BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP -- While still hoping for a last-minute deal that would save the joint fire district with Mason, trustees plan to start interviewing for a fire chief of their own.
Three dozen resumes have been received. But trustees' top choice is William Goldfeder, chief of the Mason-Deerfield Township Joint Fire District. However, he still is under contract to the fire district. "We have had applications from all over the country, plus quite a few in Ohio," Trustee Larry Backus said. "If we have to put together a fire department, we're going to put together the best fire department we can."
Trustees took another step Wednesday toward creating their own department when they hired William Kramer, a retired Cincinnati assistant fire chief and an associate professor of fire science at the University of Cincinnati. He will act as a consultant, paid $84 per hour, to review the township's fire station and personnel needs.
His contract will not exceed $4,700.
"He's a very smart and experienced firefighter," Mr. Backus said. "He's a pro and he knows what he's doing."
Mr. Kramer, a 23-year veteran of the Cincinnati Fire Division, retired in 1995 as assistant chief of administration. He then spent three years as fire - rescue chief of the Indianapolis Airport Authority. Mason and Deerfield have argued for months about the fire district's future. Trustees, angry about the city's aggressive annexations of township land, have called for it to shut down in September unless a settlement can be forged.
"We've been on a two-pronged course since the beginning." Mr. Backus said. "We knew we would have to be going down two different roads at the same time."
Mr. Kramer said trustees aren't ready to walk away yet.
"Their main intention is to try to maintain the integrity of the existing district," he said. "That was expressed to me directly."
