Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rosston Adding Fire Hydrants

In an effort to reduce homeowners insurance rates, the City of Rosston is installing more fire hydrants.

At the regular monthly meeting of the Rosston City Council, Thursday, Nov. 3, 1998, the city's governing body agreed to purchase two new hydrants and relocate two others.

Additionally, the city's fire chief, Johnny Jenson, has applied for a matching grant so even more hydrants can be bought for the protection of the area's residents.

Rosston Mayor Lewis Jackson said when a representative from the Insurance Service Organization (ISO) inspected the fire department recently, one of the recommendations he left was to add more hydrants.

This addition will lower the city's ISO rating from a 9 to an 8. This would then translate, most likely, into lower costs for citizens served by the Rosston Fire Department on their homeowner fire insurance policies.

The hydrants, Jackson said, will cost about $200 each.

There are currently two hydrants on a road where no one lives. Jackson said these will be relocated to a more densely populated area. He told the council if more hydrants are needed than the four discussed, representatives from the ISO should mark where they need to be installed to help keep the rating down.

In addition, Jackson said there could be three or four new members joining the Rosston Fire Department. He said a class will be scheduled to provide these men the training they will need in order to be certified as firemen.

"I'd like to keep it (the RFD) growing," Jackson said, "and have people here on standby all the time."

Other business discussed included the council purchasing an insurance policy for all elected officials. For $80 a year per member, the mayor and council members will have $100,000 coverage for accidental death and dismemberment.

The city's Christmas party will be held Thursday, Dec. 10, with refreshments being served. The city's official Christmas tree will be lighted at this time.

One of the final orders of business involved approving budgets for the Water Department and City's general fund.

The water budget will be $51,037 for calendar year 1999, as both fiscal documents were approved by the council.

The budget for the city will be $27,193.95 for the coming year.

As the meeting drew to a close, Jackson offered praise to outgoing councilman Rob Robison, thanking him for the four years he served on the panel and for all the help he gave during his time in service.