Baldwin’s Fire Chief announced at the May city council meeting that the town's ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating is 3. This rating is based on three categories: the 911 center’s alarms and dispatch system, water systems/hydrants and the fire department’s capability and equipment.
An ISO rating is based on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst score. All fire departments start at 10 and work their way down the scale. ISO ratings have a linear relationship with the homeowner’s insurance rate within the city, so as the ISO rating gets better, insurance rates decrease. Baldwin is currently 4 points away from a 2, which would be a huge success for the city, leaders state.
Two of the fire department’s main setbacks is lack of personnel and inadequate water supply. They have applied for the FEMA grant and are hoping to receive that funding to add additional staff to improve their rating. As far as water supply, the minimum standard is 3,500 gallons for three hours, which is not being met in several areas of the city.
The council agreed to develop ideas to improve this at their next council retreat meeting, which could include a looped water line system and potentially increasing the size of water lines.
In other business at the meeting, the council approved:
•a future vehicle purchase and transfer for the Public Works Department. Once a specific vehicle is picked, the council approves the purchase not to exceed $60,000, including upfitting costs, to come from SPLOST VII funds. The current Public Works vehicle will be transferred to Administration and their current vehicle will be transferred to Code Enforcement.
•the first readings of Habersham County Development Authority’s annexation and rezoning requests for 3.87 acres of land to be annexed and rezoned into the City of Baldwin. This land was left out of annexation during a land swap and must be in the city to be correctly taxed and sold.
The Baldwin Water War will be on June 10 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Mitchell Gailey Park. "Bring water guns and a towel and get ready for a capture-the-flag style brawl to beat the heat," city leaders state. Sign up today at City Hall, on the Facebook event page, or email baldwinevents@cityofbaldwin.org.
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