of representatives from each agency, which will then sign off on the expenditures.

“Each department will have a task to do because you can’t rely on just one department to do all the purchasing,” Liberatore said.

The North Syracuse Fire Department will set up an account for SAFER funds under its purchasing umbrella to keep track of the funds. Village Clerk/Treasurer Dianne Kufel will have access to FEMA’s reimbursement portal and will monitor purchases.

“It’s not just that we’re going to go haphazardly spending money because we can’t,” Liberatore said. “It’s laid out in the grant what we can spend the money on.”

Liberatore said he will not allow the departments to buy anything that is not listed in the grant application.

“I won’t approve anything that’s not appropriate in the grant. They buy something that’s not appropriate in the grant, they pay for it on their own,” he said.

Liberatore said the three departments went in together on a trailer to bring to open houses and other events, which was not included in the SAFER grant. However, the departments plan to use the grant to purchase an advertising wrap for the trailer, flyers and applications, and a tablet to sign recruitments up at events. He said they hope to bring the trailer to open houses, races and other area events this fall.

“The folks are working very hard to get this underway,” he said.