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The City of Manchester has opted to raise the fee for fire coverage to the Interstate Industrial Park in Coffee County from $54,000 annually set in 1999 to $150,000 annually under the new contract.

While the City of Manchester still provides fire coverage to the County, the agreement for coverage expired three-years ago.

Alderman Joey Hobbs, chairman of the Manchester City Safety Committee said he asked city attorney Craig Johnson to draw up a contract virtually identical to the original, except for the fee.

He said that the fees are to cover cost of treating the sheer volume of wastewater that comes from the park.

The matter is scheduled to be discussed by the Safety Committee during its next meeting in June.

It is not currently clear if the Loves Travel Stop located at 1165 Aedc Road in Hillsboro is inside or outside the Interstate Industrial Park. Fire protection is currently provided by Manchester Fire Department to the business. That area of the county is served by Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Department, which has mutual aid agreements with the city and AEDC Fire.

The contract also includes water and sewer service, something that caused some questions with county officials.

Commissioner Dwight Miller (a retired Tullahoma Utilities Board Administrative Manager and Comptroller) said that he felt the water and sewer rates should cover the cost of service.

“Why isn’t there enough revenue coming in for water and sewer to cover this,” he asked.

The contract states that the city will provide maintenance of new and existing water and sewer infrastructure, but that new construction costs will be the responsibility of the county.

Commissioner Tim Morris said that he was in favor of extending the park boundary to include the south side of Wattendorf and that city fire coverage and city sewer would be an incentive for development.

In addition, Insurance premiums are greatly reduced in areas with a better ISO fire rating that comes from being served by a full-time fire department.

Hillsville Utilities provides water to the truck stop, according to HWR Chairman Jimmy Hollandsworth.

The contract was reviewed at the county Health, Welfare and Recreation Committee at the May 16 meeting, and was discussed briefly at the county Budget and Finance Committee meeting on May 11.

HWR passed a motion to invite stakeholders in the city to a meeting to clarify details from the contract. Members of the committee and the county mayor agreed that the value of the fire protection service by the city was a huge value at the new rate.